The Watsons Go To Birmingham Sparknotes

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The Watson family lives are from Flint, Michigan. The family consists of Byron, Joetta, and Kenny which is the children and the parents’ names are Daniel and Wilona Watson. The story’s plot starts where Mr. and Mrs. Watson announce that the whole family is going on a trip to Birmingham. Birmingham is where Wilona is from. They are going to be staying with their grandmother by the name of sands. Birmingham during this time and setting is known for having heavy black / white separation laws called Jim Crow. During the time that they are down there the church in which they attend is bombed .the family had dropped Joetta off to Sunday morning school to sing in the choir. The family hears that the church is on fire and immediately charges for the …show more content…

The setting in “The Watsons Go to Birmingham” is Flint, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama. At the beginning of the story the author acknowledges us that the Watson live in Flint, Michigan where the kids attend Clark High. The family then takes a trip to Birmingham, Alabama, where Wilona is from and where grandma Sands lives, which they visiting as we know this story as set during the date of 1963 in which Michigan and Alabama which are two different lifestyles to live. Alabama was segregated with Jim Crow laws. On the other hand Michigan wasn’t …show more content…

Mood is affected by the emotion of the character and tone of the story. In the story The Watsons go to Birmingham the mood and tone I picked up from the story was that at the beginning of the book was humorous. The Watsons are all about being funny. For instance, Byron conked his hair .Conk is a hair treatment that has lye to straighten hair. Kenny tells us, "Byron had gotten a conk! A process! A do! Butter!” Conk is a hair treatment that has lye to straighten hair. Boy did Kenny laugh; they love to make each other laugh. The Watsons' attitude about life reminds us that there's always something to laugh about, even in the midst of anger and being treated wrong in society. This book has some contemplative points where you have to think and reflect about how these characters were being treated and the family had to do that a lot, not being use to the harsh behaviors of the whites. In The Watsons go to Birmingham the character Mr. Alum explains to the family the racism that has been displayed in Birmingham. “We’d see the pictures of a bunch of really mad white people with twisted-up faces screaming and giving dirty finger signs to some little Negro kids who were trying to go to school. I’d seen the pictures, but I didn't really know how these white people could hate some kids so much”. (pg.122) many innocent kids were treated like this just because they were Black. After hearing this Watson kids were so hurt, they reflected on it as if

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