Go Set a watchman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have finished reading Go Set a Watchman.

While it is true that the writing is not of the quality of TKAM, GSAW is still a complete book that is well written. It deals with the theme of racism in a different way. Because Scout is now "Jean Louise", a 26 year old woman who has been living in New York City, her return to Maycomb County opens her eyes to the racism of some of the people she holds most dear. This book is very much about childhood illusions being shattered and losing the idea of the perfect parent whose actions and thoughts have hitherto governed our own. It's difficult to read because of the subject matter; the ideas about race are stated bluntly in the form of heated arguments.

To be sure, the book loses some of the plot lines and character development in favor of exploring themes of racism. It also loses the charm, innocence, and fantasy elements of Scout's voice in TKAM. Go Set a Watchman is more heavily weighted toward the importance of its themes and loses out on the crafting of the text. I was interested to note that there are no long passages in common between GSAW and TKAM. TKAM is closer to a completely different book than a rewrite.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book, a classic. Go Set a Watchman is a good book, and an important book for its discussion of racism (especially considering the year it was likely written), but it is not a classic in its own right. I would still recommend it, though, as it does stand on its own.

This. I'm not yet finished reading, but....(spoilers below)....


I feel they have to be read as two separate works, which I'm having a hard time doing. PP, how did you come to terms with the fact that the Tom Robinson plot line was COMPLETELY changed in GSAW? As in, Scout recalls that he has been acquitted - that Atticus was successful and tread entirely new ground in his defense of Tom.

I'm an English teacher, and in talking to one of my colleagues, she told me that apparently Harper Lee did not want to change GSAW, which as we know was written before TKAM.

Also curious as to what you meant by losing out on crafting of the text....

At any rate, looking forward to finding time to finish this! I teach TKAM every year, so for better or for worse, I think it will be a valuable read.

[Anonymous]

PP, how did you come to terms with the fact that the Tom Robinson plot line was COMPLETELY changed in GSAW?

That was hard, but it was harder for me to come to terms with Atticus's beliefs and Jean Louise's complete disillusionment. Seeing her decide that her childhood vision of Atticus as wise and perfect (which was also my view of him in TKAM) was wrong was hard to read. I was ready after the press to read about ATticus as a racist, but I was hoping he'd strike me as a completely different character. It was upsetting to me (even though I try to remind myself they are just made up characters!) to see that Jean Louise in GSAW seems to be remembering the same father that all of us who've read and loved TKAM are remembering. It made me feel just as taken in by Atticus as Scout was! It also made me wonder so much about how Lee was able to write TKAM. It starts to take on a really different spin when you think of her vision of Atticus in his 70s that she wrote in GSAW. It's so hard to believe that she could have written TKAM with the innocent voice of Scout. That's obviously not to say there isn't plenty of racism in TKAM, but there are at least redeemable characters that give the book hope. GSAW feels pretty bleak as only Scout, who has lived somewhere other than the South, speaks out against racism.

Also curious as to what you meant by losing out on crafting of the text....


I felt that in the last section or two of the book she got so caught up in the arguments between Jean Louise and Atticus and Jean Louise and her Uncle that she kind of lost the flow of her beautiful descriptions of setting and culture. In TKAM I don't feel that she ever loses that flow and voice, but in GSAW I felt that the dialogue got a little bit more in to an argument about race that any two people could have had rather than keeping a voice unique to the characters. In other words, she wasn't as able to craft a story to get her point across; instead she had to resort to straight ahead dialogue. It's fine, just not as moving, interesting or subtle as it could have been. I suppose that was the point, but it was kind of like getting smacked across the face with it.