Unless you have been living in a cave for the last few months, you probably know that a new publication by Harper Lee called Go Set A Watchman has recently become available. The book was released to the public on July 14, and on July 13 many newspapers and TV news reports gave some spoilers - some readers appreciated this, and others - like me - did not.
I had pre-ordered my copy through Amazon several months ago, and it arrived in my mailbox on July 14. I wasted no time starting it, and just finished it yesterday. I think 5 days might be a new record for me reading an entire 278 page novel !
Let's start with an explanation of the title. It comes from a verse in the King James Bible from Isaiah 21:6 - "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth." In modern terms, a watchman is someone who keeps an eye on what's going on and tries to keep things on a straight moral path. In Lee's first publication, To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch is the watchman of the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Watchman was originally written in the early 1950s before Mockingbird. It is thought that Watchman was rejected for publication, but Mockingbird was then written based on the suggestions of editors. Watchman focuses on a 26 year old Jean Louise Finch who lives in NYC, but has returned home to Maycomb for her 2 week vacation. She stays with her elderly (72ish?) father Atticus and her Aunt Alexandra who has moved in to help take care of Atticus due to his advancing arthritis.
SPOILERS for the curious who have read Mockingbird:
- Calpunia has retired and Atticus no longer has a domestic servant. Reference is made to her son Zeebo and his son as well. Jean Louise (JL) visits her at her home during this story.
- Jem had died of a heart attack a few years earlier (same thing that happened to their mother when Jean Louise was 2).
- Dill is traveling in Europe but remains in touch (generally) with JL.
- Uncle Jack has retired from his medical practice and now lives in town - he has a large role in this new book.
- Very brief reference is made to the trial of Tom Robinson - for which Atticus got an acquittal. WHAT?!
- The house that JL is visiting is not the house she was raised in. That has been torn down and replaced by an ice cream shop run by one of the Cunninghams. There is no specific reference to Walter.
- JL has a boyfriend - Henry (Hank) Clinton - who was a friend of Jem's and was in his class and is now working as a young attorney with Atticus. Reference is made to him boarding across the street during their school years but not being there in the summers. (Perhaps at Miss Maudie's, although she is never mentioned.) There is a question of whether or not they will get married.
- No mention is made of the Ewell family.
- No mention is made of the Radley family, nor of the "big event" that is the climax of Mockingbird.
- The only reference made to Scout's early years in school is to make the point that she hated school and couldn't wait to be done with it.
- Aunt Alexandra has the same contentious relationship with JL - and still likes to host "teas" with the ladies of the community. She remains religious, politically conservative and politely racist. She also still harps at JL about being ladylike and having proper manners.
- Jean Louise is still called "Scout" by her family, but not in her adult world in NYC.
- We do not learn what she does in New York.
- There are a couple of chapters that are JL reminiscing about the role-playing that she and Jem and Dill did. These go into much more detail and length about these activities.
- JL also reminisces about some things that happened to Scout in her pre-teen and teen years that would have been after the time period of Mockingbird.
- We learn that Jem was eventually captain of the football team and was quite popular in high school. He also had a steady girlfriend.
Let's move on now to the big issue - the controversy surrounding Watchman. Based on the spoilers from public media on July 13, we were told the big news: Atticus is Racist !
Well, having read the book, I found that announcement to be very misleading. It's sort of like when you're watching a TV show, and they show clips from coming episodes, but once you see the actual episode you realize that the clips were misleading when taken out of context and left to the viewer's imagination.
The "big event" that happens in Watchman is that JL finds out that Atticus and Hank are at a community meeting (which might be a KKK/type meeting). She seeks them out and finds them meeting in the famous courtroom. She quietly sneeks up to the balcony and observes part of the meeting. What she witnesses is a very racist speech by one of the people at the meeting. Both Atticus and Hank sit quietly listening to the racist comments. They don't object or stop the speaker at all. JL is outraged and sickened by what she hears and leaves the courthouse while the meeting is still going on. The rest of the book is about her attempts to deal with what she has heard and seen.
My interpretation is that Atticus is never overtly racist. The fact that he is seen tolerating racist remarks is a little more complex than calling him a racist. After this event, when JL confronts him, part of their conversation is about changes that the NAACP is trying to force on the southern counties/states, and that Atticus feels they are trying to rush things a bit. His point is that here you have a group of people who have been largely under-educated and kept down for generations. You can't suddenly thrust them into positions of leadership with that weak background and expect it to go well for anyone. Is this point-of-view racist? Well, it is to someone with an extremely liberal, color-blind, mindset. However, in the context of the situation - given the political climate of the '50s and the history of Alabama - saying that is a "racist" point-of-view is way too simplistic.
Even though it is the '50s at this point, Atticus is still Atticus. He is still calm and rational. He still lives by the law (and the Bible). He still has the same strength of character and integrity that we grew to love and respect him for in the '30s. But he is now a community leader who is trying to help people of all points of view navigate a new and volatile political landscape.
When JL confronts Hank about his tolerance for the racist speaker, he tries to help her understand that as a young, up-and-coming community leader, he needs to be tolerant of all perspectives and try to mediate differences of opinion rather than inflaming the conversation by shutting someone down.
What I see in this book is Scout, once again, bringing a simplistic and immature point of view to a very complex world. After her witnessing the meeting in question, she is angry, hurt and physically gets sick over it. Then her response is to flee the situation. It is her way of saying F*** you all, y'all. She grabs her suitcase, violently throws her clothes into it, and declares she is leaving and never coming back. She throws the equivalent of a childish temper-tantrum. She is then brought back down to earth by Uncle Jack. During her conversation with him about all of this, Uncle Jack calls her a bigot. She immedately goes to the dictionary and finds this definition: "Noun. One obstinately or intolerably devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion." (p. 267)
As I see it, Go Set A Watchman has largely the same message as To Kill A Mockingbird. We see Atticus, in his very familiar calm and patient way, once again teaching an impetuous Scout that people are very complex and you can't be too quick to judge. You have to get into their skin and walk around in it for awhile before you can really understand someone.
My interpretation is that Atticus is never overtly racist. The fact that he is seen tolerating racist remarks is a little more complex than calling him a racist. After this event, when JL confronts him, part of their conversation is about changes that the NAACP is trying to force on the southern counties/states, and that Atticus feels they are trying to rush things a bit. His point is that here you have a group of people who have been largely under-educated and kept down for generations. You can't suddenly thrust them into positions of leadership with that weak background and expect it to go well for anyone. Is this point-of-view racist? Well, it is to someone with an extremely liberal, color-blind, mindset. However, in the context of the situation - given the political climate of the '50s and the history of Alabama - saying that is a "racist" point-of-view is way too simplistic.
Even though it is the '50s at this point, Atticus is still Atticus. He is still calm and rational. He still lives by the law (and the Bible). He still has the same strength of character and integrity that we grew to love and respect him for in the '30s. But he is now a community leader who is trying to help people of all points of view navigate a new and volatile political landscape.
When JL confronts Hank about his tolerance for the racist speaker, he tries to help her understand that as a young, up-and-coming community leader, he needs to be tolerant of all perspectives and try to mediate differences of opinion rather than inflaming the conversation by shutting someone down.
What I see in this book is Scout, once again, bringing a simplistic and immature point of view to a very complex world. After her witnessing the meeting in question, she is angry, hurt and physically gets sick over it. Then her response is to flee the situation. It is her way of saying F*** you all, y'all. She grabs her suitcase, violently throws her clothes into it, and declares she is leaving and never coming back. She throws the equivalent of a childish temper-tantrum. She is then brought back down to earth by Uncle Jack. During her conversation with him about all of this, Uncle Jack calls her a bigot. She immedately goes to the dictionary and finds this definition: "Noun. One obstinately or intolerably devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion." (p. 267)
As I see it, Go Set A Watchman has largely the same message as To Kill A Mockingbird. We see Atticus, in his very familiar calm and patient way, once again teaching an impetuous Scout that people are very complex and you can't be too quick to judge. You have to get into their skin and walk around in it for awhile before you can really understand someone.
In the end, she gets it, just like she got the concept that putting Boo Radley on trial for murder would be like killing a mockingbird.
... to be continued...
:)Amy
... to be continued...
:)Amy
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