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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Review: Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’ Gives Atticus Finch a Dark Side

We remember Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s 1960 classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as that novel’s moral conscience: kind, wise, honorable, an avatar of integrity who used his gifts as a lawyer to defend a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman in a small Alabama town filled with prejudice and hatred in the 1930s. As indelibly played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 movie, he was the perfect man — the ideal father and a principled idealist, an enlightened, almost saintly believer in justice and fairness. In real life, people named their children after Atticus. People went to law school and became lawyers because of Atticus.

Shockingly, in Ms. Lee’s long-awaited novel, “Go Set a Watchman” (due out Tuesday), Atticus is a racist who once attended a Klan meeting, who says things like “The Negroes down here are still in their childhood as a people.” Or asks his daughter: “Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and churches and theaters? Do you want them in our world?”

In “Mockingbird,” a book once described by Oprah Winfrey as “our national novel,” Atticus praised American courts as “the great levelers,” dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.” In “Watchman,” set in the 1950s in the era of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, he denounces the Supreme Court, says he wants his home state “to be left alone to keep house without advice from the N.A.A.C.P.” and describes N.A.A.C.P.-paid lawyers as “standing around like buzzards.”

In “Mockingbird,” Atticus was a role model for his children, Scout and Jem — their North Star, their hero, the most potent moral force in their lives. In “Watchman,” he becomes the source of grievous pain and disillusionment for the 26-year-old Scout (or Jean Louise, as she’s now known).

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9 comments:

Hickory said...

Not sure how I feel about "watchman" or if I will read it after reading this article...."To Kill a Mockingbird" is one of my favorite books of all time!

Anonymous said...

I agree. Can't have a decent man like Atticus reduced to a raving bigot. There really does seem to be a focus on the destruction of true heroes and beauty in our culture today.

Anonymous said...

It speaks to the duality of man. Good and Evil. But also sounds a little to much like the killing of an icon. To what purpose.

Anonymous said...

11:56 I know exactly what the purpose is $$$ sell more books

Anonymous said...


The very important context clue is this:

Watchman was her earlier effort, and didn't find a publisher.

Mockingbird was written after the Watchman rejection, and became the story/movie we cherish.

Watchman was discovered recently and decision was made to publish it, with author's approval.

Just sharing,

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
11:56 I know exactly what the purpose is $$$ sell more books

July 16, 2015 at 12:31 PM

Not exactly. It's to continue to put the whiteman down and to continue to divide our nation.

Anonymous said...

Harper is the one with the dark side.

Anonymous said...

I did not read the link,but wasn't To Kill A Mockingbird fiction?

Anonymous said...

It's weird how when the story of Watchman's publication was first released there was concern that Harper Lee was being exploited...no mention at all about Atticus and his bigotry. Makes me wonder if it's not a marketing ploy.