How to kill a mockingbird

If you take sadistic pleasure in having childhood delusions crushed by the weight of the world, Go Set a Watchman is the book for you. Unfortunately, the opposite is true for most of us who grew up reading the prequel.

Harper Lee’s first draft for the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird is a wake-up call that compels you to cast aside a habit which you never really deigned to question. Yet, waking, you still don’t see what was so wrong about how you perceived the world. As someone who went to law school to follow in the footsteps of Atticus Finch, the book took me into a world that was paralysed by self-doubt and distorted by a string of questions which had no answers.

Lee’s magnum opus was a coming-of-age story that was propelled by a man who didn’t see the point of justice if it left black people in a weak position. Although Atticus was not able to save an innocent black man from the guillotine, the novel ended on a positive note and left us with the assurance that prejudice could not always manipulate the difference between right and wrong.

On the other hand, her second novel deconstructs this idea and shows how prejudice can overpower justice and even raise question marks over our notions of equality. To cut a long story short, the book implies that some things are right, however insular and wrong they may appear to be, and there is nothing we can do about it.

In hindsight, the only thing that surprises me is how the author managed to create memorable characters in her subsequent drafts from people who are little more than bigots and hypocrites. The idea is at first impressive. However, it is only after much thought that one realises how the book deceives you to compromise on your cherished beliefs.

Overall, Go Set a Watchman shows you just how to kill a mockingbird. As Jean Louise begins to see her world crumble to pieces only to miraculously fall back into place, you wonder why you bothered sparing all the mockingbirds if they were just as bad as the blue jays. By the end of the novel, you need a watchman — someone to protect you from falling prey to bigotry.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2015.