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Hamlet53 · 07-13-2015, 05:10 PM

There is an interesting article in the July issue of the Smithsonian Magazine about the real Monroeville, AL.

Regarding the shock many in the media and on discussion boards have expressed with Go Set a Watchman (a book I've not yet read except for the first chapter presented in the WSJ) I look at them as two different stories. To Kill a Mockingbird will remain a classic. It presents one view of the South in the time it was set and in Atticus Finch an almost mythical all round good character. Having read some of the reviews of GSW, I see the portrayal of Atticus Finch as a more realistic and complex character for a white male in a small town in Alabama in the period from the Depression through the Civil Rights struggle in the 1950s. I can relate that to memories of adults in my own family when I was a child (age about 6 through 13 and living in Texas) in the early through mid 1960s. By and large they were all in favor of removing the blatant discrimination in law and custom, but still did not want to live near blacks, socialize with them, and were open about considering them inferior.

Complimentary books to be evaluated on their own merits.

07-13-2015, 05:10 PM	#83
Hamlet53 Nameless Being	There is an interesting article in the July issue of the Smithsonian Magazine about the real Monroeville, AL. Regarding the shock many in the media and on discussion boards have expressed with Go Set a Watchman (a book I've not yet read except for the first chapter presented in the WSJ) I look at them as two different stories. To Kill a Mockingbird will remain a classic. It presents one view of the South in the time it was set and in Atticus Finch an almost mythical all round good character. Having read some of the reviews of GSW, I see the portrayal of Atticus Finch as a more realistic and complex character for a white male in a small town in Alabama in the period from the Depression through the Civil Rights struggle in the 1950s. I can relate that to memories of adults in my own family when I was a child (age about 6 through 13 and living in Texas) in the early through mid 1960s. By and large they were all in favor of removing the blatant discrimination in law and custom, but still did not want to live near blacks, socialize with them, and were open about considering them inferior. Complimentary books to be evaluated on their own merits. Last edited by Hamlet53; 07-13-2015 at 08:39 PM.