Antigone and Rosa Parks: Standing for Their Beliefs

Antigone showed that an individual has the power to stand up to unfair rule and make a difference. Upon reading Antigone I connected Antigone’s efforts to another individual, Rosa Parks. Both women held fast to their beliefs and stood in against what they believed to be a corrupt authority. Rosa Parks, much like Antigone, went up against the odds of coming out ahead in order to achieve what she believed to be right.
Although they faced much different adversaries and stood for different causes, both Rosa Parks and Antigone show that it is very possible for an individual to make a difference. Rosa Parks was a member of the civil rights movement and she stood up to a bus driver and in a sense the white community as she fought for her rights. Antigone stood up to Creon and the law of their land as she fought for what she believed. Rosa Parks was a member of a very brave group of people who all stood together and made a difference. Antigone had her sister as support but for the most part was alone with her actions. Antigone did not have a whole group of people behind her that shared her struggles and strived for the same goals the way that Parks did. Antigone’s sister did not even entirely agree with what she was doing. I found it interesting that both of these individuals were women. In a time that women were not thought of as equals Antigone stood up to a “superior” male in her efforts. Rosa Parks stood up to a white male bus driver in a time that both women and minorities were fighting for their rights. Both of these brave women stood up for what they believed in even if it went against the rules that society set for them. Antigone was not allowed to bury her brother, but she felt that it was her right as a sister to give him a proper burial and that nothing would stand in her way. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person knowing full well that she as a minority was supposed to give up her seat in such a situation. In the end, both women faced serious consequences for their rebellious actions. Antigone was punished with death by her placement in a cave-like tomb. Rosa Parks was put into jail for her actions that day. Although they came from different times and stood for different causes, both Antigone and Rosa Parks were women who, despite the rules of society, stood for their beliefs and did not back down in resisting those who opposed their efforts. (444)