Harper Lee: Go Set a Watchman
Several days ago I finished Go Set a Watchman, and I can see why some would call it a mess, probably because it can't be resolved with To Kill a Mockingbird. But, in my opinion, that's the reader's problem, not the novel's problem or failing.
Jean Louise has three confrontations: one with her Uncle Jack, one with her father, and one with Henry, her possible/potential fiance. It was not an easy process overall, for Jean Louise had grown up in the South, and she does share many of the political beliefs regarding States Rights and also the people's rights to live their lives as they wish, free from government interference (mostly Federal Government interference for nobody seems to be concerned about State Government interference which is just as intrusive, if not more so).
I find the resolution to be very satisfying, because it's the resolution the novel has been pointing to from the beginning. That is, the resolution is satisfying if one realizes that the novel is about Jean Louise and not about Atticus or Maycomb or civil rights or any of the great issues of the day. They are there, they are important, they provide the texture to the times Jean Louis lives in and the demands made upon her as a person, but they are not what the novel is about. I will repeat: the novel is about Jean Louise.
I have also come to the conclusion that To Kill a Mockingbird is a myth, a myth created by Jean Louise about her own childhood, the Myth of a Golden Age, long past. Jean Louise believes in that myth, and so one day she discovers that she couldn't remain in that myth. The real world is waiting and she must act. Perhaps the myth is related to that bit of conventional wisdom that one can't go "home" again because sometimes that "home" has changed and sometimes because that "home" never existed.
If you find my comments short, brief, and less than satisfying--Good. Go read Go Set a Watchman and then come back and argue with me.
I stated earlier that I thought that Go Set a Watchman could turn out to be one of the ten best novels that I read in 2015, and now, after having finishing the novel, I still believe the same. Moreover, it deserves to be read again.
Showing posts with label LEE Harper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LEE Harper. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Harper Lee: Go Set a Watchman, Pt. 2
Harper Lee: Go Set a Watchman
I have now finished approximately two-thirds of the book. It covers the period of roughly twenty-four hours that began when Jean Louise first discovered that her father was reading racist material and that he and Henry belong to the Citizen's Council, of which her father was one of the directors.
The meeting is held in the courthouse, and Jean Louise climbs into the balcony where she remembers, long ago, watching her father defend a young black man from a false charge of rape. It is this reminiscence that is most likely the source for To Kill a Mockingbird. In this version, though, Atticus Finch wins the case, setting the young black man free.
Now she hears a speaker spew forth the most vile racist nonsense and trash, not much different, unfortunately, than what one can find on the Internet on many websites today. She is shocked, both by what the man is saying and that her father is sitting up there, condoning what was being said. And, Henry?, whom she was considering marrying, he is a staunch member of the council according to her aunt Alexandra.
Later, at home, she finds Alexandra in complete agreement about the ingratitude of the blacks, though she uses language that is far more gentle. The next day she visits Calpurnia, the black housekeeper who raised her and her brother Jem when her mother died. There is a polite welcome only, for there is now a wall between blacks and whites.
The major "problem" is the NAACP which comes in, stirring up the blacks, making them dissatisfied and, worse, ungrateful for all the whites had done to help and protect blacks from themselves. Blacks no longer know their place and are no longer happy with being second class citizens.
At this point, Jean Louise has not yet confronted her father and Henry about their beliefs. Part of this comes from her own confusion. How could such a change take place in two people she thought she knew and loved? Or was it that she had been blind all this time, and only now awakened to see the world of Maycomb as it really is? She swears to herself that, in all the years she spent growing up, she had never heard anyone refer to blacks by the "N" word. And now, she has heard it maybe a dozen times or more in the last 24 hours. Everything she believed about her past life in Maycomb with her father and her friends and relatives has now been called into question in the past twenty-four hours.
This is speculation, of course, but I expect that the last third of the novel will tell us about Jean Louise' confrontation with her father and with Henry.
I am also beginning to get the feeling that I have been reading the novel with a preconceived idea of what the novel is about. Again, I'm just guessing, of course, since I haven't finished the novel, and the last third may prove me wrong. My initial focus has been on Atticus Finch, to try to understand what happened, to understand the disparity between the Atticus of To Kill a Mockingbird and the Atticus of Go Set a Watchman. Perhaps I have missed the real core of the novel: it just may be that the novel is really about Jean Louise, and while what Atticus says and does is important, the novel is about her and her response to the destruction of her myth.
While most, no doubt, have been aware of the true focus of the novel, I'm a bit slow, but I occasionally get there, sometimes long after the train has pulled out. The real problem is that I have to read and evaluate Go Set a Watchman on its own terms and not try to fit it in with TKaM. This is not easy for the novel and the film version of TKaM came out first, and I have read the novel and watched the film a number of times, most recently being last year.
If there's any "fitting in" to be done, it must be the other way around. To Kill a Mockingbird must be reconciled, if possible, with Go Set a Watchman. I know that's obvious, but I'm a bit slow.
Time to settle down and finish Go Set a Watchman.
I have now finished approximately two-thirds of the book. It covers the period of roughly twenty-four hours that began when Jean Louise first discovered that her father was reading racist material and that he and Henry belong to the Citizen's Council, of which her father was one of the directors.
The meeting is held in the courthouse, and Jean Louise climbs into the balcony where she remembers, long ago, watching her father defend a young black man from a false charge of rape. It is this reminiscence that is most likely the source for To Kill a Mockingbird. In this version, though, Atticus Finch wins the case, setting the young black man free.
Now she hears a speaker spew forth the most vile racist nonsense and trash, not much different, unfortunately, than what one can find on the Internet on many websites today. She is shocked, both by what the man is saying and that her father is sitting up there, condoning what was being said. And, Henry?, whom she was considering marrying, he is a staunch member of the council according to her aunt Alexandra.
Later, at home, she finds Alexandra in complete agreement about the ingratitude of the blacks, though she uses language that is far more gentle. The next day she visits Calpurnia, the black housekeeper who raised her and her brother Jem when her mother died. There is a polite welcome only, for there is now a wall between blacks and whites.
The major "problem" is the NAACP which comes in, stirring up the blacks, making them dissatisfied and, worse, ungrateful for all the whites had done to help and protect blacks from themselves. Blacks no longer know their place and are no longer happy with being second class citizens.
At this point, Jean Louise has not yet confronted her father and Henry about their beliefs. Part of this comes from her own confusion. How could such a change take place in two people she thought she knew and loved? Or was it that she had been blind all this time, and only now awakened to see the world of Maycomb as it really is? She swears to herself that, in all the years she spent growing up, she had never heard anyone refer to blacks by the "N" word. And now, she has heard it maybe a dozen times or more in the last 24 hours. Everything she believed about her past life in Maycomb with her father and her friends and relatives has now been called into question in the past twenty-four hours.
This is speculation, of course, but I expect that the last third of the novel will tell us about Jean Louise' confrontation with her father and with Henry.
I am also beginning to get the feeling that I have been reading the novel with a preconceived idea of what the novel is about. Again, I'm just guessing, of course, since I haven't finished the novel, and the last third may prove me wrong. My initial focus has been on Atticus Finch, to try to understand what happened, to understand the disparity between the Atticus of To Kill a Mockingbird and the Atticus of Go Set a Watchman. Perhaps I have missed the real core of the novel: it just may be that the novel is really about Jean Louise, and while what Atticus says and does is important, the novel is about her and her response to the destruction of her myth.
While most, no doubt, have been aware of the true focus of the novel, I'm a bit slow, but I occasionally get there, sometimes long after the train has pulled out. The real problem is that I have to read and evaluate Go Set a Watchman on its own terms and not try to fit it in with TKaM. This is not easy for the novel and the film version of TKaM came out first, and I have read the novel and watched the film a number of times, most recently being last year.
If there's any "fitting in" to be done, it must be the other way around. To Kill a Mockingbird must be reconciled, if possible, with Go Set a Watchman. I know that's obvious, but I'm a bit slow.
Time to settle down and finish Go Set a Watchman.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Harper Lee: Go Set a Watchman, Pt. 1
Harper Lee: Go Set a Watchman
I am now a bit over 1/3 of the way through the novel. It is, as purported, an account of Jean Louise' trip home. I keep wanting to call her Scout. Her father, Atticus Finch, is suffering from arthritis, and she wants to see for herself just how bad it is.
We meet her Aunt Alexandra; Henry, the man in love with her and who has asked her to marry him; Atticus, her father; and various other inhabitants of Maycomb. There are, as should be expected, many "remember when" and "that was the time" reminiscences, and much catching up on what has happened since her last visit. We also learn about her relationship with Henry and about Dill, who is based on Harper Lee's friend, Truman Capote, and, of course, a bit of the history of Maycomb itself.
I am now at the point when Jean Louise discovers that Atticus reads derogatory material about blacks and that he and Henry are on their way to attend a Citizen's Council meeting (see note below). Atticus is on the board of directors, and Henry is one of its "staunchest members," according to Alexandra. "Not that we really need one. Nothing's happened here in Maycomb yet, but it's always wise to be prepared," Alexandra reassures Jean Louise. Jean Louise is shocked to hear this and is now on her way to the Citizen's Council meeting to see for herself what is going on.
I have read several derogatory reviews and heard about others, including one that called the novel "a mess." I don't see it, at least so far. Perhaps the "mess" comes later. On the other hand, it just may be that I'm insensitive to those flaws in the novel which are obvious to more astute readers who are trained to analyze and dissect literary works.
Well, there's still almost 2/3 of the novel to go.
From the Wikipedia article
"The Citizens' Councils (also referred to as White Citizens' Councils) were an associated network of white supremacist organizations in the United States, concentrated in the South. The first was formed on July 11, 1954. After 1956, it was known as the Citizens' Councils of America. With about 60,000 members across the United States, mostly in the South, the groups were founded primarily to oppose racial integration of schools, but they also supported segregation of public facilities during the 1950s and 1960s. Members used severe intimidation tactics including economic boycotts, firing people from jobs, propaganda, and occasionally violence against civil-rights activists.
By the 1970s, following passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s and enforcement of constitutional rights by the federal government, the influence of the Councils had waned considerably. The successor organization to the White Citizens' Councils is the Council of Conservative Citizens, founded in 1985.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_Councils
I am now a bit over 1/3 of the way through the novel. It is, as purported, an account of Jean Louise' trip home. I keep wanting to call her Scout. Her father, Atticus Finch, is suffering from arthritis, and she wants to see for herself just how bad it is.
We meet her Aunt Alexandra; Henry, the man in love with her and who has asked her to marry him; Atticus, her father; and various other inhabitants of Maycomb. There are, as should be expected, many "remember when" and "that was the time" reminiscences, and much catching up on what has happened since her last visit. We also learn about her relationship with Henry and about Dill, who is based on Harper Lee's friend, Truman Capote, and, of course, a bit of the history of Maycomb itself.
I am now at the point when Jean Louise discovers that Atticus reads derogatory material about blacks and that he and Henry are on their way to attend a Citizen's Council meeting (see note below). Atticus is on the board of directors, and Henry is one of its "staunchest members," according to Alexandra. "Not that we really need one. Nothing's happened here in Maycomb yet, but it's always wise to be prepared," Alexandra reassures Jean Louise. Jean Louise is shocked to hear this and is now on her way to the Citizen's Council meeting to see for herself what is going on.
I have read several derogatory reviews and heard about others, including one that called the novel "a mess." I don't see it, at least so far. Perhaps the "mess" comes later. On the other hand, it just may be that I'm insensitive to those flaws in the novel which are obvious to more astute readers who are trained to analyze and dissect literary works.
Well, there's still almost 2/3 of the novel to go.
From the Wikipedia article
"The Citizens' Councils (also referred to as White Citizens' Councils) were an associated network of white supremacist organizations in the United States, concentrated in the South. The first was formed on July 11, 1954. After 1956, it was known as the Citizens' Councils of America. With about 60,000 members across the United States, mostly in the South, the groups were founded primarily to oppose racial integration of schools, but they also supported segregation of public facilities during the 1950s and 1960s. Members used severe intimidation tactics including economic boycotts, firing people from jobs, propaganda, and occasionally violence against civil-rights activists.
By the 1970s, following passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s and enforcement of constitutional rights by the federal government, the influence of the Councils had waned considerably. The successor organization to the White Citizens' Councils is the Council of Conservative Citizens, founded in 1985.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens'_Councils
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Harper Lee--Great News
Harper Lee to Publish Sequel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
"To Kill a Mockingbird will not be Harper Lee's only published book after all. Publisher Harper announced Tuesday that "Go Set a Watchman," a novel the
Pulitzer Prize-winning author completed in the 1950s and put aside,
will be released July 14. Rediscovered last fall, "Go Set a Watchman" is
essentially a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird," although it was finished earlier. The 304-page book will be Lee's second, and the first new work in more than 50 years."
Link to complete article:
http://tinyurl.com/pdjrcou
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