swan song

You probably know by now that Gone Girl is my all-time favorite novel, followed by the classic To Kill a Mockingbird. For years and years and years TKAM held the post, and I never thought I would change that; my reasons for replacing it are not for this post. I remember the magic of reading TKAM as a high-school junior, finding the movie marvelous, and rediscovering the book in college. Harper Lee managed to capture all the things we love and love to hate about growing up in the south and does so in a marvelous manner. If you're at all familiar with the scandal behind it, you know that since it was her only novel for so long and because she was friends with Truman Capote, there are rumors that she did not, in fact, write TKAM herself. I am not one of those people. I grew up less than 100 miles from her hometown and residence, so there was always an added appeal to the book growing up in the #251. Rebekah and I recently discussed my extreme love for all things Harper Lee (which may or may not be the inspiration of one of the #babydoop names on our list, but I digress), and she brought up that it was not as hallowed in her hometown near B'ham. I realized that this work is revered back home not only for its quality but also for the mystery and mystique behind Lee. Growing up in the stomping grounds of the book made it that much more real to us. 

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know by now that Lee recently released Go Set a Watchman, which some saw as a follow-up to the sacred TKAM. Ms. Lee is currently in an assisted-living facility and her lawyer appears to be the driving force behind its release, so plenty of people were crying foul. As it turns out, GSAW was Lee's first draft and looked at Jean Louise Finch, who we all knew as Scout, as a 26-year-old returning to Maycomb, Alabama, from New York for her annual trip home. Her editors thought she could do better and wanted more insight into the childhood of JLF, so TKAM is what we got. And it is lovely - Scout is pretentious and stubborn, Atticus is the noble father she adores, and her town is full of crazy people. Her mastery of Southern culture and language is evident throughout, and I'm not here to blog about that because there's not much more I can add to the discussion. Before attacking GSAW I read TKAM again to get a fresher take on the collected work.

There are plenty of people who have expressed opinions that GSAW does not portray the characters in the same light, that the language isn't the same, or that it just isn't as rich as TKAM. I am not one of those people. Please understand that I'm very much of the opinion that you determine your opinion about things, and that if you are expecting to hate something you very likely will. I was determined to not be one of those people. I began looking at TKAM through a new lens for the purpose of supporting what I thought I would find in GSAW. I'm not going to give any plot points away, because I know a lot of you (my beloved included) don't want it spoiled but want a review of what I experienced. I will attempt to address the main "strikes" as I see them based on what I've read from others & their experiences. (Sorry not sorry for the longest introduction in history of blogging.)

I have to agree that the language in GSAW isn't as rich as it is in TKAM, but who's first draft ever is? I have a BS degree for a reason, and I was the master of flowery language when necessary. The descriptions in GSAW are admittedly not as vivid as they are in TKAM, but they are adequate. Think about your favorite recording artist. Does their first album sound as good as their latest project? If they are doing their job right, they got better with time. So. Did. Harper, y'all. We have to almost flip a switch in our brains because what we know as her second work takes place first chronologically. There are a few paragraphs that appear verbatim in both works (which, yes, could've been plagiarized / ghost written, but it wasn't enough to make me think that was the case). It was a bit troublesome that the narrative was inconsistently first-person only in bouts; in all honesty, I wanted JLF's view throughout the entire work.

The biggest complaint I have read from others who have read both is that they simply don't hear the characters' voices in the same way. I beg to differ. Jean Louise is still bull-headed as ever. If you don't think so, I refer you to the entirety of chapter 17 in GSAW. Scout was a vocal 7-year-old, one who wasn't afraid to march up to Mr. Cunningham/Coningham in the town square and talk about his son eating at her house one day while he had every intention of causing trouble for Atticus. Jean Louise is equally vocal, "in no sense of the word an easy person," and not at all afraid to give Atticus a piece of her mind when he has disappointed her. Aunt Alexandra is consistently portrayed as a tireless prude who is only concerned with her stupid corsets and how "the family" looks in the eyes of the community. News flash, Zandra, no. one. cares. There was a heavier dose of her influence in GSAW for reasons that you will find apparent when (not if) you read it. 

Cal & Atticus have been the two biggest problems for many readers, mainly because the viewpoints are drastically different across the two works. There are flashback scenes in GSAW in which Cal is shown through a caring, loving lens, but if you've read it, you know there is that one scene that causes the reader to wonder what happened to skew the relationship. I have to admit that I wondered as well, but I remember that Cal was out of her element in working for the Finches, and Scout even admitted that she lived a "separate existence outside our household." Atticus is probably the toughest character to dissect (insert every facebook article you saw about Atticus jumping off the popular name list in Alabama...and a healthy eye roll from yours truly). I will admit that he is portrayed as a bit of a bigot in GSAW, a role that no one would've ever guessed after TKAM and his constant care of Helen Robinson and her family after Tom is shot (seriously, that can't be a spoiler for you at this point), not to mention the general way that he preached social consciousness to Scout & Jem. JLF is indignant about the new Atticus as she sees him, but thankfully, Uncle Jack points out that "men like me and my brother are obsolete and we've got to go, but it's a pity we'll carry with us the meaningful things of this society - there were some good things in it." Essentially he changed with the times because he HAD to. Jean Louise finds it more shocking because she's not around the goings-on of Maycomb, the racial tension of the civil rights movement, and her father's practice on a daily basis anymore. Even if she doesn't agree with his stance, perhaps she understood why it had to happen. And for those who say that she was so enamored with Atticus in TKAM, which made the viewpoint in GSAW more shocking, I have to argue that, while she did admire his stand for justice, there were times she merely tolerated him, referring to him as "satisfactory" in the opening pages in TKAM. I noted several instances throughout TKAM in which she seems downright disgruntled with him; she's not the daddy's girl we all made her out to be for the past 50 years. Also, consider your viewpoint on any individual who you revered during your childhood. Did your attitude toward that person ever change over a period of 20 years? We are all human, and our experiences shape us and the way we look at others; shouldn't the same be true for Scout and Atticus' relationship? Uncle Jack summed it up well near the end of GSAW: "Remember this also: it's always easy to look back and see what we were, yesterday, ten years ago. It is hard to see what we are." 

On its own, Go Set a Watchman was a nice look at life in small town Alabama, even if it wasn't as deep as many readers would have liked. I walked away from it grateful that it was published, because in all honesty, who didn't wonder what happened to adult Scout? The differences in characterization I feel are mainly due to changing viewpoints at other parts of life. When considered with To Kill a Mockingbird (NOT as a sequel, but as an extension), we may finally have a complete take of childhood and early adulthood in the segregation-era south. The magic lives on.

4 (of 4) dusty book jackets.