The Good Lord Bird

The Good Lord Bird is a 2013 novel written by James McBride. It is set during three years of the slave era South and is a work of progressive Americana in the vein of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Good Lord Bird received the National Book Award and great critical acclaim, and is now being adapted into a television series for Showtime. It examines themes of slavery, loyalty, racism, and violent protest.

Plot Summary

The Good Lord Bird is told in three parts. At the beginning of Part 1, a twelve-year old boy named Henry Shackleford is with his father when a renegade abolitionist named John Brown comes in to get a haircut. Brown is infamous by that point, and when he is recognized by other men in the saloon, a fight erupts. The gunfight involves Dutch Henry, Henry’s owner. Henry’s father is killed in the fight and Brown takes Henry with him. He mistakes Henry for a girl and quickly clothes him in a bonnet and dress. He calls Henry “Little Onion” after Henry eats an onion that Brown considers his good luck charm.

Over the course of the next three years, Henry spends most of his time with Brown’s ever-shifting army of abolitionists. Brown is often presented as a comical character: a Bible-quoting Christian zealot whose elevated views of his own destiny are on par with those of Don Quixote. Brown is a fierce fighter and willing to kill anyone who tries to harm his men.

The majority of the novel concerns the various misadventures that befall Henry as he rides with Brown’s army, all while pretending to be a girl. The army rides from town to town, fighting skirmishes against rebel troops. Each victory makes John Brown’s legend grow, and he eventually becomes ambitious enough to lead at attack on the armory at Harpers Ferry, determined the overthrow the government. The attack fails, and Brown and most of his men are hanged. Henry escapes to Philadelphia and gains his freedom.

The Good Lord Bird is based on the real events of John Brown’s life, but it also functions as Henry’s coming of age tale. Henry spends the onset of puberty dressed as a girl, while occasionally surrounded by women he falls in love with. He is continually forced to redefine his notions of what it means to be, and to act like, a man.

Real life historical figures such as Stonewall Jackson, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Wilkes Booth make brief appearances in the novel, giving it an extra ring of authenticity. The Good Lord Bird is a masterful piece of historical fiction, comedic writing, and brilliant characterization. It is highly recommended for fans of frontier writing, students of slave-era literature and Americana, and humor enthusiasts.