Bird at My Window | Bird at My Window

At a glance:

Author: Rosa Cuthbert
First Published: 1966
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Naturalism
Time of Work: The 1920’s to the 1950’s
Setting: Harlem, New York, and Paris, France
Principal Characters: Wade Williams, “Big Willie” Williams, Evelyn Williams, Faith, Willie Earl, Uncle Dan, Professor Jones, Clovis Rockford, Jr., Gay Sommers, Gladys
Genres: Long fiction, Naturalistic literature
Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Parents and children, Prisons, Murder or homicide, Twentieth century, Antiheroes, Brothers and sisters, Dreams, Genius, Harlem, Paris
Locales: Harlem, NY, Paris, France

The Novel

Divided into fifteen chapters, Bird at My Window has a plot that the reader unwraps like the leafy layers of an artichoke, revealing, at last, the heart and soul of the main character, Wade Williams.

As the novel begins, Wade wakes up in a straitjacket in the prison ward of a New York City hospital. The straitjacket is, in some ways, a metaphor for his predicament in life; it foreshadows the evolving restrictions of both heredity and environment that Wade confronts as the novel unfolds.

Bird at My Window | Bird at My Window

At a glance:

The Novel

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