Where Reason Ends

Harper Lee’s much-anticipated ‘Go Set A Watchman’ might not measure up to the masterpiece it was a first draft for, but it contains lessons for our young, confused democracy, says Devjani Bodepudi.

 

“For thus hath the Lord said unto me: Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.”
—Isiah 21:6

The entire novel hinges on the above quote. It’s about what we see and what we do about what we see. It’s a novel about justice, as was the much beloved classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.




It is already well known that Go Set a Watchman was Harper Lee’s first novel. It was rejected by her publishers, although not completely dismissed. They asked her to try a rewrite from the point of view of the child, Scout. The world was then given To Kill a Mockingbird. The book had a host of memorable characters one could easily fall in love with and perhaps even identify with, and that was that, for the time being.

The choice, from the marketing and publishing point of view, was a good one. To Kill a Mockingbird offered a picturesque, almost pastoral image of the American South. It provided us with a complex theme made simple, through the eyes of a child, but most importantly, it gave us an icon. Atticus Finch was a hero, not only for his daughter but for all of us. He was the father we all wished, perhaps even believed, we had.

As with Scout, we’ve also been forced to grow up. Her coming of age became our coming of age. Our expectations of the discarded novel were set too high and the rose-tinted glasses have fallen away.

And that is why Go Set a Watchman was so heartbreaking. Personally, I believe, it came at exactly the right time, in terms of chronology. It is a fitting sequel to a book that chose to tackle racial prejudice in the Deep South through the naïve assumption that justice is pretty much black and white (pardon the pun).

As with Scout, we’ve also been forced to grow up. Her coming of age became our coming of age. Our expectations of the discarded novel were set too high and the rose-tinted glasses have fallen away. As Scout becomes Jean-Louise, an adult whose idea of justice and what is right and wrong seem not to have changed, we approach Go Set a Watchman with the belief that it will provide us with the very same Atticus, Jem, Dill and Calpurnia who will guide us through the quagmire of racial injustice. Instead, Scout—she will always be Scout for me—is taught that justice and injustice, right and wrong, and even her father, are not what she always believed they were.

“The one human being she had ever fully and wholeheartedly trusted had failed her; the only man she had ever known to whom she could point and say with expert knowledge, ‘He is a gentleman, in his heart he is a gentleman,’ had betrayed her, publicly, grossly, and shamelessly.”

Atticus is not a racist. He’s a realist, in his eyes, for the purposes of this novel. For him, it is not as clear-cut as it is with Scout. He recognises the differences between black and white folk, but Scout was and always will be colour-blind.

As a result of this, and the jumpy, stop-start nature of Lee’s writing, we too feel betrayed. Speaking of the writing, it is only to be expected. It was rejected at first, remember? So I will put the writing style to one side and deal with the betrayal of ideals and character.

Atticus is not a racist. He’s a realist, in his eyes, for the purposes of this novel. For him, it is not as clear-cut as it is with Scout. He recognises the differences between black and white folk, but Scout was and always will be colour-blind. Atticus is looking out for the greater good; in his opinion, black people are not ready for advancement. He’s a segregationist, but he would never dream of not giving them a fair trial in a court of law. For Scout, however, the question is, “if not now, then when? Surely, if we keep holding them back, they’ll never be ready!”

 

It sounds a little familiar to the whole situation we have here in India, don’t you think? At least for some people. Reservations, whole communities segregated and earmarked for certain jobs. The debate is still raging, even if it is in hushed tones, about the right and wrong of allowing certain people access to the “residents’ lifts” instead of the service lift. Should our children be marrying someone from that state? Really?

The old Scout had to metaphorically die first, according to Dr Finch, in order to break away from the ideals that so grated on her own conscience, in order to reconcile herself with a new reality.

Coming from the United Kingdom, I can see that racism or prejudice is prevalent here, but we’d never dream of admitting to it in those terms. Perhaps this is why Go Set a Watchman is so important right now. Is it a mirror to our still very young and confused democracy?

We need that watchman Reverend Stone talks about in church. Dr Finch, one of the more developed and likeable characters in Lee’s novel spells it out for Scout, “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman, is his conscience. There is no such thing as a collective conscience…now you…somewhere along the line fastened it like a barnacle onto your father’s…you confused your father with God…When you happened along and saw him doing something that seemed to be the very antithesis of his conscience—your conscience—you literally could not stand it…” The old Scout had to metaphorically die first, according to Dr Finch, in order to break away from the ideals that so grated on her own conscience, in order to reconcile herself with a new reality.

But is that what we must do too? Perhaps this is the lesson we need to take away from Go Set a Watchman.

This novel has made us rethink Lee and Atticus and their abilities and values. We’ve had to reject the previous, more comfortable notion that Atticus and Lee believed that racism, in any form is hideous and evil.

 

This novel has made us rethink Lee and Atticus and their abilities and values. We’ve had to reject the previous, more comfortable notion that Atticus and Lee believed that racism, in any form is hideous and evil.  Those simple “Negros”, who know no better, who aren’t ready for desegregation, are put into stark relief against a white, superior and patronising community ideal; something Lee would have grown up with.

It’s easy to be disappointed, but at the same time, it’s all about context. We forget when Lee was writing and we forget that Go Set a Watchman was a rejected first draft. Racism was still accepted social behaviour, with the Klan still going strong. Women, of whatever colour, were still fighting for their own equality so Lee didn’t do all that bad.

The themes are still there but the message is a little harder to decipher.

It’s easy to be disappointed, but at the same time, it’s all about context. We forget when Lee was writing and we forget that Go Set a Watchman was a rejected first draft.

On a very subjective note, this book is a must read, if only to gain a deeper appreciation for the classic that will remain, To Kill a Mockingbird. It is a must read if you have loved Scout for her courage, because that is still very much intact. It is a must read, if somewhere, deep down, you would rather have a truer version of the past. But for heaven’s sake, please do not read if you are averse to having your heart broken and your faith in your heroes shattered.

“Prejudice, a dirty word, and faith, a clean one, have something in common: they both begin where reason ends.”

Read Go Set A Watchman with neither prejudice that this book will disappoint you, nor faith that it is everything To Kill a Mockingbird is. It’s all a little more complicated than that. And more important, it’s all about context, personal and political.