Uploaded 2/26/2015“Go Set a Watchman” is the upcoming sequel to Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird.” It is scheduled to be released in July. This sequel is set 20 years after “Mockingbird’s” time period, revealing a grown-up Scout returning to her Alabama hometown from New York to confront the attitudes of the 1950s.The recently revealed sequel was discovered when Lee’s lawyer, Tonja Carter, found the manuscript attached to an old manuscript of “Mockingbird.” Despite saying she was never going to publish another book again, 88-year-old Lee decided to print the sequel now. “Watchman” was actually written in the 1950s before “Mockingbird.” But due to an editor suggestion, Lee released “Mockingbird,” set 20 years before “Watchman.” “Mockingbird” immediately became popular, sold millions of copies, won a Pulitzer Prize, and soon became required reading in U.S. schools nationwide. The film version of the book allowed for a larger audience to hear the story of “Mockingbird.” Angie Messer, an employee at the Seasider originally from San Diego, said “I think it’s pretty cool. After I read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ I would definitely read it (‘Watchman’).”Brittany Wilcox, a senior studying English from Alaska, said she was excited to read the sequel. “Just knowing that she wrote this story before ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and the fact it’s about Scout when she’s older, I want to know how she’s progressed.” Faculty members at BYU-Hawaii said they are also excited for the book. Patricia Patrick, an English professor, said, “Reading ‘Mockingbird’ was one of the most memorable things I’ve read in middle school.” When asked if she would read the sequel, Patrick added, “I’m just going to be open minded and happy to read it. It’s going to be exciting to read it, knowing the quality that she’s (Harper’s) done before.”Monroeville is the place where Lee was born and where she returned after living in New York. Mockingbirds are on signs everywhere in Monroeville, and the old courthouse, a model for the movie made from the book, is a museum and a gift shop for the first book. Despite the excitement building, some people who live in her town have questioned if Lee is competent enough to decide to publish the book, according to the Associate Press, because she is nearly deaf and blind. Some even questioned that her lawyer was taking advantage of the sequel and the money it could make.“She is a very strong, independent and wise woman who should be enjoying the discovery of her long lost novel...Instead she is having to defend her own credibility and decision making,” said Lee’s lawyer, Carter in an interview with the New York Times. Despite the controversy, people in Monroeville and at BYUH said they are excited for this new book to be revealed.
Writer: Rachel Reed
