Go Set a Watchman

Recently my bookgroup decided to read Harper Lee's 1960 classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. I was in two minds about reading the companion book 'Go Set a Watchman', which was just published in 2015. But in the end I did. Here's an interview with myself about it. 

So why all the fuss? 

There was quite a bit of controversy in literary circles when it was first published last year because Lee was an old woman (she has since died), and some people felt that she may have been pressured into publishing this work which she actually wrote in the 1950s, before 'Mockingbird'. 

Basically, it's the story of Scout Finch's coming of age. She is 26, returning to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama from studying up North in New York. She sees the town and its inhabitants through new eyes and questions her place in it. The biggest crisis relates to her relationship with her father Atticus. The book's climax describes the severing of her 'watchman' or conscience from that of her father and thereby becoming her own person. 

Are you glad you read it? 

I deliberated a fair bit before taking the plunge and reading it. Even then, I read it quite quickly and with low expectations. I tried to treat it as a research task and not get too emotionally involved. 

Clearly it is an inferior book - people who've said it's like the first draft of 'Mockingbird' are pretty much on the money. However, I didn't hate it. In fact, I think it helped me appreciate the first book in a new way. 

But what about the alleged portrayal of Atticus as a racist? 

Well, it wasn't as clear cut as all that, in my opinion. Seen through the eyes of Scout the child, Atticus Finch is pretty much faultless. But seen through the eyes of 20-something year old Scout, her god turns out to have clay feet. It is around the issue of civil rights that they clash - Scout is horrified at her hometown's calcified parochial attitudes towards Negroes, her own father included. Whereas the aging Atticus is uncomfortable about the rapid changes taking place and does not think that the Negroes are ready to participate in society as equals to their white counterparts. 

Personally I think it's a bit too easy to call somebody a racist from where we sit on the other side of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement (which I must confess I know embarrassingly little about). If the Atticus of 'Mockingbird' is the same Atticus of 'Watchman', then he is a man of integrity and truly believes that all humans should be treated equally, simply because they are human. Scout does accuse him of denying Negroes full human rights because he doesn't think that they are 'ready' to have the vote. But he is also the kind of person who believed that not every white man should have the right to vote. So, maybe he was a bit racist by 21st century standards, but he was still ahead of his time.

OK, so would you recommend others to read 'Watchman'? 

Well, it depends. If you adored 'Mockingbird' as one of the finest pieces of literature ever written, then it may break your heart to read a lesser piece by the same author. If you loved the Atticus portrayed so brilliantly by Gregory Peck in the black & white movie, then maybe you'll be unimpressed by the 'shades of grey' version we find in 'Watchman'.

But, if you are curious about the wider social & historical context of the first book and you can handle a bit of uncomfortable exploration, then maybe it's worth a look. Someone in my book group suggested that 'Watchman' is actually the book we need to read today, in that it speaks to the question 'What is racism?' in a more nuanced  fashion than did 'Mockingbird'. It challenges us to consider the prejudices inherent in each of us and the enormous impact that a parent has on a child's worldview.

The message of 'Watchman' is consistent with that of 'Mockingbird' - "you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them for a while". It also is a poignant tale of a young woman re-examining her childhood suppositions and finding her own path.