GSAW review

Repeat after me: This is not a sequel. This is not a sequel. This is not a sequel. There, that should do it.

If you’ve ever heavily revised your own work, or had someone help you with that process, you should know that the end product is sometimes very different from the original piece. You take what works, ditch the rest, rework it til you get a worthy product. That’s exactly what happened with Go Set a Watchman turning into TKAM. If you are a TKAM lover you will recognize pieces of it in GSAW. It’s curious just from a writer’s perspective that some characters and events that are iconic in TKAM are just little bits of memory in GSAW and some of them don’t have the same results. I won’t say more for those of you that like to remain unspoiled about such things. So from one perspective, it’s a fun intellectual game to go through and spot those elements.

Writing-wise it is not strong. There’s not a lot of reason within GSAW to care about the characters if you don’t already love them from reading TKAM. I do find the plot intriguing: a woman in her young 20’s who has left her home in Maycomb to make a new life in New York City, coming to visit every so often, and struggling with belonging, loyalty, and identity. If you’ve ever realized the flaws in something you once held as idyllic, then you will relate to Jean Louise on some level.

It’s written in third-person limited from Jean Louise’s perspective, and we get bits of her childhood background told in flashbacks throughout the narrative. Some you’ll recognize; some you won’t. Some of the characters’ behavior and actions will prove to you that it’s not a sequel, if you didn’t already get that through your head. There are inconsistencies that wouldn’t be there (presumably) if this was a true sequel. The relationship between Scout and her aunt, for instance, is not believable in the context of how it ended in TKAM and how you might fill in the blanks that they learned to value each other despite their very different perspectives. If you remember that GSAW came first, this shouldn’t bother you though.

Now for the controversy. Much of the conflict is driven by characters’ responses to the Supreme Court decision to force integration in the South. Is Atticus a racist? I say no, in a semi-spoilery explanation. (THIS IS YOUR SPOILER ALERT!)

One of the themes of TKAM is seeing things from another’s perspective; getting in their shoes and walking around in them for awhile. How would a southern gentleman from ALABAMA respond to this situation? The lines being thrown around the internet as proof that Atticus is a racist are taken greatly out of context. Uncle Jack explains some of what appears to be Atticus’s racism to Jean Louise. She has discovered what she thinks is this great flaw in her father and Uncle Jack helps her work it out. Atticus went to a Klan meeting once but it was just to see who was involved so he could stand up to them if need be. The quotes regarding Atticus asking Scout if she wants the black population invading their social spaces or whatever is VERY much being cherry picked to drum up hysteria. In context, he’s meaning that question as they are right now in that moment. It’s actually an interesting commentary on what happens to communities who have change forced upon them by the Supreme Court and other distant groups with no understanding of the actual people and the consequences then put on all involved, rather than letting states lead through organic mind-changing and persuasion, (Wait, that sounds vaguely familiar…) His point is that of course he views everyone as equal, but neither group, white or black, is ready for integration because the white community needs to work through their bitterness and the black community needs to learn skills to survive in this society now. You can’t litigate your way into knowing how to run a store, hold office, etc. Scout is angry that the people of Maycomb aren’t doing more for the black community, but Atticus’s perspective is that you can’t rush it. They both don’t like the Supreme Court decision. You can interpret that as “racist” through our modern lens but it fits their character. It would be unbelievable and poor writing to write southern characters in that era as progressive. The conflict between Scout and Atticus actually reminds me of George Washington Carver and WEB DuBois’ disparate views on how to successfully integrate. Carver wanted to go peaceably, slowly, through education and with a long end-game, to show the white community that the black community was valuable and worth bringing into the fold, so to speak, while DuBois was much more on the we’re here and you better like it end of things. (That is a really rough summary of their perspectives, so sorry, history buffs.) It’s an accurate look at how people thought about a serious issue. You can’t force a heart change and culture shift with a law.  

It’s a quick read because the writing is simple and the narrative is not complex. There is cussing, just fyi. If you’re curious, read it, keeping in mind that IT IS NOT A SEQUEL. It’s not going to be a classic but it’s worth one reading.