As a reader of literature, I glom onto allusions. They provide chasms of echoes that embrace the unfolding layers of story. They provide a depth that resonates, surrounding what an author, through character, plot, and theme, shows and tells us through what she sees and hears.
There are several allusions in Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman. The first and most pervasive one is contained in the title. The Biblical reference is from the book of prophecy in the Old Testament, Isaiah 21:6. "Thus says the Lord to me, 'Go, set a watchman, let him report what he sees.'" The Hebrews divided the night into three watches in which a sentry or guard was set atop a tower who would oversee the landscape for possible attackers. The watchman was required to be vigilant and remain awake. They were to not only report what they had seen, but what they had heard. In the book of Isaiah, the watchman was to observe movements of a Persian army who were on the attack of the Babylonians.
We know in Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a young Scout was observant beyond her years. She was given a firm foundation from her major source of direction in life: Atticus. Lessons were learned, but more importantly, Scout's independent spirit and questioning intellect were like seeds planted in the fertile soil her father cultivated through the constancy of his private and public behavior. Unbeknownst to her innocent mind, the "seeds of states' rights..." were "sown in the hearts of Jean Louise's generation" (Go Set a Watchman 45). Scout was most comfortable in an environment and small town who saw Atticus Finch as a man of quiet dignity and humility. This made it easy for Scout to comfortably conclude: "But I was more at home in my father's world" (To Kill a Mockingbird 238). For young Scout, Atticus was a hero and human 'idol' she looked up to; someone who would guard and protect her. He was her watchman.
Scout grew up into a twenty-six year old Jean Louise Finch. In GSAW, we find out she has been living in New York City. After Jean Louise takes a train back to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama, "She had an odd feeling that time passed her by" (GSAW 47).
Scout hooks up with a longtime childhood friend, Henry Clinton. The people of Maycomb said, "There was no finer young man" (GSAW 12). Early on in the story, Jean Louise and Henry were having a conversation about 'how to catch a woman.'
"But I'd quibble with your last suggestion. I thought women liked to
be thought strange and mysterious."
"No, they just like to look strange and mysterious...every woman
born in this world wants a strong man who knows her like a book,
who's not only her lover but he who keepth Israel. Stupid, isn't it?"
(GSAW 48)
In TKAM, Atticus not only knew Scout, "like a book," but was the watchman on duty. Jean Louise was in training. She was absorbing wisdom, then, and in her present life "Living in sin in New York" where she "learned...from watching" people. "It's lots of fun, but you need an ear for it..." (GSAW 48). New York was a place where you become your own person. Even though Jean Louise was 'intimidated' by NYC, she realized she could 'push back' and know that no one was better than another, "just different" (GSAW 181).
Even though after seeing how life had changed in Maycomb, Jean Louise still thought she needed a watchman "to tell me this is what a man says, but this is what he means, to draw a line down the middle and say here is this justice and there is that justice and make me understand the difference" (GSAW 181-182). Little did she know, her childhood lessons of fairness and integrity were already a cornerstone of a righteous foundation on which she was molding and becoming a vigilant watchman...herself.
The next major allusion is the reference to Robert Browning's poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." Besides the obvious connection to the courageous knight and warrior we find in the early Medieval classic, The Song of Roland, Browning's poem is more central to the book's thematic meaning.
The word, "Childe" does not mean child, but was Medieval for an 'untested knight.' I went back to my book of Browning's poetry, and reread the poem. Harper Lee, the author, by all evidence, was a voracious reader of British Literature, including Chaucer, Shakespeare (there's also a subtitle's reference of Browning's poem to Edgar in King Lear), and the Romantic poets. Browning's poetry, in general, has a reoccurring theme of an imperfect world created by God in order for it to be a kind of testing ground, a battlefield of right and wrong. In his poetry his apparent optimism is being constantly tested by villains who reveal the evil of man's nature. Specifically, the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is about Roland and his quest. He, when given directions to the Dark Tower, must face many hardships and obstacles with the hope that what instructions were given him were the truth. Once Roland reaches the Dark Tower what he finds is never fully revealed, but he has endured in the end, which one can infer is either his ultimate salvation or the ultimate futility of his efforts.
In a heated discussion with Jean Louise's Uncle Jack about what was witnessed at the courthouse, Jean Louise can't believe the participation by Atticus at the "citizen's council"---she was overcome with painful bewilderment. She heard the words of "ordinary" men strategizing how to stop the NAACP's supportive efforts of the Negro and their civil rights. Uncle Jack exclaims, "I wonder if your eyes and ears ever make anything save a spasmodic contact with your brain." Later, when Jean Louise fails to make connections with Uncle jack's 'logic,' he tries again. "That's because you haven't looked," he said. "You've never opened your eyes" (188).
Jean Louise is truly being tested. Her optimism is waning, and her disappointment in Atticus is growing...
Jean Louise stands her ground. She has seen the unjust relations and unfair treatment between the Negroes and white people, in fact, Jean Louise realized they were worse than ever. Seemingly cryptic, Uncle Jack gives this to jean Louise to consider: "Go ahead. Go ahead and do what you're going to do. I can't stop you and I mustn't stop you, Childe Roland. But it's such a messy, risky thing. Such a bloody mess" (201).
This 'madness' goes on and Jean Louise with doubt that her halcyon past was "all a dream" --continues, with Scout's courageous heart, on her complicated journey to the Dark Tower.
Since the beginning of her quest, Scout and Jean Louise have had trying times figuring out how to reconcile the traditional ways of the South, the teachings of the Bible, and how so-called "Christian folk" practice their religion. In the face of the social and cultural changes all around, Jean Louise reflects back to a simpler time, "Time stopped, shifted, and went lazily in reverse" (54). On this summer day, Dill suggests, "Let's have a revival...the three looked at one another. There was merit in this" (60).
The precious recounting of this revival in Chapter 5 of Go Set a Watchman is a pleasure to experience. It is funny, poignant, and relatable. I'm sure we all can relate with the fun and laughter that came from imaginary play as a youth. It reminded me of when me and my sister, Susie, would 'play church' all the time. Being preacher's kids, it was a natural extension of our immediate world. We would go into our empty church sanctuary and Susie would take the lead and insist on standing at the pulpit pulling out a hymnal and directing the congregation---me, to the page number, title of the hymn, and to the definitive nod that'd begin the song. We'd sing all the verses and then go to another hymn, and then another until I decided it was my turn. I was going to be the preacher and preach the sermon with all my heart, mind, and soul. I stood as tall as I could behind the pulpit with my head barely above the wooden solid frame and instructed the congregation---Susie, to open up their Bibles to a book, a chapter, and the numbered verse. I, to this day have a cassette tape (recorded 1971) of me preaching a fiery sermon filled with the wrathful tones of fire and brimstone warning my audience, the "sinners" --that the same would be raining down on them if they did not confess, repent, and be baptized. With the final call to come to Jesus, we imagined the sight of many accepting and coming down the aisle.
"Jem preached the longest, most tedious sermon she
had ever heard in her life. He said that sin was about
the most sinful thing he could think of, and no one who
sinned could be a success, and blessed was he who sits
in the seat of the scornful; in short, he repeated his own
version of everything they heard for the past three nights...
He once asked, "Where's the Devil?" and pointed straight
at the congregation, "Right here in Maycomb, Alabama."
(64-65).
How wonderful knowing these young characters and feeling like you are a part of this whole 'Revival'--Scout getting baptized in Miss Rachel's cement pool and Dill dressed as the Holy Ghost with one of his aunt's bed sheets...all were immersed in fun and we as readers, said, "Amen." This lasted to the point of the adult world breaking the spirit with the arrival of the Reverend Moorehead to dinner, and the fact that they were late. Scout thought she had "hurt" Atticus because Jem and her "misdeed" could embarrass the Finch name and taint the family's reputation, instead... Atticus was "on the back porch laughing" (70).
For the daughter of Atticus, "Love's the only thing in this world that is unequivocal" (15)... until it's not.
Jean Louise didn't like surprises, "I just don't like my world disturbed without some warning" (75). Through a metaphorical light, Sunday Services brought a looming conflict of change standing in the darkened shadows, like Boo Radley, waiting to be revealed and welcomed. Herman Jemson, the music director, 'changed' the singing of the Doxology. How dare they change it from how it was always sung. Jemson seemed to think his role was to 'reconcile' the more traditional elements of the congregation with the young and new trends. The old Methodist hymns were to be replaced by what was more appropriate per suggestion by the Northern brethren. Well, Dr. Finch (Uncle Jack) would have none of that. "They are now trying to change our hymns on us..." Ban Fanny Crosby and the classic "Rock of Ages" was an abomination unto the Lord" (97). Yes, even "Onward Christian Soldiers" (which was the traditional call to arms of the Southern white 'Christian' movement against desegregation) was to be sung no more. Church and all it included became a "habit"--a rigid traditional ritual. And as Dr. Finch defended, "Deo volente." And God willing',' Child, 'God willing','" it was going to stay that way. (99)
"The most potent moral force in her life, was the love of her father" (117). At Jean Louise's core was this love which she believed steered and guided her in the right direction. When Jean Louise discovered 'the pamphlet' in Atticus' belongings, and proceeded to go see and hear the meeting at the courthouse her life became infiltrated with doubt. She saw and felt the pain of a "throat tightened: Maycomb...looking back at her" (111). It was crushing to her that Atticus was a part of this blatant resistance to fairness and decency. The person who she trusted fully, Atticus, had failed her, "had betrayed her, publicly, grossly, and shamelessly" (113). Was love, now, so unequivocal?
Scout, the child, finds out a pedestal is no longer where an idolized Atticus belongs. It is difficult for anyone to realize this about a parent. The revelation often prompts decisions and a commitment to question what others interpret as truth. Nonetheless, it is devastating. "That whatever was decent and of good report in her character was put there by her father; she did not know that she worshiped him" (118). She was, indeed, getting closer to the Tower of truth.
When Jean Louise has her passionate encounter, face to face, with the man she looked up to, she arrived at the gates of the Tower. She was given direction, and instruction for her journey. She thought she understood what was fair, what was just, and now like Child Roland she questioned the truthfulness of what he had taught her. It was he who led her to this tower. She now can only rely on herself and admit that he can go no further on her journey, "Stop here. This is as far as you can go!" (251) Yes, she is her own person now, "functioning as a separate entity" (265).
It is a lonely quest traveling through no-man's land when a sacred trust is broken--when the bumps and bruises of the harsh reality of someone you looked up to has now an unknown mindset of how they see the world.
"You deny them hope...You are telling them (Negroes)
that Jesus loves them, but not much. You are using
frightful means to justify the ends that you think are
for the good of the most people...You're the only person
I think I've ever fully trusted and now I'm done for."
Atticus in his calm retort: "Well, I love you" (251).
Harper Lee through her life, through her story, stood on the Dark Tower after going back to her past, her hometown, and unlike the end of Browning's poem, did reveal what she saw and heard. She would now have to write a new composition, one filled with compassion, with her guiding compass her--- "own conscience."
Jean Louise held vigilant while growing up on her third watch, saw and heard the enemy being repelled with the rearguard of Atticus, Uncle Jack, Aunt Alexandra, and the people of Maycomb protecting the last remnants of retreat. The gates of fairness, justice, and a more compassionate world were not and will not be prevailed upon...the report dictates that we stand our ground and stand for right...for it is a new day.