“To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Go Set a Watchman”: Two Approaches to the Racial Problem

The article focuses on two approaches to the racial problem presented in Harper Lee’s novels “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Go Set a Watchman”. The topicality of this problem can be accounted for by the manifestations of racism in the modern society as well as by the fact that the novel “Go Set a Watchman”, written in 1957 and published only in 2015, refl ects the worldview characteristic of the present days. In the two books, the difference of approaches to the theme under consideration is partly due to the choice of the style of narration. In the classic novel, a small girl is the narrator. In the recently published book, the reader faces an omniscient narrator. Besides, the depicted historical background also in- fl uences the development of the described theme. Whereas the scene in the classic novel is laid in the 1930s, and the plot is concentrated on a specifi c, but single case of racial confl ict, the setting of “Go Set a Watchman” is the 1950s, when there were dramatic changes in the system of interracial relationship.

Both books are focused on the problem of racism and attach the main importance to the conscience of a person. Nevertheless, “Go Set a Watchman” poses questions that are more complicated and, to a certain extent, helps to understand why this problem does not lose its topicality. 

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