Viewpoint: Go Set A Watchman

On July 14, 2015, one of the most anticipated fiction novels was released both in the United States and the United Kingdom. Go Set A Watchman, the second book by author Harper Lee made it's debut almost fifty five years to the day after the first release of To Kill A Mockingbird. The storyline of Watchman centers on Jean Louise Finch, "Scout" returning home to Maycomb County to discover, everything has changed since she and her brother Jem were the object of attention from neighbor Arthur 'Boo' Radley.


In the weeks leading up to the release, reviews began to emerge that the father of Jean Louise, Attica Finch, had become a racist. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus defends a man falsely accused of rape, and later during the film of the same name, Gregory Peck delivers one of the revered performances ever, which won him an Academy Award.

Writers and the blogosphere cried out in dismay at the fall from grace.

"Say it isn't so?"

"Falls from grace - first Cliff Huxtable, now Atticus Finch."

With a simultaneous release in both the United Kingdom and the United States, fellow writers "across the pond" got their hands on the book and were putting their thoughts into newspapers, before I even woke up. After reading their reviews, I wondered if it was worth preordering and prepaying for my copy on the first day release.

On the third day, and after avoiding the "mass hysteria" about Mister Finch's tainted view, I picked up my copy and isolated myself for the read. Cover to cover, one sitting. As I read the book, I could not help but be drawn back to the circumstances that brought Lee's first book to me.

Growing up in Australia, there was not a lot of detail paid to the civil issues of the South. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, is required reading in junior High School English, along with Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. My first viewing of the film was in 1982 - not a lot of television in Australia. However, as my daughters grew up, they too also experienced Mockingbird as required reading in both Australia and the USA. Like myself, they also were not exposed to the civil issues of the south before the book, but had more exposure to Hollywood's interpretation of the issues.

Go Set A Watchman draws on the premise that every person has a Watchman, a conscience. Jean Louise, on a humid Sunday afternoon finds herself sitting in the same balcony of the courthouse where she watched her father so many years ago. This time, Atticus is leading a Citizen's Council. Jean Louise is horrified and then goes on tirade against almost everyone. Almost.

The book has flashback scenes interspersed explaining where her childhood friends ended up.  Dill lives in Italy and her older brother, Jem, passed away with a heart attack. About the only person in Maycomb that hasn't changed is Calpurnia, who is still the housekeeper for Mister Finch.

Go Set A Watchman reads like a "first draft", including a reference to Atticus defending Tom Robinson, and having him acquitted of rape twenty years earlier - the storyline that would eventually became Mockingbird. Watchman does not have the same hold as Mockingbird, and it's hard to imagine that Lee would "allow" this to be released, after a lifetime of rejecting pleas for a sequel. Lee, aged 89 and still living in Alabama, had her manuscript of Watchman "found" during an audit of assets by her lawyer.

The commotion about Atticus appears to be, unjustified. After getting into a heated discussion with Jean Louise, Mister Finch delivers the same lines from Mockingbird that his daughter has always heard from him. As her father, Atticus has never "forced" her daughter to do anything, and this time is no exception. The hysteria about Atticus being a racist old Southern lawyer, is unfounded. The town of Maycomb may have had a change of viewpoint towards civil rights, but Atticus, is still the same reserved man fighting the same internal demons that he did in Mockingbird.

I wouldn't expect anything else from a single father bringing up his children in a evolving world.

In Memorium

  The day could not past without reflection.

  Constable Mark Lawrence Goodwin.








There, but for the stroke of a pen, go I.

WE should have better than a plaque at the National Police Memorial in Canberra for Alyse and Megan.

Protect Your Pets on 4th of July.

  Cover page at Eugene Daily News.

  Protect Your Pets on 4th of July.

The End of the Eclipse

There is a document beside my desk which has a list of goals upon them. One of the goals relates to the current project with an end date.

  The end date has passed and the project is not yet complete. Stephen King, on the hand, is about to release his third book this year.

  I could manufacture all sorts of excuses - but they would be just that. Unlike my counterparts, I can sense when there is a disturbance in "the force". It can be pinned down to a single event, a date, where everything in the writing world, changed. It became, an eclipse to productivity. Two years later, I am no further out of the "darkness" and struggling to write.

  Write, I must, for without writing, there will be no end to the eclipse.

Why The Story Never Gets Out

  Earlier this week, I was asked "How is the book coming along?" The answer given at the time was "Fine."

  The correct answer resembles something like a list of excuses.

• Work has gotten in the way.
• There is the issue with X and Y.
• I haven't transferred my files across to the new computer.
• The wedding.

  Truth of the matter is, I've discovered how writers don't have continued success. Lack of consistency. It was pointed out that it has been two years since my last cover. It's been 18 months since I had feature in California. It's been 5 months since I had a feature in Oregon.

  Hard to pay the bills without protecting the (currently) non income producing writing time. I understand why writers start and stop. If they fail to see the results, somewhere along the line, they cease, and their story never gets out. 

Why Do I Keep Writing?

  For some reason, after I advised the listener earlier this week of another rejection, I was asked, "Why do I keep writing?"

  Within all of us is a story, waiting to be told, about overcoming obstacles. Sometimes it's relationships, other times it's money. Not all stories are happy endings, and not all stories resolve the obstacle.

  Sometimes, the obstacles can continue well past their shelf life, and writing, is the only way to put the conflict into order, behind us.

  Why do I keep writing in the face of rejection?

  I just haven't found the right partner to go forward with.

Memorial Day Writing

  It is not enough to be able to write, you have to be marketable to bring forth an income. A writer without income, is just a good story teller. Everybody loves to listen to the story teller, but no one wants to pay. It's like the listener feels that they are entitled to be entertained by a "ripping good yarn".

  The irony is, the listener will pay good money to purchase the newest book from Stephen King,  but, probably never consider his writing 40 years ago. Why?

  No credits to substantiate their expenditure.

  "The book" currently being written by me, is under siege. Not from thieves, pirates or oppression, but from the competition of day to day living. Not a word has been written this week, not because there was nothing to write, but the "business" of running the household outweighed the business of writing a book - that is currently worth $0 on the open market. Writing time has to be budgeted, and sometimes, protecting that time falls prey to the whims of family, bills, and "the day job".

  In the United States this weekend, it is Memorial Day. A time to remember the sacrifice of fallen soldiers in defense of this, and foreign countries. It is a favorably time of year, giving me the largest block of time away from "the day job" and the business of running the household, so I can write.

  I thank the servicemen for their sacrifice, so that I can write, for as we have learned, the world is not always a safe place for writers.