The book cover has an image of train tracks on the inside. This is a journey that Scout takes but the emotional journey, the awareness she finds eventually; the closure of true understanding is the real journey and not the one where she visits home.
I read the book waiting for the prejudice and bigotry to show. I was eager to read about the fall of Mighty Atticus. He is the hero for Scout/ Jean Louise and I find he remains a hero even after the last page is read. Atticus sums it perfectly when he says, “Hypocrites have just as much right to live in this world as anybody.” The book gives us food for thought, allowing us to ponder and reflect on the times we live in today even though the book is set in the mid 1950’s.
[color-box color=” customcolorpicker=” rounded=false dropshadow=false]“Hypocrites have just as much right to live in this world as anybody.”[/color-box]
As I read the much debated and a bit controversial book by the iconic Harper Lee, I agreed with the words on the jacket of the book, “Here is an unforgettable novel of wisdom, humanity, passion, humor and effortless precision – a profoundly affecting work of art that is both wonderfully evocative of another era and relevant to our own times.”
The language, visual imagery and the situations, both the funny ones and the confrontations, are expressed with such clarity that I could imagine myself being right there with Jean Louise. Her flamboyant, impulsive nature; fiery and outspoken, were rare indeed in the mid-1950’s. She was a trail blazer and this is what the book is about. Not the fact that her father was biased but that she finally realized who she was. Not just a shadow or copy of her father but an individual with her own thoughts and who stood by her views.
[color-box color=” customcolorpicker=” rounded=false dropshadow=false]As I read, I found the truth that each one of us is like Atticus & Scout, we see things from our own perspective. [/color-box]
All the bad press, the book being a sequel and Atticus being a bigot are over hyped and just a knee-jerk reaction to the book. As I read, I found the truth that each one of us is like Atticus & Scout, we see things from our own perspective. It is a book about a father-daughter relation and how our thoughts, actions and decisions are influenced by our father or parents. That a family matters, and is our backbone, is amply expressed in this book.
A line in the initial chapters about love and marriage is echoed in the final chapters clearly highlighting the importance of family. The book has a parallel love story that moves along with the Hank/Henry.
“Love whom you will but marry your own kind was a dictum amounting to instinct within her.”
Scout says the above lines when Hank initially proposes her and it is echoed by her Uncle, Dr Finch. The book progresses through discussions and conversations and the one sided love that Hank feels is also explained with them.
[color-box color=” customcolorpicker=” rounded=false dropshadow=false]The essence of the book is its title, “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience.” We cannot be a collective conscience as a nation or group. [/color-box]
The incident that sets off Scout to face her father and accuse him of being a bigot and the eventual realization, form the crux of the book. It also helps her decide what to do about Hank. That the issue is raised and seen from different points of view add to the clarity of what is needed, how instead of avoiding the prejudice Scout should face it. Wisdom comes from an unexpected source, surprising me.
The resolution comes with startling clarity and Scout’s world is set right again. The essence of the book is its title, “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience.” We cannot be a collective conscience as a nation or group. Each one to its own. The ideals and thoughts of two divergent points of view can coexist and that’s what the book expresses so well.
Harper Lee sure knows what she is writing about. She has handled a volatile issue with clarity and hindsight, making the book ‘Go Set A Watchman’ an iconic book. It simplifies and establishes that there are always two sides of a story and one cannot exist without the other. If our children realize and understand the trick of choosing the right one, consider it the greatest parenting success. Atticus was rightfully proud!
I leave you with the best lines form the book.
“Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends.”
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