Atticus Leadership In To Kill A Mockingbird

When we examine Atticus in the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Peekay in the movie Power of One directed by John G. Avildsen, we notice that both of these characters exhibit a very common quality of integrity. This quality of integrity is demonstrated in both of these unique characters, because both of them are leaders, hold others accountable for what they each do, and are very disciplined.
These characters greatly demonstrate how to lead and not to follow, but in two different acknowledging ways. Atticus in the book To Kill a Mockingbird acknowledges leadership when he decides to take the court case, in which he will be defending a black male named Tom Robinson: ‘“For a number of reasons,”’ said Atticus. ‘“The main one is, if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town, I couldn't represent this country in the legislature, I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do something again”’ (Lee 100). This quote demonstrates Atticus's leadership of defending Tom in order to stay true to what he believes. This is a very important part of being a leader because if you do not defend what you believe in and you are following what people want you to do, you will
Atticus takes up this court case of leadership, so he can keep his head high in town and show that he can defend anybody in any type of case. Peekay on the other side of the table leads because he wants to show that no matter what race you are, you are equally right to the same rights as everyone else, such as he does when he finds out about the mixed race arena and keeps it on its foundation throughout the tough fight. Atticus and Peekay show many of the same ways of how they lead, but also reflect the differences in their leadership; in the end though, both of theses two leaders achieve their goals of leading to what they believe to be the right