Imagine finding out your parent is a very different person than you thought. Imagine if someone who taught you valuable lessons as a child asked you to go against those very lessons when you became an adult. And then image if that person whom you respected tried to tell you to do things you believe to be immoral and unjust. The book Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee explores this progression though the protagonist Jean Louise Finch. She witnesses her father acting out of character, causing her to question many things in her life. Go Set a Watchman, set in Alabama during the 1950s, is said to be the actual first draft of Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird but instead is now the second part of the story.
Jean Louise “Scout” Finch is now 26 years old and returns home to the fictional Maycomb, Alabama from New York for an annual visit to see her family. When she arrived to town, Jean Louise (she no longer goes by Scout) sees her boyfriend Henry Clinton, who happens to work for her lawyer father. Clinton takes Jean Louise to see her father, her Uncle Jack, and her Aunt Alexandra, who takes care of the house because Calpurnia retired. While at home, Scout finds a packet simply called “The Black Plague” in a pile of Atticus’s papers. Later she follows him to a Council meeting where a man gives a racist speech. Horrified, she leaves the meeting early and then lashes out at Atticus saying she would never forgive him for what he has done. the combination of those events leads Jean Louise to questions her belief that her father was a good and decent man she has always respected.
Lee explores the theme of society and class and examines what is considered acceptable for someone to do, to say, and to look like in the late 1950s. For example, when Aunt Alexandra says, "Jean Louise, did you come down on the train Like That?" (Lee 45), it shows that she only cares about Jean Louise’s appearance regardless of what Jean Louise thinks. Lee also explores the theme of race and how people divisive opinions were back then. When Henry says, “The South's the land of opportunity now” (Lee 243. He believes that all in the South should be treated equally. This is very different from some of the older white men who view black people in the same social class as lower than trash.
Go Set a Watchman is a thought-provoking book that demonstrates how differently people of color were treated in the 1950s. After I finished, I wanted to reread To Kill a Mockingbird to better understand how the characters developed and changed from one novel to the next. Additionally, it made me realize that we aren’t done from an equality perspective. The actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and thousands of Americans who support #Blacklivesmatter have helped improve racism in America since the 1950s. I can’t help but think about how far we still need to go before all people, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identification, will truly be treated as equal.