What stood out to me at the beginning of Antigone was the parallel fight between Ismene vs. Antigone and Isma vs. Aneeka. Ismene—like Isma—took the logical stance of conservative protection, opting to sacrifice a proper burial of her already dead brother for the safety of the two living sisters. Both Ismene and Isma sacrifice a level of their integrity for the larger picture, knowing they would like to fulfill their religious obligation to bury their brother as they are supposed to. But at the same time, knowing that adherence to their beliefs would be detrimental to their lives. They both choose to look towards the future and what their—and Antigone/Aneeka's—lives could hold if they do the socially expected outcome of not properly burying their brother. They choose to avoid conflict in the name of safety.
Whereas both Antigone and Aneeks cannot continue their lives if they sacrifice their integrity to abide by social pressures. Both of their lives are so dependent on faith and family that any sacrifice of that would be a sacrifice of themselves. Therefore, they decide to risk their lives, safety, and minimal social status to fulfill their obligations to faith and family. Antigone is willing to accept the consequence—death—just as Aneeka is willing to be painted as an enemy of Britain, and also possibly die.
I would guess that Shamsie intentionally named Isma and Aneeka to be similar to Ismene and Antigone—to be parallel in both name and personality.
Hey Noah! I totally agree with this. I think Isma and Ismene are extremely similar, the only difference being that Isma never really sides with Aneeka in the end in the same way Ismene does for Antigone. I wonder why Shamsie decided to make this difference in her own version?
ReplyDeleteHi Noah! These parallels are spot on. I was surprised on how much Shamie made Isma and Aneeka so similar to Ismene and Antigone. The character's morals, actions, and feelings seem so similar. I wonder if both sisters will develop similar relationships with Haemon like Isma's and Aneeka's relationships with Eamonn or if their relationships differ from the relationships in Home Fire.
ReplyDeleteHi Noah! I noticed those parallels right away too! I completely agree with you on Isma/Ismene's priority of safety. It seems that each of the characters morals and personalities are both similar with similar relationships to their counterparts in Home fire. I also agree on their similarities in name.
ReplyDeleteNoah, thanks for sharing your observations. I wrote a blog post about this same topic, so it was cool to see another person's explanation. I agree that Shamsie drew connections in multiple ways and I'm excited to see what other connections we'll notice over the course of the rest of the novel.
ReplyDeleteHi Noah, I also wrote on the similarities between Aneeka and Antigone. i agree with your points and I like how you took it a step further and analyzed the dynamics between Aneeka and Isma and the similarities between that and Antigone and Ismene.
ReplyDeleteHey Noah! I really liked your exploration of Aneeka and Antigone's motivations. Your idea that a sacrifice of their ideals would be a sacrifice of themselves really rings true in both stories. I wonder if you would apply the same concept to Karamat/Creon's personal beliefs?
ReplyDeleteHi Noah, I appreciate your take on the parallels with Home Fire and Antigone. I was also invested in the comparison/differences between Antigone and Ismene and their Home Fire counterparts. I agree that Shamsie was purposeful in making the names similar to those in Antigone; it definitely helps with seeing the similarities within characters!
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