Go Set A Watchman?

 

I was reviewing some old posts and found this. I had the same discussion with my daughter a few weeks ago, and she was arguing that Lee would never have wanted the book to be published, but I am not sure that is an accurate statement. Lee could well have prevented publication permanently (destroyed all copies she owned or lodged only remaining copy with an attorney with an instruction to destroy upon her death, etc.) but chose not to.  Logically, Lee had to have known for at least 30 years that any publisher would want this book but took no steps to prevent it being published when she no longer had control. Therefore, it may be possible that she saw the book as presenting the same story but from the viewpoint of an adult rather than a child, which would change the story dramatically, and indeed did not mind (or did not prevent) its' eventual publication.

 

I haven't read the book, and probably won't, but it can be argued that Attticus' stance in both books could be compatible. In other words, he might have seen blacks as inferior, and therefore felt obliged to defend Tom in a "noblesse oblige" kind of way.  The child Scout would have seen only the nobility, but the adult daughter would have seen the contradictions. In that sense, Watchman might well have "completed" the story.

 

These are possible explanations, but I won't assert they are correct, only speculation.