Log #5

Book: Go Set a Wathman

Author: Harper Lee

Our group chose “Go Set a Watchman”, written by Harper Lee, for group reading. Despite Harper Lee is famous, especially for her book “To Kill a Mockingbird”, I have never read any literary work from her. The reason why we chose this book is because of the great recommendation of our group member, Jerry, who had wanted to read this book for a long time. It’s interesting to know that the book is the sequel of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, but the content was actually the first draft of the story.

Most of the content in the first chapter is about Jean Louise Finch’s traveling back home. She has a best friend called Henry, but actually there is something affair between them. However, although Henry asked her to marry him, she would rather have the affair with him. When Henry said “Well, as a general rule, most women, before they’ve got ‘em, present to their men smiling, agreeing faces. They hide their thoughts. You now, when you’re feeling hateful, honey, you are hateful.”, it obvious to see Jean Louise’ difference in that era.

Through reading the interaction between Jean Louise and Henry, we know more about the personality and background information of Jean Louise. I wondered how could a woman live in 1950s’ South America with such experimental ideas in her mind, despite they are common nowadays. It seems that the story is intriguing, and I’m looking forward to the following chapters.