{"id":22337,"date":"2015-07-14T21:33:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T04:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=22337"},"modified":"2015-07-14T21:33:13","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T04:33:13","slug":"atticus-finch-meet-mother-emanuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/atticus-finch-meet-mother-emanuel\/","title":{"rendered":"Atticus Finch — Meet Mother Emanuel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/a>
My copy of “Go Set a Watchman” on the counter of my local bookstore today. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t even cracked open my brand-new copy of Go Set a Watchman<\/em>. But already I\u2019ve got opinions.<\/p>\n

For months now, I\u2019ve been looking forward to taking a look at the long-lost book that was the original version of Harper Lee\u2019s famous, much-loved, much-read best-seller, To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t planning to rush out to buy it. Maybe I\u2019d wait to get it at the library. But sooner or later I\u2019d get my hands on a copy and study it for what it could tell me about this famous writer\u2019s creative process.<\/p>\n

I was wondering, what made Harper Lee put aside this original manuscript and rewrite it as To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em>? Was the writing inferior in the original version? Was the plot not working? Did the characters not come alive? I assumed that the problem with Go Set a Watchman<\/em> was a craft<\/em> problem.<\/p>\n

Turns out, if reviewers like Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times are correct, the problem with Go Set a Watchman<\/em> was not a craft problem. It was a theme<\/em> problem — a theme problem embodied in the character of Atticus Finch.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Copies of “Go Set a Watchman”await buyers on publication day at A Great Good Place for Books Oakland, CA. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Mockingbird<\/em>, Finch is the heroic, sensitive, forward-looking attorney, adored by his young children, who comes to the defense of a black man standing trial for rape.<\/p>\n

In Watchman<\/em>, Atticus is a southern bigot who lets loose with hate speech. When his daughter, the grown-up Scout, comes home from New York, she is distressed to learn that her beloved father has attended a Klan meeting.<\/p>\n

Kakutani asks: \u201cHow did a distressing narrative filled with characters spouting hate speech . . . \u00a0mutate into a redemptive novel associated with the civil rights movement, hailed, in the words of the former civil rights activist and congressman Andrew Young, for giving us \u2018a sense of emerging humanism and decency\u2019\u201d?<\/p>\n

I ask: Why was a bigot transformed into a larger-than-life hero? Why did Watchman<\/em> become an \u2013 idealized? \u2013 story about an idealistic man?<\/p>\n

Maybe because a good, well written story with a heavy shot of idealism is what was needed in civil rights era 1960.<\/p>\n

According to Times writer Jonathan Mahler, that idealistic story is the one that Harper Lee elected to tell under the guidance \u2013 influence? — of her motherly, strong-willed editor, Tay Hohoff.<\/p>\n

But now maybe we \u2013 by we I mean the American zeitgeist \u2013 maybe we are ready for a different story.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking about the families and church friends of the nine parishioners murdered at the Emanuel\u00a0African Methodist Episcopal Church, aka Mother Emanuel,\u00a0in South Carolina last month.<\/p>\n

Miraculously, they found themselves capable of forgiving their loved ones\u2019 murderer. Their open-heartedness set off a chain reaction of open-heartedness around the country \u2013 leading to\u00a0President Obama\u2019s June 26 eulogy at Emanuel AME nd\u00a0the South Carolina legislature\u2019s decision to take down the Confederate battle flag.<\/p>\n

\"A
A sign outside the Oakland, California, bookstore, A Great Good Place for Books\u00a0celebrates\u00a0the publication of Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman..” Cake included. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s not 1960 anymore. It\u2019s 2015. The events in South Carolina point out\u00a0that perhaps we are ready to feel a heavy shot of compassion for the pain and fear that the \u201cbigots\u201d in our midst are feeling.<\/p>\n

Kakutani puts it this way: \u201c\u2018Mockingbird\u2019 suggested that we should have compassion for outsiders like Boo and Tom Robinson, while \u2018Watchman\u2019 asks us to have understanding for a bigot named Atticus.\u201d<\/p>\n

But wait, I\u2019m not done here. I\u2019ve got one more preconceived idea \u2013 question \u2013 about Watchman<\/em> to put out there: Under a different editor, with different proclivities, might Watchman<\/em> have become a different story entirely, maybe an even better one?<\/p>\n

In the process of cleaning up the Atticus character and making him presentable \u2013 and, yes, inspiring — to high school English classes everywhere, wasn\u2019t another, equally poignant (but possibly more nuanced) story lost: The painful story of a young woman who goes home to her beloved father to find he has feet of clay?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see what happens when I actually read the book. No doubt some more opinions will rear their feisty heads.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"My<\/a><\/p>\n

“Go Set a Watchman” didn’t have a craft problem. It had a theme problem – in the character of a bigoted Atticus Finch. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,50],"tags":[1505,1506,1507,1508,34,1509,1510,1511,290,197],"class_list":["post-22337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-openers","category-on-writing-reading","tag-american-culture","tag-american-zeitgeist","tag-bigots","tag-civil-rights","tag-dont-miss","tag-emanuel-nine","tag-go-set-a-watchman","tag-mother-emanuel","tag-my-rocky-spiritual-journey-2","tag-the-writing-room-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}