Nelle Harper Lee’s first book, To Kill A Mockingbird, was published in 11 July 1960. It is now, and will always be, a classic piece of literature for its testimony against the establishment. Though it pursued a simple truth, it was one others dared not speak of at the time, and it was all the more powerful for being seen through the eyes of a young girl. Now, 55 years after the publication of her first book, which changed our mindsets, ideas, thoughts, views, and opinions, we find out that Harper Lee is publishing a new book.
Because, apparently, To Kill A Mockingbird was intended to be a part of a trilogy, and the “new” book was meant to be part of that trilogy too. Go Set a Watchman is reported to show Scout as an adult looking back on her father, as the protector and overseer of Maycomb (and the name of the book suggests this as well: “Go, set a watchman”, from Isaiah 21:6), as well as exploring her own, personal moral compass.
Though Harper Lee seems to me a strong-minded woman capable of making her own choices, there has been lots of speculation about whether she was pressured into publishing this book in her old age, prompted by the fact that her health is declining and she has made many, many statements in the past insisting she would never release, or write another book after To Kill A Mockingbird. But to the contrary, Harper Lee has said she is “alive and kicking and happy as hell” and her agent backs up her statement, saying that she has not been pressured or forced into doing anything she does not want to do.
It seems to me that the publication of this book will be a good thing. I’m not saying that you should not be able to make your own choices, fully on your own without pressure from another person, but if we instead focus on the potential impact of this book, we realise that the publication of Go Set a Watchman is far more important. It might get my generation reading more books like To Kill a Mockingbird; open their eyes to the outside world; demonstrate to them that issues such as racism didn’t pass away with the 1950s or 60s, but are an ongoing struggle. Hopefully people will start to read these books of their own free will because, to my dismay, To Kill a Mockingbird has been taken off the syllabus in schools in England in an attempt to “broaden” the syllabus.
Actually written before To Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set A Watchman is about an adult Scout Finch who decides to travel back from New York to her home town, Maycomb, Alabama to visit her father, 20 years after the events of her childhood. It is said that she now has to deal with “issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father’s attitude towards society”; in other words, she has to deal with the problems of her life but from an adult perspective, less innocent than before, more aware of her situation; she is not that young, tomboy Scout she used to be. The sense I get of this book is that will be more about relationships, critiquing the way we interact with people and society’s dysfunctional relationships. I hope it will show the way that Maycomb reacts to the things that happened in Scout’s childhood, and reveal whether what happened changed their minds or if they’re still the same judgmental people.
This new book can only be a good thing, and though I understand that some may say that To Kill a Mockingbird was - and should remain- a singular book, I feel there is more to be said, and hopefully this will bring more acceptance and understanding in our society.
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Guardian children’s books site member TMandy
As a huge fan of To Kill A Mockingbird to say that I’m excited to read Go Set a Watchman is an understatement. I can’t wait to read Lee’s new novel (well, technically it was written before To Kill a Mockingbird but as it’s set 20 years later it’s a sequel to her story about racism in the southern states of America). Many people are apprehensive because To Kill a Mockingbird was such a big hit. I even know someone who loves the book so much she named her daughter after Scout! But I am sure Harper Lee will not disappoint and I look forward to reading about Scout as an adult visiting Atticus in Maycomb.
