I think Atticus is the reason readers rebel against Watchman

One of the things we didn't discuss in book club is why people who spoke out against Watchman got so upset. I have my own theory that it's because Mockingbird fans are moved by the characters and the plot (and the old Gregory Peck movie for that matter) and they don't want anyone to mess with it. Mess with their view of what Atticus is in particular. People want a hero, and in Watchman, Atticus is just an arthritic man trying to survive in a changing society.

It's like reading about Dumbledore in a nursing home with dementia. No! No! It can't be! That's the not the Dumbledore or Atticus that I know!

That's what I think is going on in the public psyche. Which is what happened with Scout in Watchman. Zeus came down from Mt. Olympus.

Readers didn't like it. Huh. Neither did Scout. Which makes the public's reaction to Watchman a fascinating study in reader response. Wayne C. Booth, the author of The Company We Keep, would be having a field day.

And there I go, analyzing like a graduate student.

You can take the English graduate student out of the library, but you can't take the library out of the graduate student. Ah well, book club works for now.