Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

      As a 9th grade English teacher, I felt it my duty to expedite my reading and critique of this controversial blockbuster. Surprisingly enough, I enjoyed it but not for the same reasons I enjoyed Lee's masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird.  Things loved about Mockingbird are its seamless Southern Gothic prose; strong cast of characters and heroes; and the plot's complex treatment of themes of prejudice, coming of age, and justice in an unjust world. If you are looking for these elements outright in Watchmen, you will not find them, or rather, you will find the underdeveloped seeds of them.

Instead, in Watchman, you will find twenty-six-year-old Jean Louise Finch returning home from New York City (I missed what she does there?) to visit Maycomb.  Upon arrival Jean Louise is already conflicted about whether or not she intends to someday marry Henry 'Hank' Clinton, the neighborboy from across the street whom Atticus has taken under his wing.  Just as brave and brazen as before, Jean Louise immediately finds trouble when she steps into a council meeting where her father seems to be playing a key role in navigating th "civil rights problem."  Will Jean Louise come to terms with her past and reconcile the pure adoration she once felt for her father now that she realizes even Atticus isn't morally perfect?

     I read Watchmen as a prequel rather than its chronological sequel. This is because Harper Lee wrote this manuscript first, met with an editor, and then wrote Mockingbird. Thus, as a writer, it was  more interesting to read this new book thinking about how Harper Lee worked backwards to arrive at her masterpiece. This was also a lot more fulfilling than endlessly comparing and contrasting the two works to find Watchman's shortcomings.

    Jean Louise's Uncle Jack Finch is a hero in this book, and bestows upon her some grand nuggets of wisdom : “it’s always easy to look back and see what we were, yesterday, ten years ago. It is hard to see what we are. If you can master that trick, you’ll get along.”