Catherine, Called Birdy by, Karen Cushman

I. Catherine, Called Birdy by, Karen Cushman
Genre: Historical Fiction

II. Catherine’s diary takes place during medieval England during 1290. “… Of the Manor of Stonebridge in the shire of Lincoln, in the country of England” (Cushman 164). Birdy lives on a manor and she is the daughter of an English country knight. “… In the year of our Lord 1290” (Cushman 2). “Today I chased a rat about the hall… threw it in the privy” (Cushman 2). Those two citations show the poor sanitary conditions and hygiene. They also used the privy which is a bathroom but is located outside of their home. The social class ranges from a villager to a king, the rich and religious are educated while the poor are not, and the people are Christians.

III. The main character also known as the protagonist is Catherine. She also has two nicknames which are Birdy and Little Bird. Catherine is fourteen years old, and she hates doing her embroidery and spinning. Her physical characteristics are described as “…no beauty, being sun-browned and gray-eyed” (Cushman 5). She is also “with poor eye-sight and a stubborn disposition” (Cushman 5). In any given situation with her suitors she tries to act and look her worst. She cannot act lady-like, and doesn’t like to do any of her chores. Instead “I would rather sit in an apple tree and wonder” (Cushman 5). She is very descriptive when it comes to people and sometimes uses metaphors to compare them to other objects. She is stuck talking to her birds and sometimes Perkin. Catherine is an adventurous adolescent who is stubborn, and always arguing with her father.
The antagonist is Catherine’s father Rollo, Lord Rollo was once a knight. “My father must suffer from ale head this day, for he cracked me twice before din...

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...periences in life. The most important one is search for freedom. Catherine is always locked up in her chamber, or trying to get away from the suitors. Throughout in the book she thinks about going to the abbey, leaving the manor, or going on an adventure. In the end her marriage with Stephen shows her that now she is “… at least less painfully caged” (Cushman 164). The story was very exciting when you wait to see what she would do to another suitor. I learned that as much as you try to fight something sometimes you cannot and it’s bound to you. As seen with Catherine and marrying any one of the suitors. “If I was born a lady, why not a rich lady” (Cushman 4). I think the author wrote this because she wants to show how medieval Europe was like, the social classes, education, religion, and especially society’s look on marriage.

Works Cited

Catherine Called Birdy