In the small
town of Maycomb, Alabama lives a principled white man. He fights against racial
injustice and guides his children like a gentle father. Created more than 50
years ago, this father-lawyer is one of the most beloved characters in American
literature. A central figure in Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, Atticus
is idolized by his daughter, Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed Scout.
Sharing a
unique space in popular culture, ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ won the Pulitzer
Prize for Literature in 1961. The international accolade cemented Lee’s literary
panache in the American canon. Stylized after Lee’s own father, Atticus throws
light on Lee’s own relationship with her father. What’s confounding is the two
images of Atticus in conflict with each other! When ‘Go Set a Watchman’ (2015) was
published, Finch found contradiction in her idol. He is a member of an
all-white Citizen Council set out to oppose integration. He was no longer the
father she returned to. Her annual visit from New York City to small
Maycomb was different and a reminder of her gaining a view of the outside world;
a world beyond her original home she was once nestled in.
‘To Kill a
Mocking Bird’ – a deeply moral, fair depiction of justice- is innocence, while ‘Go
Set a Watchman’ is corrupted maturity, hardened by the years as one progresses
through life. The former has young Atticus and Scout, set out to be changemakers,
while their older versions seem to fall back in the comfort of conformity sheltered
in tradition. As jarring it may sound to the readers, the shift focuses on the life,
culture, history and politics of the South. It makes the reader re-examine
Harper’s own life. Perhaps, his father Amassa Coleman Lee has inspired both
versions of Atticus.
We witness the admiration. We witness the crisis. Jean’s depth of feeling for the father figure is a testimony to her defence of Atticus who is still not neck-deep with the extremists. Finch’s look for a home is far from over. Rural Alabama is looking for rejuvenation.