Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including disillusionment, racism and female emancipation. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 26-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Harper Lee
• Presentation of Go Set a Watchman
• Summary of Go Set a Watchman
• Character study
  • Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed Scout
  • Atticus Finch
  • Henry Clinton, nicknamed Hank
  • Uncle Jack
  • Alexandra
• Analysis of Go Set a Watchman
  • Racial segregation in Alabama
  • Atticus demythologised
  • Emancipation
  • A ‘sequel’?

About Go Set a Watchman

Harper Lee’s second novel Go Set a Watchman appeared in 2015, over 50 years after the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, and continues the story of the first book’s characters. Scout, who is now a fiercely independent young woman, returns to her hometown in Maycomb and sees her loved ones in a new light. In particular, her father, the seemingly enlightened Atticus, actually harbours intolerance and xenophobic views, and Scout must now struggle to come to terms with this.

About Harper Lee

Nelle Harper Lee is best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which was first published in 1960 and has since sold over 40 million copies worldwide. She grew up in Alabama, and was a childhood friend of the acclaimed writer Truman Capote, who dedicated his novel In Cold Blood to her. In spite of the success of her first novel, Lee chose to live away from the limelight and rarely spoke publicly. For this reason, readers across the world were excited to learn of the publication of a second book, Go Set a Watchman, over 50 years after her first novel came out. Lee died in 2016, at the age of 89.