Answer

My Personal Connection to Antigone

            My personal connection to Antigone is a topic that I still find very sensitive. It relates to the reaction of Antigone and Ismene to the death of their brothers. In usual circumstances, it is expected that the death of a family member, whether good or rogue, will be met with so much sorrow. The grieving family will still be sad and want to bury their loved one rather than leave him to rot in the wild or in the mortuary. Unfortunately, there is always so much controversy on how criminals should be treated upon their death.

            A few years ago, my brother Michael was arrested for engaging in violent crime. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. As a family, this was very devastating, especially since we had already lost our parents and Michael was meant to care for us. My sister felt betrayed by his actions, and her anger worsened over the years. She vowed to distance herself from him.

            Instead of forgiving him and helping him through to become reformed, she never wanted to visit him or even talk to him. I, on the other hand, was willing to help him become a better person. I knew there was no excuse for what he did, but I also understood that he was trying to get us a better life though through the wrong means. Maybe it was the burden of having to care for us that overwhelmed him. Michael was only 27 years old.

            On one fateful day, we got a call from the correctional facility informing us that he had passed away. Michael had gotten into a fight with another inmate who stabbed him to death. They wanted to know if we could arrange for his burial, or have the facility take care of it. I was devastated so I broke down crying, mourning for the loss of my dear brother. My sister, on the other hand, was unmoved.

            “He deserves it!” she said. “There is no excuse for his reckless behaviour knowing very well that he was supposed to take care of us.” She suggested that acquiring any funeral expenses for a criminal was a waste of useful resources. He deserved to be buried without honour. My sister argued that having his grave besides that of our parents was disrespectful. She felt that it tainted our good family name as everyone passing by would see it and associate our parents with his criminal activities.

            Since we wanted different things, we disagreed and got into an argument. I believed that as a Christian, we should be able to forgive his transgressions and bury him with honour as the only family we had left. My sister could not hear any of that. She felt that the law was right to put him away for 30 years, and since there was the option of having the facility take care of it, we should not get involved with the criminal.

            She was embarrassed of being associated with him. The society already sets itself apart from people who have been incarcerated. Rather than give them a second chance, the ex-convicts are always treated as the people they were before reforming. Even though people know that it is wrong to discriminate, and that everyone deserves a second chance, many ex-convicts do not get such privilege.

            I was disappointed because of the expectation that my sister would want to bury our brother. Instead, she wanted nothing to do with even after his death. We could not agree, just as Antigone could not agree with Ismene on the right course of action. Just as Antigone had to bury Polyneice on her own, I also buried my brother without the support of my sister. I had to bury him at the public cemetery since it is what I could afford. At least it was a decent burial with the only person who truly cared for him.

            A year later, I got a call from my sister asking to be shown my brother’s grave. Finally, she was feeling guilty of her actions, just as Ismene regretted her actions. It was a relief to learn that she had finally regretted her decision. However, I felt that taking her to his grave was going to be a sign of betrayal to my late brother. She distanced herself from him, and could not listen to reason.