Blog #5

The message Go Set a Watchman is trying to convey is that you shouldn’t let your hopes and views blur the reality. Having views and opinions are important in becoming an individual but sometimes they keep you from seeing the truth. In the novel, Jean Louise returns to her hometown expecting very little change, but she discovers that things didn’t turn out how they seemed. Jean Louise has spent her entire life idolizing her father, assuming he could do nothing wrong only to be shocked by the fact that he is pro segregation. This is interesting because in To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus actually defends a black man, something that proved to be controversial in their town. Jean Louise then becomes disillusioned but this shocker aids her in finally realizing that her town isn’t all sugar and rainbows like when she was a kid. The next push into reality comes from her boyfriend Henry. After her boyfriend makes a comment about the type of privileges she has, they get into an argument with her ending it by saying, “I understand that you’re a goddam hypocrite.” She then ends their relationship and comes to the conclusion that Henry wasn’t the man she started to fall in love with. Henry let the town mold who he became instead of becoming a free spirited individual. I predicted this would happen in my first blog. At the end of the novel, Jean has a large argument with her father about being a racist. She sticks with her beliefs and then they part ways and the book ends.