Laura Laroche
17 February 2014
Professor Young
Essay 1: Freedom, Final
Draft
The
Pursuit of Freedom
Having freedom is what allows a person of any race or
gender to show his/her creative side without having a higher authority telling
him/her otherwise. In the past, slaves were unable to express their inner self,
and constantly had someone telling the slaves what to do, with force. In The Good Lord Bird, the author James
McBride introduced two completely different characters that have different
levels of freedom, Sibonia and Pie. Sibonia comes off as a harsh, crazy woman
who does not seem to have it together but she gets to say what is on her mind. Then
there is Pie who has privileges, but is treated with no respect. Being free is
the ability to express oneself and having control on our own actions, and
Sibonia has that ability, she is freer. Considering from the characteristics
that McBride gave Sibonia, being able to say what she wants, Sibonia has much
more freedom than most slaves, especially Pie.
It is obviously expected that no one wants to be
labeled as mentally ill, but in this case, it is exactly what Sibonia wanted. Most
people want to avoid a person who is perceived as “crazy”. Onion notices that Sibonia
went from acting foolish to completely normal in seconds, “She had brushed the
madness off her face the way you’d brush a fly away” (McBride 164). Before she
changed her actions, Onion assumed right away that she was not at all together
in the head and he wanted to get away from her. Being crazy is the identity
that Sibonia uses around people she views as authority to be left alone. She
wants to hide her intelligence from those who might take it away from her. Faking
is what she uses as an advantage to get ahead like planning a fight against the
white, “They was planning on killing white families by the hundreds, including
the town minister” (Onion, 173). Sibonia is one of the most courageous, boldest,
and smartest characters in the novel that once you get to know her, it is easy
to tell like Onion could, “her eyes glaring at me was strong and calm as the
clean barrel of a double-barreled shotgun boring down at my face. There was
power in that face” (McBride 164). Her intelligence is what allows her to
represent herself as mentally ill and knowing if she does so, she has a good
chance of getting away with whatever she does.
On the other hand, Pie is known as a whore. A whore
is a woman who sells her body and mind for money. A woman who does such a thing
is far from being free. All the men Pie has been with have a power over her by
sleeping with her. She will always be known for her body and nothing else. Pie’s
beauty is the only reason men want to sleep with her, not for her personality
or even her thoughts. When Onion first met her, right away he noticed her beauty
instead of her personality, “bundle of beauty coming down them stairs that
first time” (McBride 144). Pie sleeps with men not only for money but also to
get special treatment from the whites. Onion describes his and Pie’s living, “Your
meals is free. Your roof is paid for” (158), as the special treatment that they
get for following Abby’s order or any other white authority. The things Pie
must go through to be treated differently from slaves is far from being free,
“Pie was the busiest whore on the Hot Floor” (Onion, 170). She rather be used
for sex than doing manual labor which shows she has no respect for herself. The
beauty Pie has is what allows her to be controlled by others around her and she
does not even realize it because she lets them control her.
Going
back to Sibonia, she is known for being a slave and only that. She has no
privileges and the whites do not care for her. That gives Sibonia time to
herself and since she is not being watched, it allows her to say and do
anything she wants without consequences. Sibonia should not envy the privileges
that the others get in the house because she knows that is not freedom. Being
outside the house, in the pen, allows Sibonia and the others to have more
freedom with their actions. They are never being watched and certainly none of
the white fellows take their time to see what is going on in the pen. All the
main focus happens in the house, which allows Sibonia to be freer by making
plans and having actions of her own without anyone on the outside noticing.
Then comes Pie again, and she is being taken away
from the true feeling of freedom by having privileges given to her. Pie has
privileges that make her believe that she has freedom when it is the other way
around. Her believing so causes Pie to act as if she has more authority over
the other slaves and sees herself as more of a “white” person than a slave. The
privileges that she has, “Miss Abby gived her the run of the place, let her
choose her own customers more or less, and live as she wanted” (Onion, 159),
have such a great power over her that she follows what is being said without
thinking otherwise. Like Pie mentions, “You let Miss Abby work you. She might
work you to death…She can do whatever she wants” (154). Having those luxuries
allows Abby to control Pie and all her actions. Pie has an extent to her decision-making
and they all must please Abby, “Pie was her main attraction” (Onion, 158). Pie
is being watched at all time. Others might feel like she has more freedom
because of all the things she gets but she does not do it because it pleases
her, she does it because it is the only way for her to fit in and be treated
somewhat free, but that will never be the case.
Overall, Sibonia definitely proves to have more
freedom than Pie will ever have. She is a bright character throughout the novel
and has it her way. Freedom is what allows a person to be express oneself like
Sibonia does. Freedom should not be seen as just a privilege but more of a
control that a person has on their self and no one else. It is about
independence a person has without needing help from others. Sibonia has that
independence, the chance to do whatever she pleases without being imprisoned or
even judged by higher authority. Throughout each slave, some were treated
differently with privileges that others did not have. In The Good Lord Bird, Pie had those privileges that slaves desired
for years but she never got the possibility of better treatment. Even though
slaves desired privileges, it will never be greater than freedom. Sibonia had
more than privileges she had freedom.
Works Cited
McBride,
James. The Good Lord Bird. New York:
Penguin Group, 2013. Print.
