“Go Set a Watchman:” Some Reflections

I just finished reading Go Set a Watchman. Wow! A Very powerful book: fun, funny, tragic, sad, uplifting and hopeful.  I can understand why Harper Publishing did not want to publish it in the mid 1950’s and why Ms. Lee may not have wanted it published it either. 

It reveals the complexities of human beings, particularly of Southern human beings in the 1950’s, and I would go so far as to say, Southern human beings (of which I am one) in 2015.  The book Deals with real conflict between different classes of people as well as conflict among people of the same class. There are some real lessons on how to “get along,” a wonderful Southern characteristic, and also fight evil when “getting along goes too far.”

Class and racial and religious consciousness and conflicts are alive and well in 1955 just as much as they are today. In fact, this book could have just as easily been written in 2015 after Baltimore, Charleston, Chattanooga and the Supreme Court decision on Marriage equality.  Harper Lee may well have given us some tools to deal these issues today, just as Atticus, Scout, Dr. Jack, Alexandra and Hank dealt with them in the mid 1950’s.

Go Set A Watchman would make a great book study for a church group, a Sunday School Class or any group of citizens interested in a civil way to discuss legitimate differences between people of good will.