Creon and Karamat

 I think that the characters Creon and Karamat are interesting to compare and contrast. On the one hand they both think the same way: laws of the land over any higher power. They are stern, to the point, and logical. They are leaders of their country and state and they are able to separate themselves from their families in order to do that job to the best of their ability. However, I think it is their differences that are most interesting. It is important to understand that Home Fire has the luxury of being a full length book instead of a relatively short play. This allows characters to be fully developed and we are able to see them from a lot of different perspectives including their own. Antigone also has the disadvantage of being only understood through dialogue, so we hear very little about the inner thoughts of characters. To those points, I find Karamats character to be more complex. We see him as a loving father and husband as well as the “tyrant”. He also has the added dimension of being Muslim himself at one point. This does not parallel Antigone as Creon is never stated to be from the warring state or have any connection with the culture of the body that is not being allowed burial. Having Karamat be a former Muslim and have him push back on that side of his identity is a very interesting contrast to Anneka and Isma that we don’t get to see in Creon. However, we do see Creon after his son and Antigone are dead. We see his grief and regret, and now I have to wonder if Karamat feels the same after his son and Aneeka die.