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Chapter 8
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Change, Coming of Age, and Maturity
Family, Friendship, and Support
Bullying and Injustice vs. Kindness and Compassion
Race and Class
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Kenny finds his father listening to the Ultra-Glide in the Brown Bomber. He goes out and sits with him and, after a moment, asks why Byron has to go to Alabama. Daniel tries to explain that Byron needs to learn some important lessons that he isn’t learning in Flint—in fact, he’s only learning things that the Watsons don’t want him to learn. Speaking to Kenny like an adult, Daniel references all of the unrest taking place in the South. He says that sometimes life is going to be complicated and tumultuous for Black children like Byron and Kenny. What Byron needs to see, he claims, is that “the world doesn’t have a lot of jokes waiting for him,” so he has to be “ready.”
Once again, Kenny’s parents reference the struggle for racial equality and desegregation taking place in the South in the early 1960s. Although the plan to send Byron to live with Grandma Sands is mainly based on the fact that Grandma Sands is a strict disciplinarian, Daniel seems to think that witnessing the civil rights movement in Birmingham might help Byron gain a sense of maturity. Daniel knows that, unfortunately, white society is stacked against young Black boys like Kenny and Byron, which is what he means when he says that the world “doesn’t have a lot of jokes waiting” for Byron. The sooner Byron recognizes how unjust and cruel the world can be, the sooner he’ll see that it’s important to set himself up for success instead of misbehaving—this, at least, is what Daniel seems to believe.
Themes
Grandma Sands claims that everything is safe and peaceful in her neighborhood, but Daniel and Wilona think living in the South will help Byron see what “kind of place the world can be.” Listening to his father, Kenny admits that sometimes being an adult sounds scary—he doesn’t understand how people like his parents know how to navigate the world. In response, Daniel says that it really is scary at first to be an adult. After a while, though, things start to feel more comfortable and natural. What’s more, by the time Kenny is grown up, he will—his father hopes—have had plenty of time to practice being an adult.
At its core, The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 is a coming-of-age novel. Kenny’s conversation with his father in this scene provides insight into what it feels like for a 10-year-old boy to make sense of complex issues surrounding racism and growing up in a world that is often hostile and cruel. Kenny listens to his father’s words of wisdom, but he doesn’t know how he’ll ever possess the same knowledge that his father seems to have. Daniel, however, assures him that this kind of responsibility and levelheadedness comes with practice, which is why it’s important for Byron (and, eventually, Kenny) to learn how to be a mature young man.
Themes
To Kenny’s surprise, Byron doesn’t seem concerned in the days leading up to the family’s departure. He doesn’t even seem nervous or upset on the night before they leave—until, that is, his parents come into the bedroom and inform him that he’ll be sleeping with them for the night. He’s angry, but they don’t care. Joey was the one to tip them off that Byron wanted to run away before the trip, since she didn’t want Byron to get in even more trouble. But on his way to his parents’ bedroom, Byron gives Kenny a nasty look, assuming that he was the one to warn their parents.
Joey shows loyalty to Byron in a strange way—namely, by tattling on him. But she doesn’t tell on him in order to get him in trouble. Rather, she goes behind his back to protect him from getting in even more trouble. In a way, then, Joey is more responsible and wise than her older brother, suggesting that, though they often think they have everything figured out, adolescent boys could sometimes use the advice of little girls like Joey.
Themes
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In the car the next day, Wilona reads out the trip itinerary from a notebook in which she has everything all planned out. The notebook is labeled “The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963.” She has every stop charted out and meticulously planned. When Kenny asks why they can’t just drive until Daniel gets tired, his father puts on a fake accent and jokes about how Black people can’t just pull up to any town in the South and expect to find a hotel room or a restaurant that will serve them. Everyone laughs, but Byron just smiles. Kenny knows that Byron plans to not say a word for the entire trip. But a couple hours into the trip, Byron breaks his silence to ask when he gets to play a record on the Ultra-Glide.
Although Daniel is joking around when he puts on a Southern accent, what he says is actually true: Black families traveling in the South in the early 1960s really did have to be extra careful, since it was unfortunately common for Black people to suddenly find themselves in hostile, racist environments. Once again, then, Kenny’s parents reference the ways in which racism impacts Black people, even if Kenny and his siblings haven’t experienced the overt effects of such bigotry.
Themes
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