A Colorado couple is so angry over a fictional character turning out to be different from what they believed that they have changed their 14-month-old son’s name.
Dick and Christen Epstein are such fans of Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird that they first named their son Atticus since “we wanted to see the ideals of Atticus Finch instilled in our son,” Christen told People. However, when they read Go Set A Watchman, they were left stunned.
In the ‘new’ book, which is actually a rough draft of Mockingbird and written three years before the more famous book was published in 1960, an older Atticus is revealed to be racist. The character even went to a Ku Klux Klan meeting. Like the older Scout in the book, the Epsteins were sad to hear about that.
“When the new book came out, we just felt like, this does not at all encompass the values that we want for our son to have and know,” Christen told People. “And we felt like our son was young enough that we could change his name.”
The couple decided to change Atticus’ name to Lucas, or Luke, for short. They have already started using the name at home and will next have to explain the change to their daughter, Ayala, 3.
"We still slip up sometimes and call him Atticus and my daughter still slips up and people at his school still slip up," Christen said. "But I think he's kind of slowly getting the new name just because we're using it so much."
Christen later says that she “selfishly” wishes that Watchman, which sold over 1 million copies in six days, was never published.
The couple said that Lucas is inspired by “light” and a Martin Luther King Jr. quote. However, they have to hope that Luke Skywalker doesn’t do anything crazy in Star Wars: The Force Awakens or they may have to change the name again.
cover from HarperCollins