Go Set A Watchman

Jean Louise argues with Aunt Alexandra as she packs her bag. She is surprised when her aunt is moved to tears by her insults and apologizes, stating that Aunt Alexandra is a lady and she is not. To her surprise, her aunt declares that Jean Louise is also a lady.

As she is packing the car, Uncle Jack appears and hits her in the face to prevent her from leaving. While Jean Louise is dazed by the blow, he brings her back in the house, pours her a dram of whiskey, and offers her a dime to drink the whole thing in one swallow. She becomes calmer as she grows intoxicated and is able to listen as Uncle Jack explains that he tried to help her by giving roundabout advice. He calls her crisis her “coming into this world” (263). Jean Louise considers that, despite how horrible the argument with her father and the events leading up to it were, everything is somehow now bearable. Uncle Jack informs her that this is because she is her “own person now” (264). She deified her father as a child, adopting what she perceived as his conscience as her own. Eventually, she would have to discover that her beliefs—and her beliefs about what Atticus’s beliefs were—were not the same as those held by the living Atticus.