So what if Pluto had been the Death Star after all?

Editorial cartoonist Marshall Ramsey posted the iconic image of the Star Wars spaceship on his Facebook account Monday afternoon after NASA revealed new images of the dwarf planet.

“I am thankful Pluto didn’t look like this,” Ramsey wrote on his Facebook newsfeed.

With the exception of the large oculus of Darth Vader’s spaceship made to look like a futuristic planet or moon, the Death Star looked remarkably like Pluto.

Until the New Horizon spacecraft made its turn across the backside of the planet, no one on earth knew exactly what would be found.

What if Pluto did look like something out of Star Wars?

What would happen if the data NASA received revealed something that completely changed everything we know about our solar system and the universe? What if the backside of Pluto revealed another civilization that once existed or still exists?

Something just as startling recently occurred in the literary world, and the resulting ripples are still being felt across Facebook, Twitter and the world of fiction.

Tuesday, the much-anticipated Harper Lee novel “Go Set a Watchman” went on sale.

A furor has erupted over the book set 20 years after the events of Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Much of the controversy is focused on Lee portrayal of Atticus Finch, the beloved character of “To Kill a Mockingbird” played by Gregory Peck in the film version of the novel.

I must admit, Peck’s version of Atticus is the only one I know. I have not read the book that many of my friends treasure and adore.

Early descriptions of “Watchman” reveal that Lee portrayed and older Atticus as a racist. The mention of the possibility set in motion outrage among “Mockingbird” fans who refused to view the character of the same name as anything but a paragon of virtue.

Many writers have pointed out that “Go Set a Watchman” was a first draft written by Lee and was never intended for publication. With the help of her editor Therese von Hohoff Torrey, Lee crafted the manuscript into the retitled, “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Mistakenly, many people view the Atticus of “Watchman” to be the same character of “Mockingbird” who has hardened into a bigot in his old age. Although the two men may share the same name, they were never meant to be seen as two phases of the same character.

Just as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft gives us new look at Pluto, “Watchman” offers a unique glimpse at the evolution of a literary masterpiece.

Rather than reading the book as a novel, “Watchman” should be seen as a historical document.

Most reviews have been unfavorable and suggest the book is anything but what it is — a first draft. If we view it as such, we can begin to marvel at how Lee molded and shaped this rough work into what is arguably one of American literature’s finest novels.

What the New Horizons spacecraft and “Go Set a Watchman” remind us is that few things are absolute in this world and that it is always good to have our assumptions challenged from time to time.

Whether it is about heavenly bodies on the edge of the solar system or heavenly works of art, there is always more to learn about ourselves and about the world in which we live.

We should always be prepared to be challenged.

 

Ben Hillyer is the design editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3540 or by email at ben.hillyer@natchezdemocrat.com.