Ethics are moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity. In Home Fire as well as Antigone, ethics and morality are a recurring motif. Every individual differs in their morals and beliefs which could lead to conflict. These two pieces of work explore that.
Where should Ismas loyalty lie – with her brother or her country?
In Home Fire, since all the characters have differing morals and beliefs, this causes conflict between the characters and the main idea of the novel is therefore situated around “how far one would go to protect their loved ones”. The definition of ‘protection’ differs according to an individual’s morals and ethics. This can be seen when Aneeka is absolutely reviled by Isma’s decision to contact the police to inform them of Parvais’ decision. It shows the deep irony that Aneeka feels more betrayed by Isma’s tattling of their brother to the police than she does at Parvais leaving the safety of a peaceful country to wage war and violence against countries like the one he just left; the one where his sisters live. However, Aneeka is unable to see the real reason why Isma did what she did. In this situation. Aneeka’s loyalties lie with her brother. She is willing to go however far to be by him, as she believes that since Parvaiz is family no matter what he does her loyalities lie with him, contradicting to this, Isma’s loyalties lie with her country as her brother is involved in something that could potentially cause harm to numerous people, including her family. Therefore she made the decision to tell the police for the greater good to society. Isma is devastated by the fact that Parvaiz has gone the same route as their father, as she knows what living in the shadow of a man branded a terrorist is like for Muslim families in Britain, therefore she is disassociating her family from Parvaiz, as a way of “showing her love” and “protection”. Therefore through this act of Isma, it can be seen that she is more reserved and obedient than Aneeka. Society’s laws are engraved in Isma’s morality, so much so that she chooses to tell the police regarding her brother, as a way of protecting her family. This shows her moral priority and obligation towards her beliefs and religious views.
By informing the police of Parvaiz’s intentions, did she make the right or wrong decision?
Isma’s relationship with Parvaiz was a frail relationship to begin with. Isma’s connection with Parvaiz therefore was not sufficed in order for her to feel the need to protect him from the laws, as well as take the risk of putting her family in danger. Another aspect that could be looked at is that, Isma could have taken this decision to tell the police as a way to help Parvaiz, based on morals. By doing so, she could help make her brother come out stronger from the situation by reshaping his morals and ethics. She also took this drastic step in order to protect her family and do the greater good. Thus, Isma reporting her brother to the police should be reconsidered as an act of betrayal towards him, although he is her brother. However, he betrayed the family first by taking the decision to join the ISIS. Therefore this act of hers should be considered as an act of obeying her moral values.
Can there be a correct moral decision when faced with the impossible choice between family loyalty and duty to society?
Every individual has differing moral beliefs, values and ethics. Everyone is entitled to holding those beliefs and values, therefore there is no definite right or wrong answer. In my opinion having to choose between family loyalty and duty to society, one must find a grey patch between the both, and analyse which one would cause the greater good. In Isma’s situation she made the choice of duty to society over family loyalty as her morals forbid her from supporting this immoral act. In Antigone, Antigone is forced into a choice between obeying a decree of the King that states she cannot bury her traitor brother, leaving him to the mercy of the carrion or following her humanity and sisterly devotion in defying the order and burying her brother anyway, a decision that would result in her own death. Here we can see that Antigone decides to go against the government in order to bury her brother, showing her love by taking the decision that sticks to her morals, knowing that her life would be taken in this process