Character Analysis of Jean Louise Finch in Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

In the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird- Go Set a Watchman- we are reintroduced to Jean Louise Finch, also known as Scout. Several years have passed in the protagonist’s life she is now in her mid-twenties, and has come residence from her busy life in New York to check out her family in Maycomb, Alabama. Nonetheless, she comes to a startling realization: the town she has grown up in is not the identical as it employed to be- or at least, as she saw it. Jean Louise is met with a slew of modify in her town, from anything as small as the developments in the town’s layout, to far far more significant variations. Jean Louise finds out that her father, Atticus, and boyfriend, Henry, have been taking part in a racially charged Citizen’s Council. As her planet is turned upside

down, Jean Louise must come to recognize that folks are flawed, and each and every man must create his personal watchman. The clear theme of this choice is that change is inevitable, and it should be dealt with accordingly. This piece mostly focuses on the internal and private changes of Jean Louise, such as detaching her conscience from her fathers and permitting herself to turn out to be her own individual and see Atticus as a man, as an alternative of a “tin god”. In the words of her uncle Jack: “…you confused your father with God. You by no means saw him as a man with a man’s heart, and a man’s failings… You were an emotional cripple… assuming your answers would usually be his answers.” (page 265) Jean Louise, ahead of arriving to this conclusion, tries to deny what she had observed earlier. She says, “Atticus and Hank had been pulling some thing, they were there merely to preserve an eye on things… it was all a mistake…” (web page 104) She quickly realizes that her dependency on Atticus and her “color blindness” have led her to see her globe via rose colored lenses, so to speak. Go Set a Watchman details her “coming into this world” (web page 263), and documents her personal growth and adaptation to modify. Harper Lee has shown us all through Jean Louise that we should become our own men and women, open our eyes- set our watchmen.

All through the book, the bible verse “Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth” recurs regularly. In the context of the bible, the watchman is supposed to be announcing coming destruction. He is observed as a variety of lookout, a guardian of sorts, and is supposed to make Isaiah aware of the fall of Babylon. In the context of Go Set a Watchman, the watchman symbolizes one’s conscience, as the conscience is a sort of lookout for each and every particular person. In the book, Jean Louise’s uncle Jack says, “…Jean Louise, each man’s watchman, is his conscience.” (page 265) He is saying that one’s conscience is what guides them via life. It shows them proper from wrong, justice from injustice, and serves as their moral compass. The phrase “go, set a watchman” is symbolic of Jean Louise’s journey to establish her own conscience separate from her father’s, and to see men and women as they really are. She says, “I need a watchman to inform me this is what a man says, but this is what he means… say here is this justice and right here is that justice and make me understand the difference.” (pages 181 & 182) The author is attempting to make an application of this verse to Jean Louise’s personal development and requirements, as if she utilizing this verse to show Jean Louise that she must in truth go, and set her watchman.