While many characters appear in both novels, some significant characters, like Boo Radley and Hank Clinton, exist in only one of the texts. Go Set a Watchman is also strikingly different in style and tone. Thematically complex and highly allusive, it is a novel that demands active and close reading.
This ebook contains sample chapters from Go Set a Watchman and a teaching guide to help educators lead their students through an exploration of the themes, structure, and allusive references in Go Set a Watchman. Questions in the Guided Reading and Discussion section will help highlight the development of plot, character, and theme. Because the text features allusions that students are likely to be unfamiliar with, the guide also includes an index of annotated allusions to help facilitate close reading. Prompts for Writing and Research provide topics for longer writing tasks or research projects. Finally, this guide features an additional section that explores the writer’s craft by looking at both To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman.
Harper Lee was born in 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She is the author of the acclaimed To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, which became a phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller when it was published in July 2015. Ms. Lee received the Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and numerous other literary awards and honors. She died on February 19, 2016.
Amy Jurskis, the author of these teaching materials, holds a B.A. in English from the University of Georgia and a MAT from Agnes Scott College. A former department chair for language arts in a title one public school in Atlanta, she currently serves as a chairperson of curriculum and English teacher at Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches.