Go Set a Watchman

by Harper Lee
PRMS hardcover 278 pages
genre: realistic fiction

I'll start with general thoughts and reactions, then write specifics (which will be complete spoilers if you've not read it!).

I resisted reading this book for a while, skimming the news about it and initial reviews. I don't believe that Harper Lee ever wanted this book published. I think her sister protected her and her "new" lawyer took advantage of a vulnerable adult. It distresses me to think of Lee, elderly and without her dear Alice, being convinced / coerced to publish Go Set a Watchman.

Once it was actually published, the "revelation" that Atticus was a bigot / racist didn't bother me as much as the thought that there was a reason the publisher encouraged Lee to write about Scout's childhood (rather than green-lighting this book when it was received). Knowing that this was Lee's true first novel (but unpublished until recently), I didn't expect the masterpiece that To Kill a Mockingbird has proven to be.

Then two of my eighth graders wanted to do this title for book club and I knew it was time. It took me a long time to "get into" the book, but once I got past Part I, it went quickly. Overall, I liked it. I was surprised at how many literary and cultural allusions went over my head! It made me want to do some research so I could understand the references. Enough for generalities; time for specifics.

***SPOILER ALERT***

page 5 - "Cousin Joshua looked like a ratty Algernon Swinburne." This was my first "What?!" moment. Am I supposed to know who Algernon Swinburne is? This was only page 5 and I already felt slightly lost. There were hundreds (or at the very least, several dozen) references that I simply didn't "get."

page 13 - "Just about that time, Jean Louise's brother dropped dead in his tracks one day . . . " I read that and my brain just stopped. What?!?! How did Jem die? How could she mention this so casually? As a person who adores TKAM, this was a huge bombshell-drop.

page 90 - I don't really remember Dr. Finch (Atticus' brother) from TKAM (I'm overdue for a re-read), but I loved his character in this book! "Home for nineteen hours and you've already indulged your predilection for ablutionary excesses, hah!" I love the way he talks and his attitude, even though he frustrates his niece.

page 95 - From Isaiah 21:6 "For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth." I love when I find the source for the title of a book. I'd love to have a discussion with other readers on their interpretation of the meaning.

page 99 - "Uncle Jack, what does D.V. mean?" "Dr. Finch sighed his you-have-no-education-young-woman sigh, raised his eyebrows, and said: 'Deo volente. God willin' child. 'God willin.' A reliable Catholic utterance.'" What I liked best about this was that it made me feel a little less stupid. I didn't know what D.V. meant either. Jean Louise was obviously a very well-educated adult, yet she wasn't shy about asking her uncle the meaning of this expression.

page 109 - I just got the warm fuzzies reading the paragraph about the one criminal case Atticus had taken, knowing it was the one in TKAM. I truly need to re-read that book now that I've read this one.

page 115 - "Atticus killed several birds with one stone when he read to his children . . . " What an excellent thing he did as a parent! Even though he read whatever was on hand (some of it not child-appropriate), he read to them. That investment of time makes a huge difference in children's development.

page 166 - When Aunt Alexandra is ranting about the NAACP and the "uppity Yankee Negroes," I understand Jean Louise's frustration with Maycomb. Historically, more people would agree with Alexandra (especially whites in the South) than with Jean Louise. So sad.

page 181 - "Blind, that's what I am. I never opened my eyes. I never thought to look into people's hearts, I looked only in their faces. Stone blind . . . Mr. Stone. Mr. Stone set a watchman in church yesterday. He should have provided me with one. I need a watchman to lead me around and declare what he seeth every hour on the hour. I need a watchman to tell me this is what a man says but this is what he means, to draw a line down the middle and say here is this justice and there is that justice and make me understand the difference. I need a watchman to go forth and proclaim to them all that twenty-six years is too long to play a joke on anybody, no matter how funny it is." When the two eighth grade boys and I discussed this book, one of them commented on the lack of a central conflict. I believe that the disconnect between Scout's childhood memories and coming to see how things are as an adult is the central conflict. This paragraph at the end of chapter 13 is her dawning awareness.

page 188 - "When he turned around Jean Louise saw amusement banish the indignation in his eyes, then meld into an expression she could not read. She heard him mutter, 'Oh dear. Oh dear me, yes. The novel must tell a story.'" Again, Dr. Finch is such a complex character. I'm not really sure what he means by this. Jean Louise also finds him to be enigmatic. "What do you mean by that?"

page 198 - "The only thing I'm afraid of about this country is that its government will someday become so monstrous that the smallest person in it will be trampled underfoot, and then it wouldn't be worth living in. The only thing in America that is still unique in this tired world is that a man can go as far as his brains will take him or he can go to hell if he wants to, but it won't be that way much longer." Dr. Finch sounds very much like a republican or libertarian . . .

page 229 - When Henry (was he even in TKAM?) and Jean Louise are fighting about Atticus, Henry shares that "A long time ago, the Klan was acceptable, like the Masons." And he says that Atticus joined basically to understand what made them tick. Atticus as a Klan member is probably one of the things that disturbs readers most. ". . . your daddy did and still does get mighty uncomfortable around folks who cover up their faces. He had to know who he'd be fighting if the time ever came to - he had to find out who they were. . . . " The way Henry told it, it wasn't so distressing to me but it definitely made Jean Louise upset.

page 239 - I finally got to the point where I was so sick of the references I simply didn't understand that I put a post-it in and made a note that "someday" I would own my own copy of this book and mark it up, research, write in it, etc. This would be a great title to use as part of an adult discussion group.

page 246 - Atticus and Jean Louise are having a pretty heated discussion. "Honey, you do not seem to understand that the Negroes down here are still in their childhood as a people. You should know it, you've seen it all your life. They've made terrific progress in adapting themselves to white ways, but they're far from it yet." He goes on to talk about how the NAACP is causing trouble and black people voting will cause more problems. Yeah, I'm so glad Lee published TKAM instead of this sixty years ago . . .

page 249 - I love Scout's rant! "Why in the name of God didn't you marry again? Marry some nice dim-witted Southern lady who would have raised me right? Turned me into a simpering, mealy-mouthed magnolia type who bats her eyelashes and crosses her hands and lives for nothing but her lil'ole hus-band. At least I would have been blissful. I'd have been typical one hundred per cent Maycomb; I would have lived out my little life and given you grandchildren to dote on; I would have spread out like Aunty, fanned myself on the front porch, and died happy. Why didn't you tell me the difference between justice and justice, and right and right?"

page 261 - Uncle Jack (Dr. Finch) asks Alexandra for some "missionary vanilla" and when she resists, he yells, "Gracious God, Sister, get me some whiskey!" I love him and I love learning a new expression.

page 264-5 - "Every man's island, Jean Louise, every man's watchman, is his conscience." Again, I don't feel wise enough to really understand what Dr. Finch is talking about, but I loved this passage.

Overall, I liked the book more than I expected. I definitely see why her publisher encouraged her to write this story from Scout's childhood p.o.v. The scenes where Jean Louise is flashing back to her childhood and youth are the best parts - playing missionary, the high school dance, etc. I was very impressed with my two eighth grade students who talked about the meaning they got from the book and their comparisons to TKAM.