Antigone

We are not what we are; we are who society recognizes us to be.

The responses from society for our actions are what gives us our sense of self.

Without other people your identity does not exist for it is society who acknowledges or denies the individual their identity.

We are who society allows us to be.

Society represents that which is more powerful than the individual.

Society’s needs are always greater than the individual.

The identity of the individual will suffer for stepping outside of the boundaries set by society for that individual.

Society sets boundaries for individuals that give the individual a certain area of movement, actions, and speech. Those individuals that cross those boundaries not only could lose their identity but will most likely suffer societal penalties that often result in death. Those individuals that live their lives and reach for goals within their boundaries, using what is within their boundaries set by the society that individual lives in, will be rewarded by reaching their goals set within the scope of limits set by society.

Using examples from the movie “The Return of Martin Guerre” one can see the importance of complying with the demands of society in order to obtain the desired identity. In 1527, a family with the name of Daguerre moved from French Basque country to a village called Artigat. This village had different moral attitudes about whom and what the individual is. The family understood this and from the beginning made changed to themselves that allowed society and the individual family member to fit together in a tighter fashion. For instance, the family Daguerre changed the name to Guerre in order to ‘fit in’ to their new society. Also the Guerre family learned to speak in a different dialect because their new found society also spoke that dialect. The most extreme example of conceding to the demands of society was the women in the family were no longer equal to the men in the family. This inequality of the sexes was demanded the most at the local church. The women in the Guerre family abided by these laws.

In the end, these compromises made by the family in order to be accepted and contribute to their new society paid off. For instance, when an imposter threatened infiltration into the Guerre family the society of the town rose up and made efforts to back the family and protect them. If the family had not chosen to make concessions, then it would not be surprising if the society they lived in would leave them to their own devices for their own defense against the imposter.

In contrast, an example of what rewards individuals receive for being accepted as a part of a particular society is from the book “Colonel Chabert.” The story is used to demonstrate that because of the greed, selfishness, and treachery of humans; one who has neither title nor estate will become invisible to society and might as well be dead.

The book tells a story about a man who was heavily wounded in the Napoleon war. Because of his extreme wound, Colonel Chabert was considered dead. Because of his perceived death, his current wife grabbed as much of his estate as she could carry and remarried and had children. As was revealed in the story, she knew earlier than expected that he was alive and prepared a defense for his impending arrival. Madame Ferraud, Colonal Chabert’s wife, prepared defenses and planned

of keeping Colonel Chabert from reclaiming his title and thus keeping him invisible to society. Keeping Colonel Chabert from being acknowledged by society would in turn keep him too weak to fight for what was rightly his. During the story, the author, Honorй de Balzac, demonstrated how the lack of identity can keep the individual week and hopeless by allowing the main character Colonal Chabert to receive just a small acknowledgement of who he really is by his attorney, Counselor Derville. Upon receipt of only a small dose of identity, Colonel Chabert gained happiness and physical strength he had not felt for years. However, Colonel Chabert never succeeded in gaining his true identity because of being so weak, and ended up rotting in a hospice outside the city. Colonel Chabert did not realize until the end that the society that he was trying to regain access to, no longer wanted an old glamorous Colonal from Napoleon’s war and simply chose not too readjust himself to the new boundaries that society gave him and thus was punished by an impending solitary death.

There are no better examples of rewards and punishments handed out by societal conformance then when one looks at individuals that are black. It is not argued that black individuals have