Antigone And The Detroit Public Schools: An Act Of Civil Disobedience

Improved Essays
In life, there are many situations in which our actions conflicts with society. We as a people must decide whether to follow laws our society makes or listen to our conscience. In the drama of “Antigone” and the “Detroit Public Schools” article shows acts of civil disobedience. On multiple occasions the main character Antigone showed compassion and love for her two brothers. Antigone felt it was wrong for King Creon to bury Eteocles and leave Polyneices unburied. Next, in the DPS article, teachers and the students from Cass Tech and Renaissance high school stood together. The teachers and students were fighting over the lack of educational resources and building problems. Lastly, in the article, “Letter from Birmingham JailMartin Luther King, …show more content…
The Students of Cass Tech and Renaissance high school performed walkouts in support of their teachers. When the students found out their teachers were going to get an injunction, they immediately jumped into action. Most of the students wanted to walk out of class as a form of protest. During one of the walk-outs a CMA student named Terrance stated, “When we walked out of school, we make a change, we’re here because we have a voice”(Hanover 2). Even though, the Detroit Public Schools district threatened to suspend students five days if they participate in the walk-outs. Terrance, a CMA student, helped lead the protest. Terrance knew that nothing would change unless they walked out. Until the school district started losing money then the school board would care. Many of the students from Cass Tech, Renaissance, and CMA high school all have shown civil disobedience by standing up for what they believe is …show more content…
Antigone’s action of civil disobedience was recognized because Polyneices was eventually buried and King Creon admitted his wrong doing. The students and teachers from Detroit Public Schools district rallied together to influence the district to fix the building problems and improve education. In addition the teachers performed sick-outs and the students performed walk-outs. These actions were an act of civil disobedience and they defied the laws that society put on them. In the Letter from Birmingham jail, King showed a great act of civil disobedience by arguing against the clergyman and inspiring his people. Martin Luther King, Jr stated that the Clergyman should have applauded the black people for the acts of demonstration rather than siding with the police. King’s letter reached the public and inspired African Americans to continue demonstrating sit-ins and boycotts. Civil disobedience is an act of defiance for a goal of common good, all the characters from Antigone, DPS article, and From the Letter from Birmingham Jail have shown this by doing what they felt was

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In 1948 the South African government took a turn for the worst. The National Party gained power in South Africa and its all-white government began immediately enforcing policies of racial segregation. They called it apartheid which was a policy that discriminated on grounds of race, violating human rights. Under the apartheid the black population of South Africa were unjustly persecuted. They were segregated to the extent that they were stripped of their citizenship.…

    • 1891 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Antigone and the mexican protest and civil disobedience are all related because they are negative. Antigone and the protest in mexico are examples of civil disobedience because the mexicans are lost, and the parents are wondering where their children are. In Antigone she wants to bury her brother, but she is being disobedient, because it is against the law. One way they are both similar is they both disagree with the government.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Within the play “Antigone” both Creon and Antigone are displayed as strong-willed, principled, and complex individuals. Through the play we explore the consequences endured by the two opposing characters based on their actions; each displayed with a different set of beliefs and morals, against one another causing both a traumatic ending. Antigone and Creon are similar in some cases, they both stand confidently in what they believe in, even if it makes them allies. Antigone honors the beliefs of the gods and her family and thinks they are more superior then the laws of man. Creon orders Antigone not to bury her brother Polyneices and anyone who tries to bury his body will receive the death penalty.…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American that lived and fought through racial oppression. He was one of the most well known leaders of nonviolent protests. Being a minority trying to persuade the privilege that it’s time for change is a tough job. In King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” has many components that are crucial to catching the audience attention and proving a point. In this letter Martin Luther King Jr. was responding back to rude comments that clergymen made about him and the protesting.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antigone commits civil disobedience by “[burying] the brother [she] loves” (Pro.69), Polyneices, when Creon had specifically declared that Polyneices “[should] lie on the plain, unburied” (1.41). She commits this act of civil disobedience because she wants her brother’s soul to find peace after death. However, an important factor of the civil disobedience that she displays is that she does not take proud, unnecessary actions of defiance, she simply covers the body “over with a light dust /…/ Just enough for the ghost’s peace” (1.84-86). This simple yet symbolic action convinces outsiders who view her situation to increase their support and favor of Antigone over King Creon, the reason being that she is not viewed as a boastful, rebellious girl, but as a brave one. By committing this act of civil disobedience, she tries to prove to the chorus and Creon himself that Creon’s laws dismiss the will of the gods, and that something needs to done about this issue.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. encountered a different opposition, which involved changing the entire country’s views. King peacefully protests racial oppression and segregation in the United States to assist a whole country rather than a single individual. He observes civil disobedience as a way of protest on unjust laws of the country, rather than protesting a law regarding a singular person’s unfair treatment. King backs his approach on civil disobedience by illustrating his four steps, which are “the collection of the facts to determine whether injustices are alive, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action” (King, 1). With every one of his beliefs and acts, King defends himself by indicating how unjust the laws have treated the African Americans of the nation.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Justice is very important in society and there are many different things that go into the idea of justice. There isn’t one simple thing that makes justice work, it takes a variety of different concepts to not only form a system for justice, but put it into action. While there are many examples of societies where rules are established and behavior and judgements are measured against those rules, there is still injustice. We, as humanity, need to continue to be aware of this and work to make the world more just by being courageous in expressing our opinions. In the play, Antigone, the main character, Antigone, goes against the king’s judgement because her personal belief and love for her brother gave her courage to defy that ruling.…

    • 1445 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antigone: Play Analysis

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What guides your confidence decision to follow rule or break rules established? In the play Antigone by Sophocles , Antigone broke the law buy burying her brother Polyneices when she was not supposed to because he did not die fighting for the town, but fighting against it. This relates to an article on dress code where a bunch of high school students broke the school rules by having male students wear dresses to school to show equality between males and females. Colin Kaepernick decided to take a knee during America's national anthem to fight towards police brutality. Antigone took a stand and went against her Uncle Creon to bury her brother Polyneices.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antigone Case Study

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In his famed “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Dr. King defends his and other civil rights leaders’ civil disobedience from a jail cell in Alabama. Responding directly to accusations from white Christians that civil disobedience was dangerously destabilizing to government itself, Dr. King outlines a method wherein citizens can disobey unjust laws while still respecting law itself. Recognizing the legitimacy of these concerns, King requires that citizens only disobey unjust laws which are “inflicted upon a minority which that minority had no part in enacting or creating because it did not have the unhampered right to vote,” (King 1963, 80). Furthermore, in order to respect law as an institution, a dissenter must ask him or herself, “are you able to endure the ordeals of jail,” (King 1963 2). He requires that those who break unjust laws “do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty,” (King [Ali-Dinar], 1963).…

    • 1277 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The punishment for disobeying the decree was death. However, Antigone saw Creon ’s decree as an abuse of his power and as an infringement on the laws of the gods. Antigone, who placed god’s laws above all else, disregarded King Creon’s law and buried her brother, Polyneices. Antigone’s bravery is summed up when she says, “But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy” (Sophocles 694).…

    • 1573 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Just like Martin Luther King Jr., Antigone stood up for what was right, regardless of whether it confined by the governmental standards. Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. knew that one must fight against the government if one wanted to change their society. Though rebellion is mostly viewed in a negative connotation, rebellion allows our societies to continuously change and advance. If it weren 't for Martin Luther King Jr.’s stand against racial discrimination by the government, colored citizens would have continued to have limited rights in our current society. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that his life was going to be at risk, but he knew that there was unjust in the community; a community he didn’t want his children to live in.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Both Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. engage in civil disobedience in order to further their own interests. However while Antigone engages in civil disobedience on the basis of sacred or divine laws, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. engages in disobedience based on the moral rights of equality. King uses nonviolent protest to achieve his goals, while Antigone outright breaks laws set by king Creon. Also, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a big following to his cause with a large group of people who support him, while Antigone is alone in her cause with only her family having similar beliefs to her. Antigone and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are from very different time periods than each other, which plays a big role in their intentions to disobey unjust laws.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The act of civil disobedience is often associated with nonviolence and simple demonstrations, however, that connotation is insufficient. Civil disobedience is the refusal of individuals or a group, to obey particular laws as a way of forcing the government to change (Civil Disobedience); therefore there is no singular manner in which it must be conducted. In a comparison of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Antigone, two different approaches are revealed. Though Dr. King and Antigone are strikingly similar in their practice of civil disobedience to illuminate fundamental problems within society and government. Where Dr. King is notoriously eloquent and forthright in addressing the issue of unjust laws and oppression, Antigone allows her unreserved passion and sense of indignation to govern her actions, which underscore the significance of the error in upholding man’s law over that of the gods.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The main idea of the Sophocles, Antigone story goes around the idea of divine law and state laws. The story starts with Antigone talking to her sister Ismene about the death of her brother Eteocles and Polynices and the unfairness of the king Creon. The conflict between Antigone and Creon starts when Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, kill each other in a battle. Since Polynices violated the laws, Creon orders that anyone who tries to bury Polynices will be stoned to death. When Antigone tries to convince her sister to help her burry Polynices, Ismene tells her sister that should obey Creon because she is a women and that women are supposed to be weak.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Island written by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona draws numerous parallels from Sophocles’ Antigone. Firstly, the roles are played by men. Secondly, the characters of the play denounce apartheid by performing this piece similar to how Antigone defies the law by burying her brother. Lastly, Winston shares parallels with Antigone. The story line and characters of The Island draw copious amounts of parallels from Sophocles’ Antigone.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays