- November 16, 2024
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Chapter five is the longest yet, and it feels even longer because of an extended flashback to a time when Scout was playing make-believe with Jem and Dill. This is certainly the seed of what we find with the kids playing in “Mockingbird.”
It makes me wonder what Harper Lee’s relationship was to “Watchman” as she wrote “Mockingbird.” Did she find it liberating to focus solely on Scout as a kid? Was it difficult for her to completely cut out the love story between Jean Louise and Henry? Given the length of the flashback in this chapter, it seems that Lee couldn’t help herself but have fun with those kids.
I was happy to read Pierre’s chapter four commentary, showing how certain phrases from “Watchman” were repeated, and improved upon, in “Mockingbird.” As I mentioned in my chapter four post, I feel that so far viewing “Watchman” as a stepping stone to “Mockingbird” is the most productive way to read it.
I am curious about how race continues to play a role in this story. So far, it’s not much of a factor thematically. In fact, there are signs of racism in the characters, including in Jean Louise and Henry. They discuss the “carload of Negroes” at the end of their date in a condescending and troubling way.
There are two ways to read that, and both are fascinating. First, given the progressive nature of “Mockingbird,” we could say that Harper Lee’s understanding of race matured from the time when she wrote “Watchman” to when she wrote “Mockingbird” — or at least that she was braver and skillful enough to manage a racially progressive tone in “Mockingbird,” whereas she couldn’t or wouldn’t in “Watchman.” Is it possible that something happened in Lee’s life in between the drafts that helped her see that race was what she wanted to write about, rather than writing a love story?
The second interesting way to read it is that Jean Louise and Atticus, who show hints of racism in “Watchman,” have somehow taken a turn for the worse in their attitude toward race, as compared with their progressive attitudes two decades earlier in the prequel, “Mockingbird.”
(See other commentaries on this chapter at FlaglerLive.com.)
