Carol’s Comments
September 2015
Set in Depression era Alabama, Lee’s marvelous
coming of age novel focuses on young Scout (Jean Louise) Finch who acts as the
story’s principal narrator. Scout, a feisty, headstrong tomboy vividly recalls
childhood adventures with her older brother Jem and her friend Dill Harris, modeled
on her real life friend Truman Capote. The children’s main preoccupation for
three years revolves around finding a way to make neighborhood recluse Arthur “Boo”
Radley come out of the mysterious Radley home.
More importantly, Scout’s central and most revered
person in her life is her father Atticus Finch, the town’s well respected
lawyer. When Atticus defends Tom Robinson, a black man unjustly accused of
raping a white woman, the townspeople ridicule him. However, he believes he
must defend him due to legal principle that all people deserve justice despite their
race.
Unfortunately, the racially biased jury unjustly
convicts Robinson of raping Mayella Ewell without any credible evidence.
Because of this bigotry, Atticus cannot even appeal the verdict because this
undeserved sentence leads to a tragic outcome for his client. By witnessing
their father’s struggles during Tom Robinson’s rape trial, Scout and Jem learn
firsthand about the gravity of prejudice.
The children’s fascination with Boo Radley and the
trial’s ramifications eventually converge when Boo saves the Finch children
from Bob Ewell’s revenge on Halloween night. Through this heroic act Scout
meets her secret friend for the first time.
Filled with memorable characters along with serious
themes about social injustice, racism and empathy, To Kill a Mockingbird
still remains the most important and controversial book in modern American
literature.
After finishing Harper Lee’s classic novel, I took a
leisurely literary journey to Louisiana and re-read my favorite coming of age
novel from the 1990s, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by
Rebecca Wells.
The novel begins in 1993 when Siddalee (Sidda)
Walker, a successful theater director becomes estranged from her vivacious and extremely unconventional mother Vivi
Abbott Walker after a New York Times interview article
calls her mother a “tap dancing child
abuser” Very hurt and perplexed by her mother’s rejection, Sidda retreats to a
remote cabin outside Seattle to reassess and reflect on her complicated
relationship with her mother as well as her upcoming marriage to her fiancé,
Connor McGill.
After many futile attempts to contact her mother, Vivi
finally sends Sidda her treasured scrapbook, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya
Sisterhood. Vivi hopes the memorabilia, letters and keepsakes found in this
album will help her daughter understand how her mother’s secrets, sorrows and
personal relationships during her childhood and adolescence profoundly shaped
her.
Alternating between the present (1993) and flashbacks
from the 1930s through the 1960s, the novel consists of pivotal episodes from
Vivi’s past. For instance, in 1937 when Vivi was eleven, she and her three
girlfriends created the Ya-Ya Sisterhood which would form an unique and lasting
bond between them. Together the four friends would share many fun adventures
together such as attending the 1939 premiere of Gone With the Wind in
Atlanta and participating in a Shirley Temple lookalike contest in 1932.
By reviewing these items in her mother’s scrapbook,
Sidda begins to realize how past events in her mother’s life had a significant
impact on their complex and tumultuous relationship. Both Sidda and the reader
learn that nostalgia can blur traumatic events from the past.
Published in 1992, Rebecca Wells’ first novel Little
Altars Everywhere also featured the Walker family, I suggest reading
this book after Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood because Little Altars Everywhere is a
companion rather than a prequel to the second novel.
The book consists of two parts. The first section
includes Sidda Walker’s and her family’s recollections about living in the
1960s. These vignettes told from different viewpoints describe funny as well as
more somber memories. For example, one
of the more comical ones describes Vivi Walker’s stint as a very unconventional
Girl Scout troop leader.
The novel’s second half dramatically shifts in tone.
Set in the 1990s, Sidda Walker and her siblings recall incidents in their
childhood as they actually happened.
Every testimonial focuses on the emotional, physical and sexual abuse
each child endured from their mentally unbalanced, alcoholic mother. Little
Altars Everywhere gives the reader a realistic and deeply disturbing
look at family dysfunction.
When July 14th finally arrived, I was
extremely excited that Go Set a Watchman was now available.
I had put a hold on the book at the library back in May so I’d be one of the
first patrons to read it. When I received an email the next day informing me
that a brand new copy was ready for pickup, I rushed over to the River Park
Branch to check it out. When I started Harper Lee’s “new” novel, I believed I
could evaluate it more objectively because I had no preconceived notions or
youthful sentimentality toward To Kill a Mockingbird or its iconic
characters because I just recently read the 1960 classic for the first time.
Set in 1952, Jean Louise (Scout) Finch now 26
returns home to visit her ailing father Atticus Finch, In the first 100 pages, Go
Set a Watchman is a rather ordinary story mainly centering on Jean
Louise’s indecisiveness about marrying her childhood friend Henry Clinton.
Fortunately, the novel does include several
whimsical sketches that flashback to Jean Louise’s childhood and teenage years.
Here are my favorites: Shortly after a 12 year old Jean Louise starts her
period, a boy French kisses her. She’s convinced she’s pregnant. Then at her
first high school dance, a teenage Scout wears falsies to make her figure look
more alluring. When these enhancements start wandering on the dance floor, her
date Henry Clinton quickly saves her from embarrassment. These funny episodes
give the reader a glimpse of what To Kill a Mockingbird would later
become.
Then exactly on page 100, the plot completely
changes when Jean Louise discovers the racist pamphlet The Black Plague on her
father’s table. After learning from her Aunt Alexandra that her father has also
joined the Maycomb County Citizens Council, she hurries to the courthouse where
a meeting has convened.
Totally disillusioned by these startling revelations,
she feels utterly betrayed by the father she always adored and tried to
emulate. Jean Louise believes she can never forgive him for his views on
segregation and racism.
After her Uncle Jack explains how Atticus’ unknown secrets
in his past as well as the Southern culture surrounding him have shaped his
character, only then can Jean Louise accept that her father is still a decent and
honorable man regardless of his flaws.
Finally her uncle gives his niece some very wise advice: “Every man’s island,
Jean Louise, every man’s watchman is his conscience.”
Despite its literary inconsistencies and rather
rambling writing style, the thought provoking Go Set a Watchman is To
Kill a Mockingbird’s essential companion.
To learn about Harper Lee’s remarkable life, I
highly recommend Charles J Shields’ well researched 2006 biography Mockingbird:
a Portrait of Harper Lee. The most fascinating chapters explore Lee’s
life as a struggling writer in New York during the 1950s specifically her editor’s
thoughtful guidance with the 2 ½ year transformation of her first manuscript Go
Set a Watchman into To Kill a Mockingbird.
The books reviewed in this blog can be found at most
local public libraries. My readers in St Joseph County, Indiana can visit the
St Joseph County Public Library’s web site at libraryforlife.org for more
information. Thanks for reading! See you all next time.
