I love Antigone. I loved it when my performing arts school did a slightly modernized version when I was a senior. I loved it when I did a presentation on it for an English class later that year. And I love it now as I write my senior capstone on Funeral Rites in Ancient Greece. What I also love is the utterly brilliant way in which Kamila Shamsie retells the classic myth of Oedipus’ daughter in her novel Home Fire.
The core of Sophocles’ play is about what it means to be a citizen and the struggle one faces when written law and divine law contradict each other. Shamsie nails this theme through the intricacies with which she weaves her narrative, shifting from perspective to perspective. Each of Shamsie’s characters represent the main players in Antigone, but each are additionally of Muslim descent. The ways in which each of these characters relate to their Muslim identity are all very different and these feelings are closely intertwined with the character’s feelings regarding their own citizenship. Parvaiz becoming a victim of the homegrown terrorist movement in Britain is a perfect translation for the character of Polyneices. There was no natural way in which a novel set in contemporary Britain could include the refusal of a political figure to have a body buried, but a boy who fled his own country to join terrorists and ended up desperately wishing to come home...that does not sound so incredibly unfamiliar. In today’s political climate, with stories like that of Shamima Begum--the girl who left Britain to join ISIS as a 15-year-old only to desperately try to return to the country three years later to give birth--in the news cycle, it is a tale that holds a very grim realism. The modernization of this myth is a reminder that these characters are archetypes and will constantly exist again and again throughout history. Sophocles was contending with these ideas in the 400s (BCE) and in 2019 we see the death of Shamima Begum’s infant son because she wasn’t allowed to return to Britain. How many Antigones must bury their brother before prejudices of citizenship no longer demand it?
2 Comments
Erik
4/13/2019 01:34:14 pm
I like how you did some research to find how the story is rooted in real life. I had not heard of Shamina's story before. You show how it maps closely to how Aneeka wanted to bring her brothers body home.
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Morgan Cavanaugh
4/20/2019 12:08:09 pm
I like the perspective you took on correlating Antigone with Home Fire. It was very interesting to see the points you were making, especially being someone who hasn't heard of the story. It's so interesting to see that myths can be modernized over and over getting different perspectives of different characters but with the same general meaning. You did really well with this analysis, good job!
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AuthorHi, I'm Carly and I don't really know how to use this website. I'm a senior Classics major with a focus in Greek language. My opinions have opinions. Archives
April 2019
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