illustrated close-up of Kenny Watson with fire in the background behind him

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

by Christopher Paul Curtis

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Discussion Topic

Plot, Characters, and Literary Elements in "The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963"

Summary:

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 follows the Watson family, focusing on the dynamics between Kenny and his brother Byron, who faces disciplinary issues. Initially set in Flint, Michigan, the family travels to Birmingham to leave Byron with Grandma Sands, hoping to correct his behavior. The novel addresses familial and societal conflicts, including the Civil Rights Movement. The climax occurs with the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, profoundly affecting Kenny. The falling action involves the family's realization of the South's racial dangers, prompting their return to Flint.

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In The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, what do Chapters 1-10 cover?

You are asking for a summary of a lot of chapters; however, interestingly there does seem to be a break in the narrative between Chapters 1-10 and the rest of the novel. It is at the end of Chapter 10 that the Watson family start their journey to Birmingham, Alabama, to go and visit Momma's mother, a powerful matriarchal figure who will, they hope, "sort out" Byron.

The first ten chapters then concern themselves with describing, as Kenny calls them, the "weird Watsons" and their crazy antics. In particular, the relationship between Kenny and his elder brother Byron is explored in all of its complexity. And complex it certainly is, because at times Byron bullies his brother and shows himself to be incredibly cruel, yet at other times, he can protect and defend his brother, showing his love for him. In a sense, Kenny acts as a spectator, charting Byron's acts of rebellion and worsening behaviour and the attempts of his parents to discipline him. Kenny is equally attracted and appalled by Byron's exploits, finding some of his antics hilarious, such as when Byron has his hair straightened and when he freezes his lips to the mirror of their car, but also Kenny is repulsed by the savagery with which Byron bullies Larry Dunn, for example.

Their parents want to bring up their children to have strong values, and in spite of their best efforts, they feel they have not been successful with their eldest son, and so they determine to go to Birmingham and leave Byron with Grandma Sands, a strong figure who will hopefully sort Byron out and straighten his somewhat erroneous behaviour. This is what happens in the first ten chapters and takes us up until they actually begin their journey.

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Who is the main character in chapter 8 of The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963?

The story is told from a first-person point of view by Kenny, but in this chapter, Dad takes center stage. He and Mom promise to visit Grandma Sands in Alabama, and Dad begins making preparations to get the Brown Bomber, the name they use for the family car, ready for the trip. He shows off each of his upgrades to the family, from new used tires to a new air freshener.

Dad makes a big production of his biggest surprise, which turns out to be a "drive around record player." Even cool Byron is impressed with this upgrade, noting that "Speedy don't even have one in his Cadillac!" Mom is initially upset that Dad has spent so much money on a luxury item, but she eventually comes back to see what Dad has really done with the new sound system. Dad tries to smooth things over with her, asking what song she would like to play and then pretending to be a radio personality as he follows her request:

But first, let me tell all you people out there in Radio-Land that this number was requested by a Miss Wilona Sands for the wunnerful, wunnerful man in her life, the Big Daddy of love, Daniel Watson ...

After a warm evening of sharing hours of music together, Mom and Dad drop a bomb on the kids: not only is the family going to visit Grandma Sands, but they may just leave Byron there.

This reveals a different side of Dad's personality. He can joke and have fun with his kids, but he can also be tough when the situation requires it—and Byron has pushed his parents too far with his Latest Fantastic Adventures.

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What is the main focus of Chapter 9 in "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963"?

Kenny, concerned about Byron being sent to live in Alabama, has a man-to-man talk with his father.  Dad says that it is especially important, given the current difficulties black people must face because of backlash against the Civil Rights Movement, that Byron learn "that his time for playing is running out fast...the world doesn't have a lot of jokes waiting for him...he's got to be ready".  Dad and Momma don't feel he is learning what he needs to know in Flint, and so they will send him to stay awhile with Grandma Sands in Birmingham.

Mrs. Davidson, a neighbor, comes by and brings a little angel which she gushingly says reminds her of Joetta.  Joetta is polite but perturbed, because the angel is made of "white clay" and has blue eyes.

Momma has the trip to Birmingham planned in minute detail in a notebook entitled, "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963".  The family will drive three hundred miles on "Day One",  travel "only" two hundred and fifty miles on "Day Two", complete the last three hundred miles on "Day Three".  Momma has outlined whan and where they will stop to eat and use restroom facilities, and made alternative preparations if things don't work out somewhere as anticipated.  She knows that in the South, there are many places where black people are not allowed to eat or stay.

Byron had planned to run away the night before the family left, but his plans had been foiled.  He resolves to spoil the trip by being silent the whole way, but after a few miles is fighting merrily with Kenny (Chapter 9).

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What is the conflict in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963?

There are personal, familial, and societal conflicts in this novel. The familial conflict centers around Kenny's older brother, Byron, who has become the neighborhood bully in Flint, Michigan, where the family lives. Byron is so narcissistic that he kisses his image in the mirror of the family car, causing his lips to get stuck on the frozen mirror. Byron is also a pyromaniac who sets objects afire. Momma and Dad are concerned that Byron is so ill behaved, and they decide to send him to live with Grandma Sands, a stern woman who lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

After the Watsons drive to Birmingham, they become involved in a larger conflict--the Civil Rights movement. They are in the city during the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, which actually occurred in September of 1963 and in which four African-American girls were tragically killed. In dealing with this incident, as well as an incident in which he almost drowns, Kenny, the main character, must also confront his inner demons (which he refers to as "Wool Puh"), and this is another conflict in the story. The "Wool Puh" is his misunderstanding of the pronunciation of "whirlpool," and it is also his fear of death and the unknown that he must confront as he grows up.

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What is the falling action in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963?

In literary terms, falling action refers to that part of the plot that takes place after the climax and before the denouement. In The Watsons go to Birmingham, the climax in the story is when the 16th Street Baptist Church is bombed by white supremacists. In the aftermath of the bombing, the Watsons frantically search for Joey, who was attending Sunday School at the church. Kenny finds a shoe that looks just like one that Joey was wearing. He fears the worst and rushes home in a state of hysteria.

Thankfully, Joey survives the horrific blast; she wasn't in the church when the bomb went off. It is at this point in the story that the falling action takes place. Everyone's totally shaken and traumatized by the bombing and the sheer hatred that it represents. The Watsons realize that the racist South is no place for them or any other African-Americans, for that matter. So they decide to pack up and head back home to Flint.

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What is the falling action in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963?

In The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, the reader becomes acquainted with the Watson family as they experience events in 1963, which later proved to be a significant year in the Civil Rights Movement. One of the most terrible real-life events that Christopher Paul Curtis includes is the bombing of a Birmingham church, which killed three girls. Kenny is fond of his little sister, Joey, but he also tries to distance himself from her because he is older and a boy. Although he did not intend to do so, Kenny gains the extraordinary opportunity to save his sister’s life through the power of imagination.

Throughout the novel, Kenny is confronted with a variety of new experiences that he often has trouble understanding. He tends to be naïve, and his older brother Byron teases and plays tricks on him. Kenny’s near-death experience in the whirlpool is a significant event. After Byron saves him from drowning, Kenny stays home to recover while Joey goes to church on Sunday. When they learn of the bombing and run to the church, Kenny follows later. He cannot totally understand the bombed-out interior and bloody people. He does realize that the shiny black shoe he picks up belongs a dead girl, whom he assumes is Joey.

She returns to the house soon after him, very much alive and with both her shoes. Joey tells him that she had gone outside the church and saw him outside waving to her. Kenny is confused as to how she saw him while he was really at home, but he understands that this image led her away from the church and out of harm’s way.

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What is the falling action in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963?

The climax or the high point of the novel comes in chapter 15, when Kenny hears the explosion and runs to the church. In the rubble and dust of the ruined building, he sees a black shoe that looks like the pretty ones Joetta (Joey) wore to church that morning, and he takes it. Kenny thinks it is Joey's and fears she has died.

Everything in the novel to this point has been leading up to this dramatic and historical high point. We have been witnessing the rising action of Kenny and his family driving south and visiting relatives in Birmingham, Alabama, so that, from a plot perspective, they can be there when the bomb goes off in the church.

This is a coming-of-age story, and the explosion will represent a breaking point. Kenny will grieve and grow up as a result of the bombing and not be the same person he was a few days earlier. Kenny's coming rebirth into greater maturity is foreshadowed by his nearly drowning in the Wool Pooh—at that point, he experiences a symbolic death because he is not mature enough to be aware of the danger he is stepping into. After the bombing, there is no going back for him to the blissful innocence of childhood.

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What is the climax of The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963?

To my mind, the powerful climax of this great novel occurs in Chapter 15 of the novel, after Kenny has fought with the Wool Pooh twice, firstly in the water at Collier's Landing and secondly in the church that suffered the bombing. On his return to home, Kenny is understandably completely traumatised, far more than Byron and Joetta are, and finds that he needs to be silent and withdraw from everyone to deal with what he has observed. His parents and Byron are incredibly concerned for him, and Byron takes it upon himself to get his younger brother better.

One day he insists that Kenny accompanies him to the upstairs bathroom to show him a hair that is growing out of his chin that he is incredibly proud of. Kenny then takes a look at his own face in the mirror, trying to see his own moustache and how long it has grown:

Maybe it was because I hadn't looked in the mirror for a long time, but as soon as I saw myself with my lazy eye still being lazy and my face looking so sad I slammed my eyes shut and started crying. I even fell off the toilet. Byron caught me and set me on the floor.

This then is the climax of the novel, as Kenny is finally able to emotionally express all the terrible experiences that he has been through and finds release through crying and letting out his suppressed emotions.

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What is the major conflict in The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963?

I would want to argue that the major conflict we see in this story is an internal conflict based in the character of Kenny, our narrator, who we gradually see being forced to grow up through the experiences that he has, especially when he and his family go to Birmingham and experience a violent racial attack. This initially greatly shocks Kenny, and even when he and his family return to his home it is clear it has greatly impacted him, making him withdrawn and isolated from others. However, what resolves this internal conflict which features Kenny's inability to accept and process what happens is the conversation that he has with Byron regarding fairness and justice. Note what Byron says to him:

"Kenny, things ain't ever going to be fair. How's it fair that two grown men could hate Negreos 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'."

Kenny thus realises that unfairness is a part of life, and our only response to this central truth is to accept it and not to let it interfere in our own lives as much as possible. We cannnot allow the unfairness of life to result in our own inaction and detachment from it. The only response, as Byron says, is to "keep on steppin'" regardless. Thus we see that by the end of the novel this central internal conflict within Kenny as he struggles to process the unfairness of life is resolved, as is symbolised by the way he starts to care about things again, such as getting his dinosaurs back from Rufus.

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What is the rising action in "The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963"?

I would say that the rising action occurs when By is set by his parents to Burmingham to live with his grandmother . This move sets the stage for the action that is to follow, that is, moving By away from himself and his narrow world and locating him into the consciousness of the civil rights movement.

Here is an excerpt from the "overview" page here at eNotes that should help you identify the rising action (climax) and the falling action (denouement) that follows:

"Dad and Momma, as the Watson children call their parents, are determined to raise respectful, well-behaved children who make good choices and possess high moral standards. Realizing they have been unable to instill fully their standards in their oldest child, Dad and Momma decide to take By to Birmingham and leave him with his Grandma Sands, a strong woman who will bring him to his senses. They know there is some violence in the South with the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement, but have been assured by Grandma Sands that it is quiet around her."

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What literary elements are present in Christopher Paul Curtis's novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963?

Literary elements in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 include the use of first person point of view, imagery, and literary devices such as similes.

By using first person point of view or perspective, author Christopher Paul Curtis allows the reader to know what the protagonist, Kenny Watson, is thinking and feeling, and convey Kenny’s distinct voice. In this way, the reader gains the boy’s personal view—and occasional misunderstanding—of the sometimes unfamiliar situations in which he finds himself.

The novel is rich in imagery, which is the use of any or all of the five senses to create distinctive impressions in the reader. An example in chapter 13 is the description of the whirlpool and environment at Collier’s Landing. The senses of sight, hearing, and touch are used, as well as Kenny’s awareness of their absence. As he goes under, he notes: “All the sound and light from Alabama disappeared ...”

A simile is a comparison of unlike things for effect using “like” or “as.” Two similes that appear in chapter 13 are “the fish kept slipping away like they were covered with soap,” and Kenny's impression of the silence experienced underwater: “[it] seemed like my ears were stuffed with cotton.”

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What is the denouement of "The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963"?

Remember that the a "denouement" is the falling action of a narrative. Here, all the events previously have culminated in the bombing of the church. The protagonist, Kenny, is forced once again to re-examine painful feelings about the meaning of life. By, the troublemaker, also comes to terms with his actions as the novel reaches its conclusion.

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