We close read a section of the book where she writes both jounalistically and in a literary narrative style and we discussed the elements in each section of the text.

Students then presented sections of the text - looking at its style and inspiration

Discussion of the author's capacity to see and present the society she lived. Even though the book was only published over 60 years after she wrote it initially. It was written in the 1950s preceeding the American civil rights movement in the south. Tthe author saw and drew the social situation as it really was and her characters in Watchman, both black and white, could have been found in any town in America's South. 

We also discussed how the "editorial process" had altered her initial vision, because Watchman was transformed into To Kill a Mocking Bird and while Mocking Bird became a classic, the Atticus it presents is a one we all want to believe exists, but perhaps did not at the time in the South, But we loved him because he "let us off the hook", he made us believe that we would all do the honourable thing, if we were called on to do it. Atticus in Watchman is more realistic, a good but safe man afraid of change. He does not let the reader off the hook, he confronts us and says we too might make the wrong decision, and use good arguments to explain them - even if they are wrong.

We returned to Norman Holland's proposals in "Casablanca: America's and Mine" and his proposals that after technical elegence has been achieved in a work of art, what allows it become a classic is the way it allows us to expore our defenses.

We discussed the construction of a classic and/versus a commercial success.