46 pages • 1 hour read
James McBrideThe Good Lord Bird
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Good Lord Bird
Early in the novel, Brown and Fred tell Henry that the feather of the Good Lord Bird is good luck. Fred is killed after shooting a Good Lord Bird by mistake, and it appears to Henry that there might be some truth in the description of the bird’s powers. The feathers of the Good Lord Bird appear several times, including the final scene in which Brown is awaiting his execution. But it is Brown’s description of the bird itself that is more significant than its feathers:
The Good Lord Bird don’t run in a flock. He flies alone. You know why? He’s searching. Looking for the right tree. And when he sees that tree, that dead tree that’s taking all the nutrition and good things from the forest floor. He goes out and he gnaws at it, and he gnaws at it till that thing gets tired and falls down. And the dirt from it raises the other trees. It gives them good things to eat. It makes ‘em strong (415).
Brown gives this quote in the context of not seeing the end of slavery during his life, even though that is what he fought for. He sees himself as similar to the Good Lord Bird, which is a symbol of something that gives strength to others. The efforts of a Good Lord Bird lead to enriched soil, nutrition, and the removal of dead, useless, or decaying matter. Brown has tried, in his way, to chip away at the institution of slavery in the way that the Good Lord Bird improves a forest.
Henry as Little Onion
Brown refers to Henry as his good luck charm, after Henry eats the onion that was previously Brown’s good luck charm. Every time Henry is reunited with Brown, it coincides with another miraculous victory for the army, or another instance of Brown surviving against improbable odds. Henry is skeptical of religion, but is not above superstition, and he also notices that his presence is often good luck for Brown. Even when Henry returns to the armory, during the thickest moments of the fighting, Brown is glad to see him because he believes that Henry is a good omen.
“Be a man”
“Be a man” are Sibonia’s words to the terrified boy who is about to be hanged for his role in the slave revolt. She wants him to meet his death with dignity, but her words have a great effect on Henry. He spends the rest of the novel pondering what it means to be a man. Sibonia’s command makes him explore his own identity, the nature of his freedom, and what he expects of himself. When he reveals himself to Annie and returns to Harpers Ferry, it is because he is trying to be a man. His sense of self-respect is now inseparable from his newfound sense of duty, as well as his loyalty to Brown, who has become a father figure for Henry.
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By James McBride
