Rebellion represents an active attitude towards the surrounding reality. It results from the discomfort, sense of harm, limitations and disproportions perceived by an individual or a group. Apart from a conscious disagreement with the above state of affairs, rebellion is characterized by a tendency to act and, as a result, by an appropriate behavior undertaken in order to bring about beneficial changes, at least from the point of view of the rebel’s own interest. And who is a rebel? According to Albert Camus, “What is a rebel? A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. (…) A slave who has taken orders all his life suddenly decides that he cannot obey some new command”.
As eras and civilizations changed, the reasons why men revolted changed too. Among them were: power, customs, religion, law, war, environment, school, as well as the surroundings in which one had to live. Examples of rebellion can be found, among others, in literature, which presents us with both its positive and negative aspects. Although man always revolts either for his own or the general good, the form of rebellion or its effects are not always consistent with the idea itself. For if they were always positive, how did evil arise in the world?
There are negative examples of rebels in the Bible already. One of them is the well-known “light-bearer”, Lucifer, considered by the Christian world to be the creator of evil. In the beginning, he was a favorite of God himself, one could even say that he was his right hand. However, the situation began to change rapidly when the Almighty devoted all his attention to the creation of the world and men. It was then that Lucifer began to rebel and lost the favor of the Almighty. In the Christian circles, there are two different ways to interpret the causes of that angels’ rebellion. One is the literal interpretation of the words of St. John, as recorded in the Apocalypse. Lucifer is shown there as an opponent of the creation of a man in the image and likeness of God, just like angels. He is jealous of the attention God gives to men and of the feelings he has for them. His attitude leads to the war in Heaven, as a result of which he is knocked down with his allies into the abyss of hell.
The second way of interpretation can be found in the translations of Ellen G. White, among others, according to which the reason why Lucifer spoke against God was his jealousy regarding the mysteries he had passed on to Jesus (without including angels). It follows that Lucifer was not jealous of the attention and feelings of God, but wanted to rise above Him. This way of interpretation is also found in Camus, who claims that “the Prince of Darkness has only chosen this path because good is a notion defined and utilized by God for unjust purposes”. However, the course and the consequences of the rebellion are in agreement with the first interpretation: Lucifer began to look for other angels that would help him to overthrow God, for which they were cast into hell.
The author of Paradise Lost, in turn, presents us with his own vision of rebellion in the heavens. John Milton’s Satan is a proud and active figure. Together with his demons, he quickly accepts that God has knocked him into the abyss of chaos and begins to plot against God’s reign. Fallen angels very quickly transform their punishment into their kingdom. They no longer intend to serve the Almighty: ‘Better to rule in hell than serve in Heaven’. In addition to the actions of the angels, Milton also shows us that the mind can become the foundation of rebellion. He points out that: ‘The mind is its own place, and in it self. Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n’. His Satan says: ‘What matter where, if I be still the same’. It follows that the mind can not only be an observer of rebellion, but can also be its source – the rebel’s mind can create its own visions, its own world or its own needs.
This kind of rebellion, starting in the mind, is presented to us by Christiane F. in her biographical book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (the American issue of the book was released in 1982 under the title Christiane F.: Autobiography of a Girl of the Streets and Heroin Addict). The protagonist has family problems, feels rejected by her loved ones, she has no one to turn to who would listen to her and try to understand. Having no support at home, she starts looking for it among her peers, who are no strangers to drugs, and in an attempt to fit in, she sets herself on a downward spiral. Christiane does not care, however, because the most important thing for her is to adapt to the situation in which she finds herself. In these new circles of friends she seeks acceptance, closeness and understanding at all cost, as she has not experienced them in her family circle to the extent satisfactory to the psyche of a maturing teenager. She starts to take drugs herself, which behavior becomes the demonstration of her rebellion against reality.
Christiane is an example of young people’s rebellion, the causes of which can be very different: lack of help and acceptance at school, failure to deal with reality, bad atmosphere at home, lack of any meaningful communication with loved ones, constant absence of parents who work all day long, divorce, social pathologies. It is precisely such situations that pull young people towards the negative aspects of rebellion. They start to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, then they reach for more advanced stimulants, increasing the doses over time. Resources are becoming more and more expensive, so they have to resort to such forms of moneymaking as begging, stealing or sex work. And then they have a choice: death or rehab at an institution. Christiane was very lucky, however, because she saw reason in time, and when she realised what was happening to her, her boyfriend and friends, not only did she decide to end her adventure with drugs once and for all, but found enough inner strength to do so. Thanks to this, today she lives a peaceful life with her son in Germany.
While describing contemporary manifestations of rebellion, it is also worth mentioning Betty Mahmoody’s biographical book, Sold. Zana Muhsen, born in 1965 in Birmingham, is sent with her sister Nadia by her beloved father, a Yemenite, on vacation, which turns out to be an 8-year imprisonment. Two teenagers living with the knowledge that they were sold for 2000 pounds by their own father, over the course of a few months had to become hard-working women. They were forced to live the lives typical for the women of Yemen.
‘Sold. How can a woman still be sold in our day and age? I was taught in school that slavery no longer existed, that every human being had its inalienable rights’. Zana fought bravely for her freedom even when her sister was losing hope. It was thanks to her efforts that they were able to contact their mother, to meet her and to return home. Despite their objections, both of them slowly became Yemenite women. They covered their bodies and faces (‘Strangers cannot see you in such an outfit, it’s shameful’ – Abdul Chada), carried heavy water containers several times a day, took care of the house, children, cooked. Their father sent them to Yemen because he didn’t like their lifestyle in England and wanted them to become ‘decent women’. He deprived them of a wonderful childhood, destroyed their psyches, made his daughters hate him. They were raped almost every night, beaten, humiliated, deprived of their identities, operated on with razor blades, and he did not understand why they wanted to come back, why they asked, ‘When will you take us back to England?’. Zana was persistent in her desire to come back. She did not break down, she did not let go. Her rebellion grew with time. This allowed her to return home. However, she had to leave behind her son, Marcus, as the Yemeni government did not allow her to leave the country with her child. She also left part of herself there: ‘Since I came here, I have lost my nerves, health and courage in the struggle. I fought to preserve my personality, fought for survival, for food, fought to remain a human being’. She had to get used to a normal life again. To the life she had led years ago. Her freedom, for which she fought so much, was returned to her mainly thanks to herself, but also thanks to her beloved mother and the media that publicized her story. She rebelled and won. However, she had to learn to live again. ‘Often in the midst of silent, lonely nights I hear my heart howling, howling like the she-wolves looking for their young among the Yemeni mountains. (…) this is also the cry of numbers of women. All those forgotten and mocked by justice systems wherever laws are set and enforced by men, where women are treated worse than animals, where their bodies, souls and children are taken away from them’.
Paraphrasing Descartes’ famous words, Albert Camus said, ‘I rebel, therefore I am’. In this way, he gave a complete depiction of the foundations of humans’ rebellion and justified in advance their not necessarily positive behavior, because in order to exist, they must rebel. The reasons for the revolt can be external or internal. The external ones concern what exists or is created outside the mind. Man usually starts their external rebellion when they see injustice to their neighbor or to themselves, when they are fed up with the reality around them. Inner rebellion, on the other hand, is created in the mind of man. It can be an objection to themselves, but also to external factors that have forced them to close themselves inside their own mind. By rebelling, man transcends themselves, uses all the forces contained in their body and mind, starts their struggle against evil and injustice. They rebel knowing why they are doing it, but do not think about what happens when the fight is over. All that matters to them is to stand up and make impact on reality. Determined to pursue a goal, a rebellious man often does not realize that by their actions not only do they not change anything for the better, but even contribute to creating new forms of evil in the world. But does this mean that we should stop rebelling? To stop reacting to harm and injustice? Accept humiliation? No. But let us not allow our own rebellion to turn against us. Let us be aware of our own actions and the consequences that they entail. Let us rebel – let us be…