Shindle 31 NONCONFORMITY AS MAN’S TRUE IDENTITY: DIVERGENT Introduction I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless. I am Divergent. And I can’t be controlled. Nonconformism as defined in the Mirriam Webster dictionary is the “ refusal to conform to an established or conventional creed, rule or practice.” In religious terms nonconformity is defined as the ‘unorthodoxy as a consequence of not conforming to expected standards or values’ and ‘Non-conformists’ are considered as those who are rebels or against societal norms. In a broad term, nonconformity is a category of people who are marginalized based on their personality. From ancient times people lived in groups and this is the root cause for the idea of conformism: living uniformal lives in unity; and the others against society (the non-conformists) wandered alone, this resulted in a conformist civilization. The conformists branded nonconformists as abnormal humans and separated themselves, for they feared of being punished by their gods. In a conforming society, people ignore their outlook on life and remain objective, they feel anxious about the criticisms they would receive if they reveal their masked identity. They fear their own thoughts and come to a conclusion that being their individual self is a taboo which disrupts the balance of society. But personality traits are inborn and shouldn’t be suppressed. Billions of DNA strands are joined together into various combinations to create one’s personality which as a