Individual Freedom Overcomes Social Responsibility

In the never-ending battle between the ideas of individual freedom and social responsibility, individual freedom is the victor. This clash can be seen in Antigone’s trials in Sophocles’ Antigone, Emerson’s “Self Reliance”, and Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” Though these writers convey the same idea, they are expresses in many different ways. Emerson wishes all to care about themselves to show their individualism. Thoreau and Sophocles both articulate that one should make their own …

…ideas expressed by Sophocles, Emerson, and Thoreau, one can understand the approval on individual freedom and the dislike of social responsibility. Antigone’s battle with Creon showed how an individual may lose the battle to the monarch but the war goes to the individual. Emerson’s view on nonconformity shows a more practical way to practice individual freedom in one’s life. Thoreau showed in his own life an extreme way of being an individual.