Creon Comparison with Atticus

Leadership style comparison – Atticus and Creon
John Maxwell once said, “A true leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way”. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is a prominent lawyer in Maycomb, a southern town in the 1930’s, who is trying to lead his children, Jem and Scout, into a good life. Creon, from Sophocles’ Antigone, is the ruler of Thebes, an ancient Greek city, who faces difficulty leading the city with an open mind. Atticus has a calm and intelligent style of leading his children, who he cares for, and leads them in a way so that they learn what the world truly is. On the other hand, Creon forces his power on his subjects, and is leads by his feelings, rather than his mind.
Atticus is a caring father who understands and leads his children in a way such that they can experience the world as it is. For example, he asks Jem to visit Mr. Dubose, an old lady with a bad temperament who is at the final stages of life, every day for a month and read to her. At first, Jem doesn’t understand why his father would put him through all that. But it is after Mrs. Dubose dies does Jem understand Atticus’ motive. Mrs. Dubose had been suffering from morphine addiction, but instead of dying with it, she decides to overcome it, even with the pains of going through withdrawal. Atticus says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (Lee 115). Atticus actually sends Jem to her to understand that true courage is not giving up even if one cannot win, because it is the right thing to do. Due to this, Jem understands that what Atticus is doing about the Tom Robinson case is something he is doing for what is right. Next, Atticus also leads Scout intelligently when he talks to his brother, Jack about racism in the town at the night on which Scout gets in a...