Go Set A Watchman – my impression

I thought I’d better write down my impressions of ‘Go Set A Watchman’, since I made such a fuss about grabbing it and reading it on its first day of release. There will be a few things in the next few paragraphs that come close to being plot spoilers, but I’ll try to avoid being too specific. (Stop now if you must.)

Firstly, it’s easy to see why Harper Lee went on to write something truly great. There’s both an easy flow and a weight to her narrative that speaks of greatness. You can’t deny her talent as a master storyteller. It’s right there in front of you in every scene. 

Secondly, the book overall descends into a horrible mess. None of the mature characters are particularly sympathetic and I can quite see why she was told to go and write something about the characters as children who appear here in flashback.  

Thirdly, I’m pretty sure Harper Lee saw the book as being largely about ‘Scout’ finally freeing herself from Atticus’s moral shadow, but the subject causing the crisis in their relationship is inevitably going to be seen by contemporary readers as the book’s central theme. Paraphrasing, that theme is something like ‘Is it possible to oppose desegregation without being a racist?’. Unfortunately, from a literary standpoint, the argument is played out as an overblown emotionally-charged dialectic more suited to a Platonic dialogue than a novel.

Finally, let me just say that I have already seen the media stories with the sensational headlines casting Atticus as a closet racist, but these seem to me to rather miss the point. To her credit, Harper Lee is setting up a far subtler argument than one about mere racial prejudice. Atticus’s ideal society is divided on genealogical rather than racial grounds. Being from the next county or state is equally likely to disqualify you from being the ‘right stuff’ for Maycomb County as the colour of your skin. He yearns for small human communities living almost as extended families (Maycomb seems spectacularly interbred, but that is passed over lightly in the narrative). To put it succinctly, he would oppose any forced integration that disrupts the values of his hallowed community. For him, the fact that the current ‘threat’ is from federally-mandated racial integration is incidental. If he is racist, it is a consequence of a much wider xenophobia, one that doesn’t deny any man equal rights, as long as any man has the right to live with his chosen kin.