How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #7
OEDIPUS. [. . .] You took
Your stand as my faithful guard when I was driven out of the land. (355-56)
Oedipus recalls that traumatic moment when his son drove him out of Thebes. Losing your home is pretty awful, so the fact that his daughter, Antigone, stood by him as his “guard” at that moment makes her a very important figure in the poor, wandering Oedipus’ life.
Quote #8
ISMENE. And the younger one, inferior in age,
Deprives the one born before, Polyneices, of the throne
And has driven him from the land of his fathers. (374-76)
Oedipus isn’t the only one dealing with exiled life. His son, the one who kicked him out in the first place, is now being exiled by his younger brother. Can't we all just get along? Nope. Basically the only way to keep a throne that isn’t rightfully yours is to make sure that everyone else who might want it stays very far away.
Quote #9
OEDIPUS. [. . .] I, who begot them—
Who without honor was thrust out of the land of my fathers—
They did not hold onto me or protect me! But by the two of them
I was driven out! I was sent out and proclaimed an exile! (427-30)
See the relationship between family and home here? Oedipus is an exile, which means he was kicked out of the “land of his fathers”—Thebes isn’t just where he is from, but where his roots are. So exile is, for him, a major uprooting. He has lost everything that makes him who he is.