Does Go Set a Watchman change how we teach To Kill a Mockingbird?
So unlike many of my friends and fellow educators I had never read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school or in college.Reader: WHAT!?! How is that possible? But you are an English teacher?
Me: I know, I know, it is pretty sacrilegious and un-American to have grown up in America and not read this classic, and also become an English teacher prior to reading this novel.
The answer is rather simple, the novel was never assigned to me in high school or college and yes, while I am an avid reader and had picked up the book several times to read, I was always interrupted by other assignments or life events. I read chapter 1, many times and then would find it a month later under another book on my nightstand, and once again, I would move it back to my "to-read" shelf. "Eventually," I would say, "I will get to it". I must also state for the record that even though I had not read the novel, I was very familiar with the story, through friends who hold this book as their all-time favorite, also from literary references, and of course, the film adaptation (which I always seemed to catch midway through running on AMC).
When I realized that Go Set a Watchman was being published I decided it was high time I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird. However, I decided because I could, that I would read them in the order in which Harper Lee wrote them, so I would begin with Go Set a Watchmen and then, To Kill a Mockingbird.
I knew the controversy surrounding Go Set a Watchman, but decided if I am going to teach To Kill a Mockingbird I needed to read both. Now that I have finished both novels I am very glad I did not let the controversy and worry of the change in Atticus Finch's character prevent me from doing so. What this worry did for me was consider this question as I read, "Would I teach To Kill a Mockingbird differently, and would I have to?"
The answer is no. But, do I think there are more things teachers can address other than symbolisms, metaphors, themes, and foreshadowing.
And here is why... To Kill a Mockingbird is not just a novel about injustice, prejudice and the complicated deep South. To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic because it continues to cause readers to think, to question and to come to terms with the moral changes in society overtime. It also allows Americans to discuss the complications that occur between generations, what my childhood looked like versus my parents versus their parents, etc. As a teacher, we must point out why sometimes things change, sometimes they remain the same, and sometimes unfortunately, we are left alone searching for an answer in the wilderness.
After reading TKAM I realized the one thing I would like to do as I teach this novel and I hope others do as well, and that is to introduce philosophy. In America we tend to teach psychology and sociology in high schools focusing much like Lee does with why and how people live the way they do, trying to grapple with social class, racial divide, child endangerment, drug addiction, mentally impaired. I did not get taught philosophy until college, and understanding existence and why things are the way they are...are very common concerns among teens. What Lee does at the end of TKAM is she uses Machiavelli's principle, "he (the leader of the state) must stick to the good so long as he can, but, being compelled be necessity, he must be ready to take the way of evil" (Machiavelli, 63). The Sheriff takes the way of evil, " I never heard tell that it's against the law for a citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did, but maybe you'll say it's my duty to tell the town all about it and not hush it up. Know what'd happen then? All the ladies in Maycomb includin' my wife'd be knocking on his door bringing angel food cakes. To my way of thinkin', Mr. Finch, taking the one man who's done you and this town a great service an' draggin him with his shy ways into the limelight--to me, that's a sin. It's a sin and I'm not about to have it on my head. If it was any other man it'd be different. But not this man, Mr. Finch" (Lee, 317). Lee uses Arthur 'Boo' Radley as a sense of evil shadow through the entire novel, only to be the ghost that saves the day.
Of course, this is not the only thing I would like my students to see, I would like them to question the other complexities throughout the novel, but I think giving them a sense of philosophy would greatly help them grapple with their own questions as they read.
Now to address the controversy of Atticus Finch. To Kill a Mockingbird is a hero's journey and the hero can be viewed through two characters Atticus Finch and Scout, or Jean Louise. Now this is where I feel if teaching the hero's journey, Atticus fits TKAM. Scout however, a teacher should urge students to examine both novels.
TKAM, if taught in isolation, Atticus Finch can remain the beloved father figure. And as a teacher I would introduce Joseph Campbell's hero's journey:
1-Ordinary World- Atticus is a father to his children, a lawyer in Maycomb County.
2-Call to Adventure- Atticus is assigned to defend Tom Robinson by Judge Taylor.
3-Refusal- the trial brings unwanted attention to his family.
4-Mentor/Helper- His cook, Calpurnia and Jack Finch.
5-Crossing the Threshold- Knowing the verdict, but doing what he can in the trial.
6-Tests/Allies/Enemies- Hatred from some of the town's people.
7-Approach- Facing persecution from the people of Maycomb Co. for defending Tom.
8-Ordeal- Bob Ewell's threats and attack on his children.
9- Reward- His children's lives are spared
10-Road back- moral education
11-Atonement- Sheriff saying, "let the dead, bury the dead" (let evil take care of evil)
12-Return- Town returns to a sense of normalcy
Now if one uses GSAW one might choose to further explore Scout on the hero's journey. In TKAM, Lee makes a literary reference to Scout being, Jean Louise Bulfinch, for those of you who do not know, this reference is to Thomas Bulfinch's mythology. If one is to compare Thomas Bulfinch to Scout one might argue that Lee wanted her character to tell her journey for the masses, like Bulfinch, and not for theologians and scholars. And ultimately, encourage a polite conversation for her mass readers, which I think TKAM has done for generations.
So to view Scout's hero's journey, one must use both novels.
1-Ordinary World- Childhood/the way she remembers the Maycomb Co. of her childhood
2-Call to Adventure- Gray ghost, who is the mysterious Boo Radley, the trial/Her dad's ailing health and the train ride home
3-Refusal-Mr. Radley cementing the tree, her father being accused of helping blacks/accepting Maycomb Co. as it is now, slowly becoming segregated
4-Mentor/Helper- father, Boo Radley, Sheriff/ Uncle Jack
5-Crossing the Threshold- facing the lynch mob/viewing the town council with her father as a member
6-Tests/Allies/Enemies-Towns people, Bob Ewell/Henry Clinton, her father and his moral education
7-Approach- Criticized for her father's involvement in the trial/Criticizing Maycomb Co. becoming segregated
8-Ordeal- Bob Ewell's attack/Accepting her father as a flawed human and not God
9-Reward- Her life spared/Adulthood, independence, her conscience
10-Road Back- Accepting Boo Radley as the gray ghost/Accepting that she is different than her father, but that he still loves her and she still loves him
11-Atonement- "Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it is a sin to kill a mockingbird"/Uncle Jack saying, "Every man's island, Jean Louise, every man's watchman, is his conscience"
12-Return- Understanding what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes/Becoming her own voice, standing up for what is right
Jean Louise wants to be back home, the home she grew up in, when she was innocent and ignorant, but she has crossed the threshold of adulthood and can't return to the Maycomb County of her childhood, because it has changed and so has she. One of the parts that I think is brilliantly tied in GSAW is the story of Child Rolande and the dark tower. This reference really fits Scout's hero's journey, her searching, feeling alone in the wilderness for the first time, not able to turn to her father. For teachers, this is a great way to include poetry in the classroom and teach Browning's "Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came", and if time allotted they could also incorporate Shakespeare's King Lear reference to Child Rowland and the dark tower. This is just another reason why we have gravitated to Lee's writing.
For anyone apprehensive about reading Go Set a Watchman, I understand how you feel, especially based upon all the reviews, it is much like a television reunion, where the characters you loved have grown up, and you get to love them again. And unlike many other reviewers, I think that Atticus Finch still remains America's beloved father, he still loves his daughter, even though she does not agree with his views. I think Lee uses the view of Atticus Finch, to show that in America it is wrong to hold any man to be the moral compass of all society, and that as we grow our values and morals do as well. America loves superheroes and heroes in general, and it would be nice to have the TKAM Atticus Finch come and save the day, but we live in the ordinary world, not the supernatural. An ordinary world, always troubled by injustice, prejudice, and cultural complications like those in the deep South. Ultimately, I think Lee wanted to show the masses a lesson in humility. So thank you, Harper Lee, for once again giving us a novel that will continue a polite conversation on these subjects.
