Theme Of Unbending Conviction In Antigone

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Unbending Conviction DEMI CHEN The toughest iron tempered strong in white-hot fire, you’ll see it crack and shatter —Sophocles, Antigone (529-31) ntigone plays with the notion that we often want our systems of ethics to be strict and absolute; that we would often prefer there to be no flexibility in our morals, only a simple and strong dichotomy of good or bad, right or wrong. But as we grow, life’s inevitable ambiguity forces us to question what we believe, to prioritize and occasionally reconcile conflicting sets of values. How, then, can we come to terms with the shades of grey when we are used to viewing the world in black and white? In Antigone we are told that striving for conviction is crucial if we are to navigate our ambiguous…show more content…
To Foer’s grandmother, who narrowly survived the Holocaust, food is much more than eating—“it is terror, dignity, gratitude, vengeance, joy, humiliation, religion, history and, of course, love” (74). It brings back vivid memories and preserves family history whenever she shares the comforts of food with loved ones. However, for Foer, some values, such as refraining from eating animals, need to come above others, and other vehicles, not food, should be used as “handles for the memories that they once helped [him] carry” (78). Like Antigone, Foer makes a sacrifice to align his actions with his moral beliefs. Unlike “unbending” Antigone, Foer admits that in moments of weakness, he would find “ways to smudge, diminish and ignore” his self-imposed ethics of eating (75). “We were honest people who occasionally told lies, careful friends who sometimes acted clumsily. We were vegetarians who from time to time ate meat,” Foer explains, his justification being that he “was only human” (76). Indeed, Foer’s use of parentheses throughout his essay identifies a man prone to mistakes and doubt, wracked with uncertainty over his choice to abstain. And yet, Foer sticks to his guns, aspiring to perfect vegetarianism even as he suffers occasional lapses. “If nothing matters, there is nothing to save,” he says, quoting his grandmother, who during the War refused to eat food that wasn’t…show more content…
If we have no conviction, dismissing the conflict is a selfish convenience rather than a solution. In considering vegetarianism, Wallace asserts that “even the most diehard carniphile will acknowledge that it’s possible to live and eat well without consuming animals” and, ambivalent, asks his readers: “What ethical convictions have you worked out that permit you to not just eat but to savor and enjoy flesh-based viands?” (354, 355). Unlike Foer, Wallace has not made a choice. His indecision manifests itself in the essay’s numerous footnotes, which see Wallace explain, clarify, and grapple with the lobster’s plight. And while the parentheses in “Against Meat” see Foer coming to terms with his decision to forego meat, Wallace’s footnotes show a man unable to commit himself. He “like[s] to eat certain kinds of animals and want[s] to be able to keep doing it,” despite the fact that he cannot defend it (354). While he pleads with readers to consider the lobster, he does not insist that we spare the lobster. But even if some of us disagree with Foer’s justification for not eating meat, it is hard to refute Wallace’s exhortation to give vegetarianism—and eating animals—serious thought. Wallace points out that “it takes a lot of intellectual gymnastics and behaviorist hairsplitting” not to see that a lobster suffers before it finally dies, just as it takes conscious ignorance on our part to skim over his

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