Go Set a Watchman takes us back to Maycomb, Alabama, a decade-and-a-half or so after To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout is no longer Scout but Jean Louise; Jem is dead; Atticus still works but suffers greatly, in his seventh decade of life, of arthritis; Calpurnia is old and “retired”; Maycomb’s still Maycomb in many ways, but time marches on. Jean Louise comes home to Maycomb from NYC for her annual visit and is met by her longtime best friend/boyfriend Hank, Atticus’ protege and surrogate son. He’s hounding her for a commitment, but her character hasn’t changed and she’s no easier than she was as a child. She’s independent and opinionated to a fault. Life turns much more complicated mid-novel when Calpurnia’s grandson (or great grandson?) runs over a man and the complexities of race relations in post-World War II America come home to Maycomb. To say that Jean Louise is devastated when she witnesses both Atticus and Hank, the two men she loves, siding with segregationists is quite an understatement. In typical Jean Louise fashion, she turns on a dime and lambasts her beloved Atticus with all manner of hatefulness and curses. (This after telling Hank where he can get off, no less.)
Up until this point, I only felt so-so about the novel. It has plenty of weaknesses in my opinion, so I was mostly confused about it and by it more than anything. However, once Jean Louise is brought up short by her eccentric Uncle Jack Finch and begins to get an inkling of what is really going on here, the story turns into one of my favorite kinds: a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story. You see, Jean Louise, although twenty-six years old, has never had to stand on her own two feet morally. Here’s what Uncle Jack tells her:
Dr. Finch streched out his legs. “It’s rather complicated,” he said, [. . .] “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience. There is no such thing as a collective conscious.”
—-
“. . .now you, Miss, born with your own conscience, somewhere along the line fastened it like a barnacle onto your father’s. As you grew up, when you were grown, totally unknown to yourself, you confused your father with God. You never saw him as a man with a man’s heart, and a man’s failings–I’ll grant you it may have been hard to see, he makes so few mistakes, but he makes ’em like all of us. You were an emotional cripple, leaning on him, getting the answers from him, assuming that your answers would always be his answer.” (264-65)
I LOVE the end of the story, but I won’t spoil it for anyone who’s reading this and still wants to read the book. Suffice it to say that I cried. 🙂
As for weaknesses, well, it has them. According to Annette at This Simple Home, the book wasn’t edited, and that’s pretty obvious. Sometimes it almost reads like stream of consciousness, at least to me. That alone made it a little difficult to follow. Also, I feel like Jean Louise’s reaction is a little over the top. Maybe that’s just me, or maybe it’s the fact that it would’ve actually been over the top for the time period. I don’t know. At any rate, that’s what I thought over and over again as she was giving both Hank and Atticus a very large and harsh piece of her mind. Also, for the record, Jean Louise curses just about as much (and maybe even more) than you’d expect her to. 😉
Does this book replace or complete To Kill a Mockingbird? No. Does it tarnish To Kill a Mockingbird or Atticus? No way. It’s a story about fallible people in a difficult world, but in the end, it’s about growing up. I give it a Highly Recommended. (HarperCollins, 2015)
Related links:
- Go Set a Watchman quote at Hope Is the Word
- “The Harper Lee Go Set a Watchman Fraud”–editorial I mostly agree with
- “Ten Things You Should Know About Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee” by Annette at This Simple Home
- “Odds & Ends: To Kill a Mockingbird edition” (Harper Lee/ TKM memoribilia)
- Review of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields at Hope Is the Word
Well I, for one, am glad you shared your opinions. You even made me (almost) want to read it. (I feel ambivalent towards To Kill a Mockingbird though so I do not feel immediately drawn to this one.) In the opinions that i’ve read, you seem to hit the nail on the head as far as it being a coming of age story. This is something that all kids have to struggle with at some point – is their faith and belief system their parents or will they own it for themselves? Interesting.
Thanks for sharing. I don’t know that I’m anywhere closer to reading it, but I’m glad for the spoilers in this particular case because it lets me know if I’d really want to read it or not. And I might. But I’m not in a hurry.
I think you’ve just tipped this book into the “sooner rather than later” camp. I think it’s fascinating that this was written before TKAM – and am so glad that someone suggested that Lee write the “backstory” for this one. It’s unfortunate, though, that she didn’t have/take the opportunity to clean up/edit this one for publication (although Annette’s explanation of why the publishers chose not to do it themselves makes a lot of sense.)
Ah. Obviously it’s been a long time since I’ve visited. It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks teaching. 🙂 (Camp…all fun!)
This is one that I’ve really wondered if race and location (deep South/Alabama) would impact the reading of it. A good friend read it with me. Though she is white, her husband is black. She loved and appreciated it, too.
You’re right. You can’t write much without spoilers.
I think I was surprised at how I felt toward the beginning of not loving it, too. BUT since I read it in a day, I didn’t realize it. 🙂 Yes, your turning point was mine, too.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts (and linking to my thoughts). Always appreciated.