Go Set a Watchman is the second novel of Pulitzer Prize winner Harper Lee. While this novel was initially touted as a sequel to her critically acclaimed 1960 debut novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, it is now regarded as an early draft of that book, featuring many of the same characters and, occasionally, the same scenes. When first published in 2015, the book set a record for the highest adult novel one-day sales at Barnes & Noble. Despite winning a Goodreads Choice Award in its debut year, Go Set a Watchman has had a mixed reception by critics. While some praise the work for delving deeper into the complexities of racism and complicity than To Kill a Mockingbird, others claim that it is a mere first draft whose faults were improved in the originally published version. The novel’s 278 pages are organized into seven parts. This study guide obscured the author’s use of the n-word in quotations.

Plot Summary

Jean Louise Finch, a 26-year-old New York resident, returns to her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama, for her annual two-week visit. She expects this visit to be like all the previous ones: She expects to scandalize the town with her modern ways, to be romanced by Henry “Hank” Clinton, to bicker with her Aunt Alexandra, to enjoy the wry humor of her Uncle Jack, and, most of all, to spend two weeks enjoying quality time with her elderly father, Atticus. The first few days go largely as planned, as she trespasses in order to have a late-night swim in the river and receives repeated marriage proposals from Hank. However, her idyllic stay is ruined when she discovers that both her beau and her idolized father are a part of Maycomb’s citizens’ council, a group clearly designed to keep the African American population under the thumb of white America.

Jean Louise becomes physically ill as she sees her father, the man she admires more than anyone, participate in a hate group, something she views as unforgiveable. Initially, she tries to deny the reality of what she has seen and what it must mean about the beliefs of her father and beau, retreating into nostalgia as a coping mechanism. However, she cannot ignore or deny her family’s bigotry for long. To her surprise, Jean Louise discovers the prim and proper Aunt Alexandra now uses racial slurs, a jarring turn of events. As she struggles to make sense of the current state of her family’s beliefs, she considers that there is no way that everyone she holds dear has changed so much in the year since her last visit. The only possible explanation is that they have always been racist and she had failed to notice. Jean Louise laments her blindness and seeks psychological solace from the one respectable man in town who did not attend the meeting—her Uncle Jack. Uncle Jack explains the rising racial tension in terms of sociopolitical changes and the conflict’s roots in the Civil War. Jean Louise accepts his explanation that these issues were all focused on preserving identity by means of the Southern way of life but is unable to make sense of his metaphors and cryptic clues as to how this relates to her own struggles with her family.

A local man is killed in a drunk-driving collision, and the driver has a connection to the Finch family. He is the grandson of Calpurnia, the African American woman who raised Jean Louise and her brother. Jean Louise is horrified to hear her father decide to take the case of the man’s defense for the sole reason of preventing the NAACP’s involvement. This turn of events deals a killing blow to her tenderly nursed hope that there was a misunderstanding regarding her father’s true views. Jean Louise sets out to see Calpurnia, partly to check in on her in light of her family’s struggle, and partly to see if her mother figure can shed light on the Finch family struggles. Jean Louise recalls that Calpurnia used her “company manners” around whites outside of the family, including using broken English, and when Jean Louise finally sees Calpurnia, she is horrified to discover that Calpurnia is using her “company manners” with her. She is devastated and cries out, asking what her mother figure is doing to her. In return, she receives a similar question, asking what the while people are doing to the African Americans. Heartbroken, Jean Louise returns home, reeling from the rejection, but also confronting her own degree of complicity in the racial tensions and inequity.

After she returns home, Jean Louise feels lost without any of her role models to turn to. On her next outing with Hank, she finally confronts him about his behavior. To her surprise, he claims that he does not agree with most of the tenets of the organization but attends the meetings to keep an eye on things and maintain social standing. He argues that she does not understand that he must occasionally do things he does not like to make Maycomb his home because she has social privilege as a Finch. Jean Louise stands her ground, calling him a coward and a hypocrite. Atticus dismisses Hank, and his own confrontation with Jean Louise begins. Jean Louise’s anger rises as she condemns her father’s beliefs in stark terms. Despite his rebuttals, Jean Louise determines that their beliefs are irreconcilably different. She accepts the fact that her morals are no longer in accordance with those of the man who taught them to her, however unintentionally. As a result, she declares she never wishes to see or hear of another Finch as long as she lives and prepares to return to New York.

Her Uncle Jack returns as she is packing the car and stops her from leaving. He explains that she never developed her own sense of morality outside from what she believed her father’s to be. She idealized him to the point that she could not see that he had any flaws. Though her disillusionment with her father’s image and the resultant struggle with her worldview were painful, they were necessary to becoming her own person. She finally understands that the issue of her father’s racism was only the catalyst for her larger struggle, the struggle of self-actualization. She is surprised to learn that both Uncle Jack and her father predicted an event such as this and that her father’s calmness in the face of her insults was not a lack of attention or care, but an act of fatherly love in allowing her to become her own person. In light of this revelation, Jean Louise is ashamed of the way she attacked her father, but Uncle Jack tells her that all will be well. He also suggests she move back to Maycomb, where she can change minds and make a difference socially.

When Jean Louise next sees her father, she is surprised that he is not angry with her. Instead, he informs her that he is proud of what she has accomplished. As they return home, Jean Louise finally begins to see her father as a fallible human being—and one who is different from her.