Reading Log #1

Reading Log #1

In the beginning of the novel, The Good Lord Bird, Old John Brown a strong abolitionist frees Henry from Dutch's Tavern. When they first talked John Brown already felt connected to Henry and was giving him symbolic items, such as his good luck onion, his daughters dress and bonnet, and a feather from a good lord bird. When Henry got the onion he didn't understand why John Brown gave it to him, so he ate it. John Brown then decided to call him Onion, and looked at him as his good luck charm.  As Henry got to know Fredrick, one of John Brown's sons they talked about the good lord bird. Fredrick told Henry that a feather from the good lord bird can give a man wisdom. John Brown never gave any of his sons a feather from the good lord bird so it represents how John Brown feels about Henry and how close he feels they are. It connects with the title because the feather of the good lord bird was given to Henry when him and John Brown first met, and with the title being "The Good Lord Bird" I feel like it shows that that started the long relationship between Henry and John Brown.


Henry's rationale for lying was to keep him safe. When he started the lie John Brown thought he was a girl when he misunderstood his name for Henrietta  and gave him a dress and a bonnet. They started to get to know each other but Henry felt more safe to keep it a secret. Onion felt his life was a lot easier being a girl too, instead of having the expectation of fighting in the wars to come, he would avoid them by continuing his lie about his gender. I believe it is justifiable because it made his life easier and it kept him out of situations that could put his life in danger. For example when he was in Pikesville, he would have been put in the pen, and have a higher chance of dying. 

Reading Log #2

Reading Log #2

In The Good Lord Bird when Henry first escapes from John Brown and is trying to find his way back to Dutch Henry's Tavern he hears a horse coming down the path, so he hides behind bushes and trees. As he is waiting there and small group of Red Shirts are on the carriage driven by Nigger Bob. The Red Shirts are the pro-slavers trying to find and kill John Brown and keep slavery in the South. While Henry was hiding in the bush they the carriage stopped in front of where he was hiding and Officer Kelly was trying to make Pardee read and sign papers that he couldn't understand. They then asked Nigger Bob to read, who was a moderately educated man, but he lied and said he didn't know how to read. 

 

When they rode off, Henry heard the carriage break down and only Nigger Bob was there trying to fix it. Henry offered to help if he was able to get a ride to Dutch Henry's. At first Nigger Bob didn't want to give him a ride, but then Henry mentioned how he has been running with John Brown. Nigger Bob has heard of Old John Brown and grew envious of Henry and wanted to be saved by John Brown, and questioned why Henry ran away. After Henry explained why he ran away, Nigger Bob still didn't understand why he ran away, so they went to Bob's cousin to get some answers. When Bob's cousin told them where John Brown was they headed towards the camp and Henry returned to camp with John Brown and his sons along with Nigger Bob.