The meaning of freedom to whomever you ask is most likely to
be the idea of having the power to express what is wanted without any kind of
hesitation to do so. It is all about the idea of having power. In the book Good Lord Bird, James McBride displays
the freedom that the characters have within the book and shows the kind of
freedom that each character “has.” Although the two characters, Pie and
Sibonia, are in completely different situations and atmospheres, they are both
slaves. They both have different levels and in a way, different statuses, but
they are both slaves. McBride shows Pie and Sibonia in entirely different ways
within the slavery world. Even though the author shows the job Pie has and
shows Onion the life she leads there, it is different from the environment
Sibonia is in. Both of them, being in power and having freedom in their own
atmospheres, gives the best example of how their lives differentiate. Although
Pie has her status within the “high class hotel” due to the case she is a
mulatto, Sibonia’s status is not seen out in society the way Pie’s life is.
They are around two different kinds of people. By the way McBride shows
Sibonia, the way she speaks and carries herself, she shows she has more wisdom
than Pie has, along with her inner freedom.
The
definition of the word freedom is different to everyone. It is the way one
interprets it. McBride shows how the white man is freer because of the
backgrounds the other characters have and the lives they lived. Their social
statuses and by the comparison of their treatment towards blacks tells a lot
about them. Although Pie and Sibonia are both slaves, each has a different
mentality and responsibility which automatically makes their own idea of
freedom different from every other character in the book Good Lord Bird. They do both have their own kind of freedom but
Sibonia, although not exactly shown as the brightest but has the wisdom most
would like.
Within
Chapter eleven of Good Lord Bird,
Onion makes his way to a whore house along with Bob, Chase, and Randy. Onion
meets Pie there after Chase states what he was going to be doing. “Take this
little lady across the road to the Pikesville Hotel, where Miss Abby is no
doubt holding my room for me on the Hot Floor (McBride 142).” There Onion demonstrates
to the readers his insight on what is to come within the house once the boys
make their way in. Inside the “high-class hotel,” the “Hot Floor” shows the
women who are being looked. When Pie is first seen by Onion, he sees right away
that she is light skinned. Onion states that her skin is brown as “a deer’s
hide, with high cheekbones and big brown dewy eyes as big as silver dollars
(McBride 145).” Automatically, Onion is infatuated with Pie. The reader receives
an insight on how Pie is obviously better dressed than all the rest, giving an
insight sort of how she is seen and the position she holds.
Once she realizes that Onion is
indeed a male and not a female as thought to be, she then shows how she has the
power to get Onion thrown out of the house and how she can move those within
the house around, due to the way she is seen by the house owner, Miss Abbey.
The house owner uses Pie’s mulatto skin as an advantage to the duties of the
house. Pie shows the power she has with
her clients by them being done what she wants to do, which is less than others.
Regardless of the client wants, she finds her way to please them without
forcing herself to do things she has no intentions of willingly act upon. Either
way, she ends with what she wants. Not entirely free because still a slave, she
has the upper hand within the “high-class hotel.” Being within the whore house
and although some what of power is given to her for being a mulatto, she is
still being a slave, being bought and paid for her, as her way of life.
In the
chapter after, James McBride introduces Sibonia as first walks to the back,
into the pens, to see if Bob is available and his whereabouts. Onion walks in
to see Negros in the back and he then sees Sibonia, whom caught him by
surprise. Sibonia easily would be someone whom would startle anyone by the way
she is dressed and would have someone be somewhat cautious around her. “The heavyset,
settle-aged colored woman setting on a wooden box, cackling and babbling
(McBride 147).” Onion then speaks of Sibonia without knowing her name, which
portrays her as someone who may be seen as a joke. Sibonia proceeds to see who
Onion actually is and then throws mud balls at him. Another lady proceeds to
come out and stop her and Onion then sees the way Sibonia speaks to the other
woman, Libby, and states that she sees how troubled Onion really is. Once Libby leaves, Onion and Sibonia are alone
and he sees the change in the way she is acting and how different it is. “There
is power in that face,” (McBride 164) Onion states as she continues to make mud
balls but does not continue to throw them but place them over one another into
a pile. The way she carries herself is different and he sees it now. Sibonia
then tells Onion the truth about how Bob is no longer there and he was “bounded
out” (McBride 165). Although Sibonia in the beginning shows herself as to being
unaware of what is going on around her, she knows exactly all that is
happening, knowing everyone will eventually be sold. Her appearance throughout
the book gives other characters the impression that she is stupid as well yet she
knows her way around. She threatens Onion and states that she somehow finds the
truth to everything when she says to Onion at the end of Chapter twelve stating
that he isn’t to “stretch your mouth to nobody about this, especially Pie. If
you do, I’ll know about it, and you’ll wake up with a heap of knives poking out
that pretty neck of yours” (McBride 164). Showing the capability of Sibonia and the
wisdom she withholds.
Within both
chapters you see the difference between the mental knowledge of Pie and
Sibonia. Sibonia’s fearlessness that Pie lacks gives her an advantage in
surviving as a slave. Although questioning it more than once, Sibonia
demonstrates how smart she is by not giving names to Judge Fuggett as well. McBride
discreetly shows the differences between both characters page after page as he
differentiates the way they each act and most importantly show their ability to
act on surviving within their lives.
Although Sibonia
is in a place with everyone around and being seen the way she was when Onion
first walked into the pen, readers would think she was not aware of her
surroundings but once she begins to speak of the things going on around her,
you get to hear what her inputs are of situations around her. McBride shows
that Pie thinks highly of herself as well because of the way Miss Abbey sees
her but even Sibonia sees the way it’s all going to end. The wisdom Sibonia’s
wisdom comes straight from her experiences in her life. The way of life that Pie lives throughout the
book shows how she has not been face to face with the same difficulties in
which the normal dark skin person would, whether it be in the “high class
hotel” or it be on the streets along with the slaves and the lives they lived. Sibonia
in reality has the wisdom Pie wishes to have and will not attain due to the
circumstances they’ve lived in and the difference of intensity the situations
they went through in their lives.
Works Cited
McBride, James.
The Good Lord Bird. New York: Penguin Group, 2013. Print.
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