Reviving the Mockingbird narrative
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By: Emily Current
There are some books that you will likely have read regardless of which high school you attended. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of them. Just recently, it was announced that Lee is set to release another novel this July, called Go Set a Watchman, as a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. The announcement alone of this book has received such widespread attention that we can be sure that its reception will be notable.
As one of the most taught books in high schools, To Kill a Mockingbird and its teaching takes on a certain narrative. Students reading this book are pushed towards condemning the majority of the white characters in the novel for their overt racism. However, less often are these students encouraged to consider the racism and prejudices highlighted by the novel outside of the context of the book itself. Thus most of the people who read this book today fail to see how relevant it continues to be. With this is mind, we can wonder whether the same will be true of Go Set a Watchman?
In the past year there has been a lot of discussion within the media of racial tensions in the United States. One of the most well-known examples of this was in regards to the shooting of Michael Brown. Back in November 2014 when the announcement was made that there was not enough evidence to prosecute Darren Wilson, I remember seeing a Facebook post relating the following quote from To Kill a Mockingbird to the current situation:
“Atticus-” said Jem bleakly.
He turned in the doorway. “What, son?”
“How could they do it, how could they?”
“I don’t know, but they did it. They’ve done it before and they did it tonight and they’ll do it again and when they do it — seems only children weep.”
This quote refers to the conviction of Tom Robinson. The parallel between it and the shooting of Michael Brown is that both are instances of black men falling victim to the judicial system. Overall, though Lee’s books are both set decades ago, the racial tensions that they deal with are present today.
It remains to be seen how the continued existence of these racial tensions will influence the reception of Go Set a Watchman. We will surely see many people rush to buy the new release of an author whose only other book is a 55-year-old piece of classic literature. But how will they react to actually reading the book? Will they consider the racial tensions it discusses only within a historical context, or will they be willing to consider these tensions in relation to today’s struggles? Of course we cannot know the answer to this until July, but we can be sure that how Go Set a Watchman will be received is something to watch for.
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