The Importance Of Disobedience In Society

Oscar Wilde, an Irish author, once suggested that if one were to ever look at the discourse of history, they would find that disobedience is man’s original virtue, and through disobedience social progress is made. The study of history is the study of social progress. Social progressions are the changes that occur in society that progress or improve social, political, and economic structures. Social progress can be achieved in several ways, but just like Oscar Wilde, I believe that disobedience is a valuable human trait that just so happens to be a huge part in the progression our society has made and continues to make. When social progress is defined, the first thing that comes to mind is the Civil Rights Movement- the fight against

Slavery itself is an institution disobeying any somewhat sane or decent man’s ethical boundaries. But instead of looking at slavery as an institution right now, I will zoom into a certain one slave. Colson Whitehead’s the Underground Railroad is a story about a slave named Cora. She lives on a plantation with brutal owners as enforcers and an inevitable life not well-spent ahead of her. Slavery itself had made-up rules that were implied to all and rules that varied from plantation to plantation. One obvious, and important rule of slavery- do not run away from your owner. Because Cora knew that her life on the plantation would be an continuous downhill tumble, she decided that taking a chance on an escape would be her hope for a decent future. Whitehead explained Cora’s struggles and setbacks on her way out of the possession of another human. Cora lost friends on the way, gained enemies, and was near death many times on this journey. In the end, Cora’s disobedience payed off. She was no longer a possession of another human being and was no longer being dehumanized. Cora proves Oscar Wilde’s point that disobedience results in social progress. Cora created social progress by increasing the number of free blacks and decreasing the number of enslaved ones. Cora was one of many that pushed equal rights among race using disobedience as a

Disobedience in the sense that one is rationally disobeying someone or something because they believe it will result in improvement of the greater good is the valuable human trait Wilde is talking about. Looking at history, we saw that the major event in the Civil Rights Movement were ones of civil disobedience. We saw that civil disobedience can lead to the freedom of a country. Think about what you have done to progress society. Think about what you haven’t done. And, think about what you can do. Simple acts of disobedience for a good cause can result in progress that can change the lives of many. Remember, civil disobedience is