Rebellion As Portrayed In Albert Camus The

In Albert Camus' book chapter "The Rebel," he defines rebellion as when a rebel experiences a feeling of having his or her right being broke, they decide that enough is enough and stand up for herself/himself. In the scholarly article "Teaching about Civil disobedience," written by J. Clark, Thomas Vontz, and Kristoffer Barikmo, they define civil disobedience as a nonviolent act to break an unjust law, to bring attention to some perceived injustice. The theories and definitions in these texts apply to the character's actions and intentions in Jonathan Kaplan film Over the Edge, as well as the actions and intentions of the Stonewall Riots and Montgomery Bus Boycott. From this analysis, in Kaplan's film rebellion and civil disobedience are demonstrated

by individuals; however, the group of teens only demonstrates rebellion. Also, the Stonewall Riots works toward the importance of having gay rights, it ultimately demonstrates rebellion, but not civil disobedience. Finally, the Montgomery Bus Boycott meets both standards being rebellion and civil disobedience.
The film Over the Edge takes place in the 1970s in a small community called New Granada and is inspired by true events of teenage rebellion. The teenagers of the community are fed up with being treated unfairly by the adults. They are treating like delinquents by the police, their parents, and the teachers of the school. The town New Granada is rather dull and boring, their boredom ends up getting them into series of trouble. They are seen doing drugs and alcohol in the film also they go around playing with toy guns to entertain themselves. There is only one place in town where they can hang out and socialize with their friends which is the recreational center. But it is soon required that the recreational center is to be closed down and have an industrial park built in its place.
The group of youths meets Camu's standard of rebellion and Clark et al's definition of civil disobedience; however, the youths only demonstrate Camus' key points of rebellion, but not civil disobedience. In "The Rebel," Camus points out,
In every act of rebellion, the rebel simultaneously experience a feeling of revulsion at the infringement of his rights and a complete and spontaneous loyalty to certain aspects of himself.

Thus he implicitly brings into a play a standard of values so far from being gratuitous that he is prepared to support it no matter what the risks. Up to this point he has at least remained silent and has abandoned himself to the form of despair in which a condition is accepted even though it is considered unjust... But from the moment that the rebel finds his voice-even though he says nothing but "no"-he beings to desire and to judge... Not every value entails rebellion, but every act of rebellion tacitly invokes a value. (14)
Camus explains the moment of rebellion is when an individual feels that enough is enough and decides to stand up herself/himself. The young adolescents are fed up with being treated unfairly by the adults. They grow tired of being treated like delinquents by the police, their parents, and the teachers. The teens simply just wish to be respected and left alone, but they do not get

either.
Hearing the news that there will be another fun spot for the teens, they were thrilled; however, the plan changed and the town decided to destroy their precious rec center and build a industrial park instead. This crushes their spirit so they decide to stand up for what is important to them. Being mistreated by the adults, having their rights taken away, and the destruction of the rec center is the breaking point for the teenagers, they realized that they have rights and having to remain silent for so long, the teens have had enough. The teenagers decide to confront their parents while they were holding an emergency meeting. The teens chain the doors, lit fireworks, and destroy the parking lot. This is the youths attempt to bring attention to the adults of what they perceived as being treated; nonetheless, the young teens act out in a violent and unlawful manner that it cannot be considered as civil disobedience. Because of the way they act, they do not fit the qualifications of Clark et al definition of civil disobedience is nonviolent (52).
The Stonewall Riots meet Camus' standards of rebellion, but does not meet Clark et al definition of civil disobedience.

In the book "Gay Rights," written by Tricia Andryszewski, Andryszewski reflects the life of the LGBT people and their fight for gay rights. On June 28, 1969, in the early morning at Stonewall Inn in New York City, a bar catering to homosexuals was raided by the police (Andryszewski 9). The raid itself, for alleged violations of liquor laws, was not unusual. The patrons and the sympathizers from the neighborhood fought back instead of passively allowing the police to shut down the bar. They rioted for nearly an hour and for several nights running, crowds gathers to protest the Stonewall raid (Andryszewski 9). Then over the next few weeks, the riots became larger and more peaceful rallies. The riot was a turning point in how homosexuality have been perceived and treated. Before Stonewall, homosexuality in every state except Illinois were illegal. They were banned from many professions and nowhere in the country did any law or public policy protect them from discrimination. The Stonewall marked and inspired gay men and lesbians a new openness about sexual orientation (Andryszewski 10). This demonstrates Camus standard of the rebel is fighting for the integrity of one part of his being. The rebel does not try to conquer, but simply to impose (18). The intentions of the Stonewall Riots was not to conquer, but spread awareness to other gay men and lesbians to

"openly identify themselves, organize themselves, and demand civil rights and greater public acceptance of homosexuality" (Andryszewski 10). The actions of the Stonewall Riots would not be considered civil disobedience because Clark et al claims, riots would not be considered a civil disobedience, riots are "rooted in lawlessness, lack of respect for the law, and violence" (53). The LGBT people threw trash at the police officers and rioted for hours until it finally became a more peaceful rally.
The actions and intentions of the Montgomery Bus Boycott meets Clark et al definition of civil disobedience as well as Camus' standards of rebellion. In the article "The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Fall of the Montgomery City Lines," written by Felicia McGhee, McGhee writes the life of the racial segregation of the bus system and the effect of the boycott. A few months later, in the fall of 1954, two black female students, Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith, were arrested by the city police for refusing to give up their bus seat to a white. And on December 1, 1955, forty-two years old Rosa Parks, a local seamstress and secretary of the Montgomery NAACP decided to take the bus home from her job at the downtown Montgomery department store. The law of the bus system in Alabama were the first ten seats were always reserved for Whites. If the Whites section filled up, the colored section was made smaller. (Crowell). When the Whites section was filled up, the bus driver asked Rosa Parks and three other Black passengers to move to the back. The three Black passengers complied to the order, but Parks refused, Park claim, "My feet were not tired but I was tired-tired of unfair treatment" (McGhee 254). The bus driver called the police and arrested Parks for violating the bus segregation laws and also for disorderly conduct. Outraged by the arrest of yet another black women, Park's arrest provoked the Montgomery's black resident to initiate a 381-day boycott of the bus system (McGhee 252). The boycott was disastrous for the Montgomery City Line, costing them $750,000. On December 20, 1956, the boycott was a success ending bus segregation law of the Montgomery City Lines.