The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

When Wilona was young, her house caught on fire. For the next two years, her clothes always smelled like smoke. Because she remembers this experience so well, she’s very strict whenever she catches Byron playing with matches. But he never listens to her. Finally, she tells him that if she finds him playing with fire one more time, she’s going to burn him to teach him a lesson. Still, Kenny comes across Byron playing with matches one day in the bathroom. He’s pretending to direct a movie scene in which Nazi fighter pilots (played by small pieces of paper) are hit by Captain Byron Watson’s “flamethrower of death.” This involves lighting pieces of paper on fire and dropping them into the toilet.

Wilona smells smoke and storms into the bathroom. She grabs Byron and pulls him by his neck to the living room. Kenny and Joey follow them, and Joey starts crying because she always wants to protect Byron. She pleads with her mother to let him off the hook, insisting that he has surely learned his lesson. But Wilona doesn’t listen, instead getting some matches, a paper towel, some Vaseline, and a band-aid. It becomes clear that she intends to burn him and then patch him up herself. Before she can do anything, though, Joey places herself between Wilona and Byron.

Wilona reasons with her daughter, explaining that she doesn’t want to hurt Byron. But she has to burn him, she says—otherwise, Byron will never learn his lesson and will keep playing with fire, thus putting the entire household in jeopardy. Plus, Wilona swore to God that she would burn Byron if he ever played with fire again. If she didn’t do it, then, she’d be breaking her word to God. Since Joey is very religious and attends Sunday School multiple times every week, she relents and steps aside. But just when the flame of Wilona’s match is about to touch Byron’s finger, Joey rushes over and blows it out. This happens four more times. Eventually, Wilona gives up.