Antigone: The Sense Of Self

1015 Words3 Pages

Being human means to be unique and to be constantly striving for a better life. The community is shaped by every individual’s desire and path to acquire a life worth living. The individual’s desire for a fulfilled life is molded by the interactions and experiences one may encounter. It is through these experiences, that one discovers his or her place within their community. However, just because the individual is striving for the best that life can offer, does not mean that the ideas and morals of the individual coincide with that of the collective community. Through this potential dissonance between the human and community, one may find that the achievement of a life lived to the fullest is brought about by the resolution of conflict between …show more content…

Not any two people can have the precisely same experienced nor outlooks on the same experiences. It is through the self’s own outlook on experiences and what they choose to learn from them, that their morals form. For Antigone, her brothers fought over the claim to the land of Thebes. When one had died in battle, the other made a decree that no one in the community was to perform any sort of burial rituals on the fallen brother due to his traitorous acts against Thebes (Sophocles). Antigone had known that all life is sacred, and that all life should be honored in the end. No one should be denied the celebration of life. Antigone went against her brother’s ruling and performed a burial ritual on her fallen brother’s corpse (Sophocles). It is for this reason that Antigone shows that given her shared experience with the rest of the people of Thebes, her sense of self was developed differently than the others. She would rather face the death penalty to uphold her morals and do what she knew to be right. Wo-Haw was a captured Kiowan who remained true to his culture, after being forcibly assimilated into the U.S. by the military. He and the other tribesmen who were captured were told to make drawings to please the tourists of the area (IUF1000 Wo-Haw slide 1). Wo-Haw’s image reflects how he recognizes his new future in the U.S but still sees himself as a Native American who is still a member of his tribe. Wo-Haw went …show more content…

The society may deem an act as compliant with the values of the collective, yet the self may view this same act as a violation of their moral code. When Antigone defied her brother, she detested the ruling and the behavior of the society. The society, while afraid to act out against the king’s ruling, remained submissive with the way events had turned out (Sophocles). In the case of Wo-Haw, the U.S military felt that the forced assimilation was the right course of action for the Kiowan men, however, Wo-Haw, and other tribesmen, felt that this was an injustice upon them. To take them away from their homes and try to remove everything that they had learned and developed into was not beneficial in the eyes of the captured. The U.S. military did not stop to think of the tribesmen as individuals with already cognitive thought or feelings of their own until they were “properly assimilated”. This much is apparent in the expressions of all the assimilated men before and after they are “complete” (IUF1000 Wo-Haw slide 2 and 3). Antigone was an example of one who did not agree with their community’s views, thus taking matters into their own hands to ratify the situation. Similarly, Wo-Haw was an example of one who did not feel belonging to the community and viewed themselves true to the cultures and beliefs that are unpopular or non-existent within the community. Such conflicts

More about Antigone: The Sense Of Self

Open Document