History Literature / GoSetAWatchman

'''''Go Set a Watchman''''' is a 2015 American novel that was written by Harper Lee. It is the "sequel" to the 1960 novel ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''. Originally, ''Go Set a Watchman'' was a rejected manuscript that Lee proposed to her editor. Her editor gave her the idea to work on ''TKAM'' instead, because he liked the flashbacks to Scout's childhood, and the manuscript was supposedly lost for years. It was rediscovered when it was found in a safe deposit box in Monroeville, Alabama, and it was published on July 14, 2015.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Scout's nostalgic perceptions of her father and Maycomb are shattered, she doesn't fit in with the other women, and not even Cal treats her the same way. She even returns to her old home, only to find it changed into an ice cream parlor.

* Foreshadowing: In the flashbacks to her childhood, it's repeatedly shown that Scout tends to believe what she's told or what she sees without question, makes assumptions lets her issues build up, and has to be bailed out of trouble. It's endearing when she's a child, but not so much when she's 26. While Atticus is indeed bigoted, [[spoiler: he's nowhere near as bad as Scout assumed, and it takes an angry confrontation with him, and a physical intervention from Uncle Jack to calm her down.]]

* Foreshadowing: In the flashbacks to her childhood, it's repeatedly shown that Scout tends to believe what she's told or what she sees without question, makes assumptions lets her issues build up, and has to be bailed out of trouble. It's endearing when she's a child, but not so much when she's 26.
* GeniusBonus: While it's easy to understand the main conflict of Scout discovering Atticus's bigoted views, readers would benefit from reading up on the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education Brown v. Board of Education]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution 10th Amendment]], which figure largely into his argument. Uncle Jack also has a penchant for literary quotes.

** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; [[spoiler:he died of the heriditary heart problem that killed their mother with equal suddenness years earlier]].

* SoProudOfYou: Atticus says this to Scout, [[spoiler: because she confronted him, stood her ground over their differing believes, and eventually realized that her father was a regular person after all.]]

** The rumors of Henry taking over for Atticus, which is like being replaced by a younger person in the workplace.
** Losing everything you've worked for because you're shunned for your beliefs.

* FigureItOutYourself: Uncle Jack's approach to getting Scout to realize what's going on. Unfortunately, she's too angry and confused to understand, and he has to tell her directly. This culminates with him double-slapping her, thus stunning her long enough to sit down and talk.

* RealityEnsues: Growing up worshiping your father as an idealized bastion of moral perfection is ''not'' good for your development as a person. [[spoiler: Atticus and Uncle Jack realized this after it was far too late and knew a confrontation was inevitable.]]

* IAmSpartacus: Henry engineers one with every girl at Scout's high school in order to get her out of trouble from causing an unintentional prank.

* AlternateUniverse: This novel takes place in a different version of Maycomb. Besides the fact that Atticus is a racist in this version, Tom was ultimately acquitted in this version on the grounds that it was consensual rather than being convicted on the grounds of being black.

** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; he died of the heriditary heart problem that killed their mother with equal suddenness years earlier.

** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]]; he died of the heriditary heart problem that killed their mother years earlier.

* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: Atticus Finch, an iconic hero in the first book, becomes a senile old racist. This is shocking both in and out of universe, with Atticus's daughter expressing her distaste, and many critics have also voiced displeasure at the dismantling of one of the most inspiring heroes in American history.

The novel takes place twenty years after the events of the first novel, and a now adult Scout returns to Maycomb to visit her father. To her horror, she realizes that her father now expressed racial views, and the novel is her coming to terms with him and her town.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Jem]] apparently died all of a sudden off-screen, and the novel mentions it only in passing.

* BrokenPedestal: The main conflict of the story is Scout coming to terms with her father once she realizes that he was a racist.