Posts Tagged: lee

In ‘Watchman,’ the Atticus Finch myth takes a beating

Cover of "Go Set a Watchman" released by HarperCollins.

by JANINE SOBERS posted 08.13.2015

Review: Atticus Finch, the lawyer at the heart of Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” has been, for more than half a century, the embodiment of American virtue. The character was vividly brought to life in 1962 by Gregory Peck in a performance that won Peck the Academy Award for best actor. In 2003, the American Film Institute named Atticus Finch the greatest hero ever in American film. That was before publication last month of Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman.”

“He’s both popular and vulnerable,” said Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State L.A. in an interview with the Times. “On the one hand, he’s a very skilled politician, very popular in many of the communities in the county and a known reformer and progressive. At the same time, he has tremendous flaws in managerial areas that have caused all kinds of headaches in the department.”