Heartbreaking! New book reveals Atticus Finch is a racist [trunc.]

Twitchy ^ | July 10, 2015 | Twitchy Staff

[goodwithagun]

The New York Times has its review up of Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman,” the sequel to the iconic masterpiece “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but there’s just one problem. It turns out that Atticus Finch is not the anti-racism crusader we all believed him to be. In fact, he’s “a racist who once attended a Klan meeting.”

[goodwithagun]

I teach TKAM to my juniors. Every year I find a new conservative nuance. The book is extremely conservative. Atticus gives his children tools to deal with life's unfairness, he does not helicopter parent. While Atticus does not approve of certain words, he tells his children that others have the right to use them. At the end of chapter four, Lee (or Capote) creates an amazing anti-welfare metaphor condemning those who both abuse and enable social programs. Atticus' closing argument in the trial would make our Founders weap with joy. Atticus never exhibited self importance because he was doing what was right when nobody else was not.

The quote posted in The Times does not neccisarily mean Atticus is racist: "the Negros down here are still in their childhood as a people." I think the past few months of modern history prove that.

Discuss.

[goodwithagun]

Posting from phone. Appologies for fumbling fingers!

[OKSooner]

After what Atticus Finch did the first time around, someone is gonna have to bring a big bucket of hsit and a mop to paint him as a racist.

Oh yeah, reality... he's a fictional character, he's white, a southerner, and a metaphor for what's right about America, and this is now the age of 0...

Okay, he's now a racist. /s

[tet68]

Hey, just because he defended a black man doesn’t mean
he isn’t a racist. Probably has white privilege and
uses micro-aggressions, and trigger words too. /s

[DoodleDawg]

Doesn’t matter. I pre-ordered the book weeks ago and I’m looking forward to its arrival next week.

[King Moonracer]

I home this next book covers home security better than the last book covered hunting birds.

[ken5050]

Aha!!!.it’s based on the life of Robert “Sheets” Byrd..

[goodwithagun]

Same here!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Piffle! Atticus Finch's views on race are like Bert and Ernie's sexuality. He is a fictional character, and takes on whatever attributes his author imbues him with. The Atticus of Mockingbird may have thought that the Negro was in his childhood as a race, but did not think that that meant Tom Robinson should be punished for a crime which never occurred. The two views are not inconsistent.

[goodwithagun]

Lol! A few years ago, a student told me she couldn’t find the book anywhere. Nobody carried Tequila Mockingbird!

[super7man]

I didn’t read TKMB until I was an adult. Best written book for style and imagery I have ever read.

[goodwithagun]

Agreed. As long as one respects others’ God given rights, then one’s personal feelings and biases are fine. When somebody tries to infringe upon God given rights based on their biases (gay “marriage”, mandatory birth control coverage, infanticide) then that’s another story. Atticus, based on how he was written in TKAM, was conservative.

[blueunicorn6]

I am always amazed by how many people think that TKAM is non-fiction.

TKAM was taken from Lee. It is a fine story with many nuances. It was taken from her and made to be just one thing....a civil rights book.

Her authorship was even questioned. Many believe that Truman Capote wrote it.

I can see where Lee would strike back at those who stole her writing. They didn’t acknowledge her artistry and focused on the civil rights part of the book? OK. now, she has taken that away.

I see it as a masterful move by Lee.

“This is my story. I created it. It is mine to do with as I please.”

The artist defeats the yammering mob.

[Kirkwood]

Black people consider themselves as children and the government is there to act as their mother and father to give them whatever they want.

[heartwood]

Fine. He’s a racist who believes in the rule of law and justice regardless of color.

God forbid we read about complex characters.

[goodwithagun]

While TKAM is a work of fiction, it is based on the real life Scottsboro trial. I’ve never really thought about the civil rights aspect, but merely the basic God given rights outlined in our Bill of Rights. Tom Robinson was denied a fair trial. This was based on his race; however, if we follow the Bill of Rights then this is never an issue. Black or white, we all are entitled to a fair trial. Just my $.02.

[goodwithagun]

Exactly. Wouldn’t want the special snowflakes to use analytical skills to figure this out on their own, would we?

[BigCinBigD]

That damned Scout had something to do with this!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It actually elevates Atticus’ moral stature, that he would risk social ignominy and hostility to defend a Negro defendant because he considered it the right thing to do, despite what he may have thought of the man’s race. If one reads the prequel first, one would be inclined to think even more highly of Mr. Finch, as a man who rises above his own prejudices. The book is only a prequel in the sense of published-after, it was actually written first. Atticus already existed and was fully formed in the author’s mind before TKAM.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Great comment. There is obviously more to Atticus than commitment to the rule of law. There is a fundamental nobility and commitment to doing what was right. Lee’s father was a newspaper editor and lawyer, who once defended an unpopular black defendant, and never practiced law again.