Go Set a Watchman # Log 8

Go Set a Watchman Log 4

        From Chapter XV to Chapter XVIIII, Jean Louis went through perhaps the greatest changes of her life, and her relationship with her family went on a roller coaster ride to the gutter and back since she last talked to her uncle. We are given the information on the whole picture of Maycomb and the reason Atticus and Henry were at the Citizen’s Council, most importantly, so was Jean.

        Chapter XV opened with the dramatic out lash of Jean to Henry, and from their dialogues and reactions, we can now see the full extent of how different they actually were. Jean Louis, after witnessing the Citizen’s Council meeting, had been overwhelmed by her anger. She thought only about how she was humiliated and betrayed, how she had never truly known her family, and gave no thought as to the possible reasons behind. She refused to hear her uncle, and now she refused to hear Henry. She declared her disgust for Henry in a dramatic outburst. On the other hand, Henry simply tried to reason, to explain calmly to her yet to no avail. Nonetheless he had hardly lost his temper over the argument.

        Chapter XVII, after exploding at Henry, she confronted Atticus. She bombarded Atticus with every mean utterance she could come up with, and again, refused to listen to him for what little he had to said. In fact, Atticus had barely defended himself. He explained to her how he believed that civil rights were earned, and the Negros had not yet earned that right yet. The fact is what he said was true then and there, and is true here and now. The black society did, and still does, have a poorer contribution to the American society. It was Atticus’s belief that the black should be allowed freedom, but not drag the white down. Albeit Atticus’s concerns were completely reasonable and intact, Jean Louis did not give it any thought. She told Atticus she was leaving Maycomb and bolted out of his office.

        From the above actions we can really see Jean Louis as a childish character. It was not just her occasional swims in the river and fear for settlement, it was how narrow-minded she was, how she couldn’t accept those that contradicts her belief. She could only see things as the way she saw it, and resents anything suggesting otherwise. However, despite her childishness, we could that she would stand for what she believed in, and that she was righteous on the inside－ironically, probably a trait inherited from her father.

        Lastly, while at home packing, she also insulted Alexandra, who until then had never been seen crying. This was when Jean had started to realize how mean she was, and how she could have hurt people. She was gradually sensing the true gravity of her behavior. Typical for children behavior. Jean apologized to her aunt and persisted on leaving Maycomb forever. She felt like she was s stranger, she felt betrayed, and deserted. But was she? Or was she deserting herself?

        Up to this point, I quite agree with Atticus’s stand over racial integration. This is nothing about race, but rather individualism. The same problem exists even among ourselves, in Taiwanese schools. We have long debated the idea of competence-based class grouping, for there is no reason to drag the capable ones down to meet the academic level of the incapable. Nevertheless, this issue is much more complicated in America. This issue roots deeply in the American society as the black has been disadvantageous for too long, long enough to form a negative cycle of education and ultimately social class. This is also what I think the author is trying to point out.

        In Chapter XVIII, as Jean was about to leave, her uncle, Dr. Finch, came to convince her to stay, which resulted in her uncle’s first time striking a woman. The slap snapped Jean out of her berserk insult streak. Dr. Finch took Jean back to Atticus’s house, poured some whiskey, and smoked. Jean was in shock. She never had Dr. Finch offered her drink and she had never seen him smoke. Dr. Finch reasoned with Jean, led her to really think back on what Henry and Atticus was saying, and led her to see how childish she had been. She deeply regretted her behavior. However, not everything went back to normal. She found out that Henry is not suitable for her, and they could never be together.

        Something brought up by Dr. Finch was that Jean looked up to her father as God, and that she respected her so much that she forgot he was only human, and human are flawed. Dr. Finch explained why Atticus had barely defended himself－so that Jean could return her father to a human figure. From this point alone, we can see how grownup and wise Atticus was, and how much he loved Jean.

        However, I think there is still some reason behind Jeans reactions. To begin with, the Citizen’s Council were indeed known for their infamous means to thwart racial integration and voter registration. Furthermore, Atticus had protected her from much of the squalors of the real world, which had apparently backfired. She was physically fully grown, yet not mentally. What was more, she had been away from Maycomb, and had somehow disconnected with her past there. She became completely unaware of the matter as Southerner, she judged the entire matter on her Yankee point of view.

        Indeed, the problem of society progress will never be diminished, and we will never be free of social inequality. Have and have-not are relative, and it is impossible to reach total equality, and from the apparent failure of communism we can be sure. The problem of African Americans, and now Latinos too, is an obvious side effect of the freedom and diversity of the US. As people are given complete freedom, they must fight for themselves, and the disadvantaged which enjoy less resources have lower chance of breaking the chain of social class. Unfortunately, the this happens to be affiliated with African Americans, which greatly complicates the issue for they were enslaved by the white to begin with.

I think another issue here is Nationalism. There were actually more blacks in the South than whites, and they were suddenly given full citizenship rights, all elected officials could become black. Yet America is, on its essence, a white country, so to whom should the power be given? The popular majority or socially dominant? From our point of view today, it is obvious that since the government is “Of the people, By the people, For the people”, whomever supported by the majority should lead it. Yet Negros back then were “backward”, they were less capable intellectually and socially. Therefore, it is understandable that the white would resent African Americans’ taking office.