All those who have ever found inspiration and hope in the character of Atticus Finch in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird had their hearts and souls crushed as the first U.S. reviews of Harper Lee's long-awaited second novel, which was thought to be lost, began to trickle out.
Atticus Finch, the perfection of manhood—a good father and lawyer seeking justice for his black client in a racially charged case—once portrayed by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film, has turned into a bigot and racist in Go Set A Watchman. A man whom even Scout, his daughter and narrator of the Mockingbird book, despises.
As Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times reveals, the champion of social justice for a generation has turned into an unrecognizable hate speech-filled hypocrite who is nothing like the Atticus that inspired many to fight for civil rights or become lawyers fighting for justice and equality.
"Atticus is a racist who once attended a Klan meeting, who says things like 'The Negroes down here are still in their childhood as a people.' Or asks his daughter: 'Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and churches and theaters? Do you want them in our world?'" she wrote in her review.
The Twitterverse reflects the disgust, horror and heartbreak of hundreds of thousands of readers throughout the decades who fell in love with the man in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Review Reveals a very F'd up #gosetawatchman https://t.co/UjZIOeilaQ
— Sam Bonfante (@sambonfante) July 11, 2015
2 fictional male characters I most admired as a child, Cliff Huxtable + Atticus Finch, are not doing well. Someone check on Charles Ingalls. — Rebecca Keegan (@ThatRebecca) July 10, 2015
First Woody Allen, then Bill Cosby, now Atticus Finch. You can't trust anyone anymore.
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 10, 2015
I don't think I've ever been so devastated to read a book review: https://t.co/HBCucfBKJj — Markham Nolan (@markham) July 10, 2015
SPOILER Atticus Finch is super-racist; your childhood is ruined: https://t.co/Pj69H8qE0S
— Anna Mehler Paperny (@amp6) July 10, 2015
I have seen enough horrors to last several lifetimes. Shrapnel. Starvation. Plague. I cannot endure an old, wasted Atticus Finch. — Old Hoss Radbourn (@OldHossRadbourn) July 10, 2015
According to previous reports, Lee's editor convinced her to rewrite her novel to tell the story of a young Scout instead and how she looked up to her hero father, instead of publishing this story of a disillusioned young woman at odds with her bigot father's racist views.
To Kill a Mockinbird took Lee two years to write after her editor rejected Go Set A Watchman. The manuscript of the novel was lost for decades and is only now going to be published. After this review, many netizens are wishing the manuscript had just remained lost.
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