Go Set a Watchman Race Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

When she finished, she took the pamphlet by one of its corners, held it like she would hold a dead rat by the tail, and walked into the kitchen. (8.16)

Jean Louise is especially disgusted by the racist pamphlet she finds in her father's study. She treats it as though it is diseased. Fitting, since it is called The Black Plague.

Quote #8

"Yes, indeedy," said Jean Louise wryly. "I especially liked the part where the Negroes, bless their hearts, couldn't help being inferior to the white race because their skulls are thicker and their brain-pans shallower—whatever that means—so we must all be very kind to them and not let them do anything to hurt themselves and keep them in their places." (8.26)

This is Jean Louise's sarcasm here; she is repulsed by these beliefs. Although she doesn't use the term eugenics, which is the hateful philosophy Atticus is studying.

Quote #9

"It takes two races to mongrelize a race—if that's the right word—and when we white people holler about mongrelizin', isn't that something of a reflection on ourselves as a race? […] At its best, it denotes an alarmin' mistrust of one's own race." (13.95)

Okay, Jean Louise sounds progressive up until this point. She's not willing to say that there is no problem with interracial marriage. In fact, the way she talks, it's almost as though she believes it's a myth. To her, there's no way a self-respecting white person would be with a black person. It's just an issue for the trash.