The Watsons go to Birmingham Book Analysis Essay Example

When something traumatic happens, most people will take lots of time to truly recover from the event. To do this, they need lots of support from their families. The novel “The Watsons go to Birmingham” by Christopher Paul Curtis shows how Kenny responds to problems and traumatic events with family support. Byron changes the way he helps his family, and this is important because it is more effective. The author develops the theme that families should always support each other, especially during tough times through Byron because family support helps change someone’s mindset.

At the beginning of the novel, Byron helped Kenny was by protecting him, but this way was not very effective. One example of this is when the author writes, “Byron’s style of deaf-language was just to yell real loud and slap the side of Larry’s head after each word. “Lemme!” Whack! “See!” Whack! “Them!” Whack! “Gloves!” Whack! “Young!” Whack! “Fool!” Whackwhackwhack! This had to be killing Larry Dunn. Larry didn’t cry or anything, he just stared at By and said, “I ain’t.” He talked real tough but he didn’t do a thing when Byron snatched the gloves off of his hands. The palms of the gloves were brown and the backs were black. Byron threw me the gloves. This shows that Byron helps Kenny by using violence because Byron and Larry’s fight was violent, Byron hit Larry multiple times. Fighting Larry was not the most effective way to help because Kenny did not learn how to fight. Byron did it for him. Using violence also did not change Kenny’s mindset because Kenny felt bad for Larry. Another example of this is when the book says, “Larry Dunn was king of the kindergarten to fourth grade only because Byron didn’t care about them. Larry was the king of Clark . . . but Byron was a god. It seemed like that would make me a prince or a real strong angel or something but it didn’t work that way, I was just another fourth grade punk. I guess having the school’s god as my brother did give me some kind of special rights but not a whole bunch. This shows that Byron helps Kenny by being the “god” of the school because no one teases Kenny as much. Everyone is scared of Byron due to his age and bigness, so they know Byron would hurt them if they bully Kenny. Kenny needs to rely on Byron to ensure he does not get bullied at school, and this is not very effective in helping Kenny because Kenny does not know how to fight. This also does not change Kenny’s mindset because his beliefs about school do not change. Byron cares about Kenny a lot even if he does not show it, so he is a guardian for Kenny as seen with the fight with Larry and being the “god” of the school. Protecting Kenny was not the best way to help Kenny or change his mindset, but the next way is more effective.

Towards the middle of the novel, Byron helped Kenny was by supporting Kenny when he did something well, and this way was more effective. An example of Byron supporting Kenny was when the author writes, “Buphead said, “Here that little egghead punk is.” “Leave the little clown alone,” Byron said. “It’s a crying shame, takin’ him around like a circus freak.” He punched me kind of soft in the arm and said, “At least you oughta make ’em pay you for doin’ that mess. If it was me they’d be comin’ out they pockets with some foldin’ money every time they took me around. I couldn’t believe it. I think Byron was proud of me!” This shows Byron supports Kenny when he does something good because Kenny read the Langston Hughes passages in front of Byron’s class. Byron even told Buphead to stop making fun of Kenny and encouraged Kenny to keep reading well. This also changes Kenny’s mindset because he started to believe Byron was proud of him and that he did do well. Another example of Byron supporting Kenny was when the book says, “When everything stopped going in circles I got up and we all laughed again. They whispered some more and then By said, “What you think, Buphead? He kept his balance a good long time, I’m gonna give him a A-minus.” This shows that Byron supports Kenny when he does something well because Byron gave Kenny a challenge that Byron thought Kenny would not be able to do. Kenny successfully completed Byron’s challenge, and Byron told Buphead that he would give Kenny a high score. The book was written from Kenny's point of view, which means he heard Byron say that. This also changes Kenny’s mindset because Kenny believed that he kept his balance well. Byron does support Kenny when he does something well, as seen when he told Buphead to stop making fun of Kenny and Byron giving Kenny a high score. This way was definitely effective in making Kenny feel good about himself and changing his mindset, but Kenny sometimes feels bad about himself. The next way Byron helped him was super effective in this situation.

At the end of the novel, Byron helped Kenny was by using emotional intelligence after the bombing, which was the most effective way. One example of Byron using emotional intelligence is when the author writes, “‘Hi, By.” “Hey, Kenny. So this is where you been hanging out, huh?” “Are you going to tell on me?” “Man, when you ever known me to be a snitch?” “Never.’” This shows that Byron is using emotional intelligence after the bombing happened because Kenny is just so traumatized about what had happened to Joey and the other in the church, so Byron figured Kenny needed some alone time. Byron even told Kenny that he would not tell on him since he understands what Kenny is going through. This helped change Kenny’s mindset because he believed Byron would not tell on him, so he started trusting Byron. Another example of Byron using emotional intelligence is when Byron says, Kenny, things ain’t ever going to be fair. How’s it fair that two grown men could hate Negroes so much that they’d kill some kids just to stop them from going to school? How’s it fair that even though the cops down there might know who did it nothing will probably ever happen to those men? It ain’t. But you just gotta understand that that’s the way it is and keep on steppin.” This shows that Byron is using emotional intelligence after the bombing happened because he understands that Kenny is very surprised and sad about the event. Due to this, Byron decides to tell Kenny that life is never going to be fair and that they should move on quickly. This is the action that changes Kenny’s mindset the most because Kenny then learned that he should let the past go when it is unfair. This caused Kenny to have a new perspective to look at life. Byron has emotional intelligence, which means he understands how Kenny is feeling, what would be best for Kenny, and how he should act. This way of Byron helping Kenny was the most effective way because .

In conclusion, Curtis develops the theme that families should always support each other, especially during tough times through Byron since family support helps change someone’s mindset. The Watsons’s Go to Birmingham shows Kenny’s response to a traumatic event and how Byron has changed the way helps Kenny. At the beginning Byron protects Kenny from bullies, towards the middle Byron encourages Kenny when he did something well, and towards the end he uses emotional intelligence to help Kenny recover from the church bombing. Curtis reminds us that we should always be supportive of our family members, especially when a traumatic event happens.