Harper Lee's "Go Set A Watchman": A Tough, Important Read

By Elana Goodwin on July 18, 2015

I first read “To Kill A Mockingbird” in high school and loved it — so of course, I was super excited when I heard a second novel by Harper Lee, “Go Set A Watchman,” would be hitting shelves in July 2015, and would take place in the same world as “Mockingbird” and follow Jean Louise “Scout” Finch.

“Go Set A Watchman” book cover
Photo Credit: HarperCollins

“Go Set A Watchman” takes place 20 years after the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “To Kill A Mockingbird.” In this novel, a 26-year-old Scout returns to Alabama from New York to see her 72-year-old father, Atticus, who is suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. While home, she discovers some difficult truths about her family, her town, and those she’s closest with as civil rights tensions are high in the South.

Though “Watchman” has been called a sequel to “Mockingbird,” it’s important to note that it’s not. “Watchman” was actually written before “Mockingbird” and is in fact an early version of what came to be the beloved and much-read novel we know as “To Kill A Mockingbird.” Lee submitted “Watchman” to a publisher in 1957 and was advised to rework parts of it — she did, and a literary classic was born.

And after reading this novel, I can say thank god she did, because if what is now “Go Set A Watchman” had been what we know as “To Kill A Mockingbird,” I believe many would’ve been disappointed as we wouldn’t have had one of the greatest literary heroes of all time — Atticus Finch.

(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.)

In “Mockingbird,” Atticus was a symbol of not only morality but humanity. His pursuit of justice, not only for those deemed white and worthy, but for folks similar to the black Tom Robinson, was spurred not by race, but rather because he strived to work toward the true meaning of justice, where the innocent go free and the guilty pay. Even though Tom was found guilty and convicted, Atticus stood up for what he believed in and did what was right, his actions seemingly offering us proof that he is color blind and an advocate of equality.

Atticus’ actions in “Go Set A Watchman” seem to contradict and defy the very core of his character as we know it from “Mockingbird” which is why it’s so shocking for the reader to discover in this second novel that Atticus is racist and a supporter of segregation.

It’s in part III of the book that everything goes dark, starting with a pamphlet the size of a business envelope. Scout finds this pamphlet and it turns out to be championing the preservation of segregation. Unable to accept why Atticus would have such a pamphlet in his house, Scout slinks in to the balcony above the citizen’s council meeting Atticus is attending, and is sickened by what she sees.

“It was all a mistake,” Scout thinks when she heads to the meeting to see for herself whether Atticus and her love interest, Henry “Hank” Clinton, were really part of this citizen’s council or whether they were there to keep an eye on things. And the reader finds themselves thinking that too — that this turn of events must be a mistake. Because there’s simply no way that Lee has written such a drastic and negative overhaul for Atticus — from a man of integrity to a segregationist.

Quote by Scout from “To Kill A Mockingbird”
Photo Credit: goodreads.com

But in “Watchman,” she has written just that — the Atticus we admired and loved from our school days has transformed into someone we don’t recognize. Instead, it is Scout, or Jean Louise, as she goes by now, who as a young woman embodies the attributes we long associated with Atticus. And it is in Scout that the readers will find the literary hero of “Go Set A Watchman.”

Scout is the one who is truly color blind, who is staunchly anti-segregation, and who can’t believe the father she looked up to like a god, who she considered her moral conscience, has betrayed her in such a way. She confronts Atticus in one of the best scenes of the book, as she in some ways portrays the reader, confounded by the fact that who Atticus is isn’t who she thought he was and had built him up to be.

When confronting her father, Jean Louise says that, “I looked up to you, Atticus… if you had been a lesser man, maybe… I’d have been prepared for it somewhere along the line.”

As a reader, I, like Scout, wasn’t prepared for this huge change to Atticus’ character and felt both confused and betrayed as it seemed this Atticus was the very antithesis of the Atticus I’d known and loved.

And yet, while I found this book unsettling as it detracted from Atticus’ standing as a moral and just literary hero, I didn’t hate this book, which I know puts me among the few who are not in a rage and disappointed over “Go Set A Watchman.” This novel shows the evolution of Atticus and Scout’s relationship and how their love is unequivocal, even when Scout vehemently disagrees with Atticus’s views, thinks he’s wrong, and hates him.

And while “Mockingbird” was the book we wanted as it was a more comforting read since it showed a white man defending a black man in the face of animosity, “Watchman” is the book we deserve in 2015. Because this novel will challenge us and push us to look critically at our society and ourselves, and ensure we fight hard not to evolve in the same way Atticus did in “Go Set A Watchman.”

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