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Ethos
Key Examples in Go Set a Watchman
Part 2, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Revival:
When Henry picks Jean Louise up for a swim date at Finch's Landing in Part 2, Chapter 5, they reminisce about their childhood in the car, during which Lee inserts a flashback:
Henry smiled. "I was jealous of him. He had you and Jem to himself all summer long, while I had to go home the day school was out. There was nobody at home to fool around with."
She was silent. Time stopped, shifted, and went lazily in reverse. Somehow, then, it was always summer. Hank was down at his mother's and unavailable, and Jem had to make do with his younger sister for company. The days were long, Jem was eleven, and the pattern was set.
Part 4, Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Knocked Up:
In a flashback scene in Part 4, Chapter 11, there is a moment of dramatic irony when Jean Louise talks with her friend Ada Louise after having been kissed by Albert in the schoolyard:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Ada Louise explains the steps necessary to make a baby:
"Well, first of all it takes a boy. Then he hugs you tight and breathes real hard and then he French-kisses you. That's when he kisses you and opens his mouth and sticks his tongue in your mouth—"
A ringing noise in her ears obliterated Ada Belle's narratives. She felt the blood leave her face. Her palms grew sweaty and she tried to swallow. She would not leave. If she left they would know it [...] There was no mistaking it, Albert had stuck out his tongue at her. She was pregnant.
Part 6, Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Commencement Dance :
In Part 6, Chapter 15, Lee uses flashback as Jean Louise eats an ice cream, observes her surroundings, and remembers the simpler days of her past:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sitting in the one o'clock sun, she rebuilt her house, populated the yard with her father and brother and Calpurnia, put Henry across the street and Miss Rachel next door.
It was the last two weeks of the school year and she was going to her first dance.
