Go Set A Watchman

Finch’s Landing, a jetty with access to the river on what was once ancestral Finch land, is a refuge for Jean Louise. It is an indelible part of her childhood and family history. The Landing not only is a place that transforms Jean Louise’s mood, but also represents the history that she longs for. The Landing symbolizes the happy days of her childhood with Jem, Dill, and Hank. It represents a simpler time when she did not have to handle complex, philosophical issues or make life-changing decisions. The importance of this place is most apparent not in Jean Louise’s carefree behavior at the Landing, but in her internal observation that she would marry Hank if it meant she could have the Landing. Subconsciously, Jean Louise admits that she would give up her current lifestyle in exchange for a return to simpler things, but not for the reality of what is offered—real life in contemporary Maycomb.

Similarly, the local ice cream shop was once Jean Louise’s childhood home. She returns to it for comfort after the citizens’ council meeting. The setting is used as a metaphor for her attempts to seek refuge in nostalgia rather than facing the difficulties and conflicts of the present: “Sitting in the one o’clock sun, she rebuilt her house, populated the yard with her father and brother and Calpurnia, put Henry across the street and Miss Rachel next door” (206).

Throughout the story, Jean Louise is described as blind in one way or another. The narrator describes her as being “born color blind” and repeatedly highlights observations she misses (122), such as Uncle Jack’s sadness during their conversation and his picking up the telephone as she leaves, as well as the whole town watching her fight with Hank when she confronts him for his participation in the citizens’ council. Similarly, Hank points out that she has been blind to her privilege as a Finch, and Uncle Jack explains that she is generally dismissive of and thus blind to opinions she does not approve of. Between bouts of denial, Jean Louise even admits to herself that she has been blind to the world around her: “Blind, that’s what I am. I never opened my eyes. I never thought to look into people’s hearts, I looked only in their faces. Stone blind” (182). This blindness sets the stage for the main conflict of the book, as Jean Louise opens her eyes to the difference between her perceptions and reality as they relate to her father and therefore herself.

Both Jean Louise and the American South are faced with unwanted forces of change. The South is being forced to adapt to a new way of life, which includes a new socioeconomic system with factories instead of tenant farmers and the prospect of diminishing white sociopolitical power. Maycomb provides a case study into one town’s response to these changes, highlighting their doomed resistance to the inevitable forces of change.

Similarly, Jean Louise does not want change in her worldview or her perception of her hometown, her loved ones, or herself. She readily admits this, acknowledging her displeasure with the town’s whitewashed walls and new neon signs. She even goes so far as to tell Hank, “I just don’t like my world disturbed without some warning” (75). However, just as the South cannot stop the changes to its way of life, Jean Louise is forced to acknowledge changes. She discovers that the issue is not that everyone else has changed; what has changed is her awareness of what their beliefs always were. This change in her perception forces her to acknowledge that she built her worldview on a misunderstanding and to either adjust her worldview to match the true beliefs of those she loves or acknowledge her misunderstanding and change her worldview as it pertains to those loved ones.

In changing her worldview, Jean Louise is also challenged to accept a change in her relationship with her father. Where she once regarded him with an idealized lens, she is now able to acknowledge his humanity and failings. She is therefore able to create a sense of self that is informed by but separate from her father’s own moral values.

While racism plays a key role in the story’s setting and plot movement, the concept of bigotry as a separate issue also makes recurring appearances. Despite Atticus’s racism, Uncle Jack claims that Jean Louise is the true bigot between them because she is unwilling to consider opposing views:

You said, in effect, ‘I don’t like the way these people do, so I have no time for them’. You’d better make time for ’em, honey, otherwise you’ll never grow. You’ll be the same at sixty as you are now—they you’ll be a case and not my niece. You have a tendency not to give anybody elbow room in your mind for their ideas, no matter how silly you think they are (267).

Uncle Jack’s explanation is a wake-up call for Jean Louise, challenging her to pay attention to the world around her, even when others disagree with her. This challenge is a part of Uncle Jack’s attempt to convince her to return to Maycomb, where he believes she can make more of a difference by simply becoming a part of the community than she could by rejecting them and running away from conflict.