Santa Clara University School of Law professor Margaret M. Russell authored an opinion piece for the San Jose Mercury News about the character Atticus Finch’s depiction in “Go Set A Watchman,” the new novel from Harper Lee.
Never mind that Atticus is a fictional lawyer, created by Harper Lee in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” (1960) and brought to cinematic life by Gregory Peck two years later.
Imagine our dismay this week when “Go Set A Watchman,” a mysteriously “found” manuscript purportedly written by Lee before Mockingbird, depicts an older Atticus Finch as a staunchly unrepentant segregationist.
Atticus Finch, opponent of the NAACP and leader of the White Citizens Council?
The passionate reader is certainly free to make what she will of this literary character’s transformation, but my legally-minded friends, colleagues, and students are aghast. Leave our pop culture hero alone! Atticus Finch has single-handedly influenced a generation of civil rights lawyers. Losing him — even if he is only fictional — is painful.
The full article is available on the San Jose Mercury News site.
