In doing so, I believe Lee created an alternate version of Atticus Finch. The editor, enjoying the childhood flashbacks the most, urged Lee to write a novel set 20 years earlier, focusing on those elements of the story. Lee submitted Watchman to her editor in the 1950’s. Why is Atticus Finch so different in Watchman than he is in Mockingbird? The publication history of the two novels is crucial in answering that question. In other words, there are two Atticuses, created by the author to fit the needs of the particular book.

Instead, I think he is essentially a different character in Watchman than the reconceived Atticus in Mockingbird. I believe it is a mistake to see Atticus Finch as simply older and more racist than he was in Mockingbird. I spent the entire day reading Go Set a Watchman, but rather than do a typical review, I want to focus on four issues I think are being ignored in the early reviews and discussions of this novel.ġ. The most unpleasant surprise in Go Set a Watchman for many readers is that the beloved Atticus Finch, one of the great American literary heroes of integrity and justice, is an aging racist in the new book. This book does not come without hard questions and a look into the eyes of some of the most despicable aspect of society, both modern and past.After 55 years of waiting for a follow-up novel to Harper Lee’s classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, readers finally have the new book in their hands, and many are shocked by certain elements of it. It is a sequel about racism and the flaws of society. With that said, if you are not 14+ or a very special and intellectual adolescent I highly reccomend reading this book only if, and only if you have read to kill a mocking bird.Īctually I reccomend not reading this book unless you have read to kill a mocking bird at all. I absolutely love this book and recommend it to nearly everyone adult I can. This book looks at th product of racism and hatred and analyzes the product.

However, to say it is a book meant for anything less than high school level students is disingenuous. I will be the first to admit that this book is not perfect. This Book takes the story and analyzes the product of this fantastic diatribe against racism and thrusts it into more 'modern' appreation. To kill a mockingbird is perhaps the best American novel ever printed. It is a fantastic appreation of the culmination of racism and bigotry as applied to a fictional setting. This book is one of the paragons for literature and the furtherance of intellectual development.

Go see a watchman