Log #7

Book: Go Set a Wathman

Author: Harper Lee

From page 85 to 162, something vicious and filthy is gradually uncovered. Atticus Finch had always been a hero stand with integrity within Jean Louise’s mind. We know the establishment of personality of Jean Louise relied on her father, Atticus Finch, who was a lawyer and once defend a Negro for his belief in justice. It was such an unprecedented manner in that era when the notion of Segregation was still in people’s mind. However, such a hero-like image long stood in Jean Louise’s mind was broken easily by the time she found Atticus gather with people who support Segregation and praise with them altogether.

Through the description, Harper Lee shows us a different world supervised by the same person but in different age. In the eye of 12-year-old little girl, the world was simple, and every day in Maycomb was as usual. People she knew, she liked, she hated had a clear boundary line, and the faith she had was firm. However, from the view of 26-year-old Jean Louise, the town Maycomb, had changed largely that she couldn’t even recognize. Her beloveds were never the same in her mind. It seemed that the whole world had betrayed her, and the memory was nothing but an unreal image. Her faith started to be unstable.

The content I read this week gave me a profound reminder – nothing in the world is permanent or infallible. With time flows, everything will change eventually. Our parents and heroes will imperatively disappoint us at times, and not everything is as it seems. At the end of the day, we only have our own conscience to which we answer. We must be steadfast enough in our own personal convictions to be unwavering and relentless. Our conscience is the only permanent thing we can possibly have. It is the only thing we can control.