The Watsons Go To Birmingham Book Report

“When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourself,”--Viktor E. Frankl (www.brainyquote.com). In the novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, Byron (“By”) Watson changes the most. At the beginning of the novel, Byron does not seem to care about his siblings, but throughout the story he becomes more protective of his younger siblings, Joetta and Kenny. He used to be very rude, but now he is being very respectful towards his family and friends.

Have you ever been treated unfairly? Well, in the book The Watsons go to Birmingham in 1963 they were in the middle of the civil rights movements, they were fighting to be treated equally. The main theme is stopping segregation here are three examples ,the Watson family couldn't go to the same school as whites, they couldn't use the same restrooms, they couldn't go to the same church in peace.

Byron was very mean to Byron in the beginning of the text. According to the text “Byron mumbled my name and I turned around to see why his voice was so funny and when I turned around Byron blasted me in the face with an ice ball.” Kenny thought that they were just having fun until it all went downhill when By blasted him back in the face with a mouth full of snow. According to the text “ Byron and Buphead each grabbed one of my arms and one

Later, on page 69, he remarked, “that was then, and this is now”. This clearly shows that Bryon is a dynamic character because he changes from a kid always messing around and possibly doing illegal things, to a more mature kid who isn’t like that youngster he used to be. Furthermore, Bryon also remarks, on page 107, “ ‘I got a job in the supermarket and I did a pretty good job changing my attitude’ ”. This shows that Bryon is a dynamic character, not only because he changed his attitude, which he clearly states in the quote, but also because he moved on from hustling to make money, after the texan’s incident, to getting a job and working to earn money This shows a huge change on his part because in the beginning of the novel he would always earn money dishonestly; he and Mark would usually hustle pool at their friend Charlie’s bar. Additionally, in the first few chapters of the novel, Byron calls himself a lady killer, but on page 125, he states, “I was getting more and more serious about

The Watsons go to Birmingham was an amazing book and movie, but I personally think that the novel was better. The novel is better because it has more character depth, it shows theme better, and you can get your own understanding. The movie lacked many things including character depth.

Byron never did this so, Kenny is explaining how he was in a good mood. specifically, this is a great quote because it shows how Byron is becoming nicer than he was before. This quote is in the middle of the book. This is when Byron starts

The topic of Civil Rights is an interesting topic for so many people. This event changed history forever and allowed some people who couldn’t even get good jobs to become president of the United States or even have the same rights as others. In the book The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963, the author, Christopher Paul Curtis, wrote a story about a family that is living in this time. The author mostly focused on telling us a story of the Watson family and not really any historical events. I really would've liked it if the book gave more information on civil rights and not just have one historical event happen at the end of the book. Adding some more facts and history would have made the book more interesting. All in all, the book The Watsons Go

In the fictional novel, The Watsons Go To Birmingham there were several historically accurate cultures and events from the 1960’s. Most of the story is based on the mother wanting to go to Alabama, because that’s where her family is. However her husband doesn’t think it is a good idea because he knows there is segregation down in the south, and he doesn’t want his kids to see all the hatred for people of a different skin color. Their children have not been exposed the separation of different skin colors because they live in Flint, Michigan, where there is not a lot of conflicts about segregation. Yet, at some point the family decides to make the long trip to Birmingham. Before they leave for their trip, their dad goes and buys a record player

Published in 1995 by Christopher Paul Curtis, The Watsons Go to Birmingham is a story of an African- American family living in a town of Flint, Michigan, having a journey to Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The movie came out in 2013, similar to the original novel. This loving family consists of five members: Byron Watson, an official juvenile delinquent, Kenneth Bernard Watson, ten years old boy with a lazy eye, Joetta Watson, an obedient youngest Watson, Wilona Sands Watson, Momma who always look after her kids, and lastly, David Watson, a thoughtful reliable dad. In fact, the movie is quite different from the novel, because the plot events don’t match with the movie, there is fused resolution, there is some missing and different characters, and the focus of the theme are slightly different.

“The Watsons Go To Birmingham,” by Christopher Curtis and “16th Street Street Baptist Church Bombing,” by Jessica McBirney

In order to understand the characters, or character from the movie, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, you have to first understand what the movie is about. This movie is about an African American family during the summer of 1963. This family consists of the father (Daniel), mother (Wilona), their two sons Kenny and Byron and their daughter Joetta. The Watson family lives in Flint, Michigan, but decided to take a summer trip down to Birmingham to visit Wilonas’ mother. The planned trip was to get Byron, their juvenile delinquent son, to realize that he needs to get his act together. But as the weeks pass by in Birmingham, they realize how much they love Michigan and would rather be back at home. The character I would like to dissect, is their fifteen year old son Byron. To me, Byron was the only character that went through a major change over the summer of 1963. Byron showed characteristics and actions of how the Europeans used to treat African Americans, but as the movie progresses Byron starts to change and embrace his family and race more. In the beginning Byron was rebellious, unconsciously wanted to be white, and had a nonchalant attitude but then he changes and becomes comforting to his little brother Kenny.

In 'Ballad of Birmingham,' Dudley Randall illustrates a conflict between a child who wishes to march for civil rights and a mother who wishes only to protect her child. Much of this poem is read as dialogue between a mother and a child, a style which gives it an intimate tone and provides insight to the feelings of the characters. Throughout the poem the child is eager to go into Birmingham and march for freedom with the people there. The mother, on the other hand, is very adamant that the child should not go because it is dangerous. It is obvious that the child is concerned about the events surrounding the march and wants to be part of the movement. The child expresses these feelings in a way

     The Ballad of Birmingham resembles a traditional ballad in that it tells a story in a song-like manner. The didactic tone seeks to teach us something; in this case it’s the theme of needless destruction. There are many devices the author uses to create such a tone and to tell such a story.

Joe is respected by his son Chris throught the story but when chris finds out that his dad knew about the broken cylinder heads and he still shipped them out he lost the respect for him. Joe found out about Larry's death and when he knew the real reason why he ended his life and Joe understood what Larry meant by the letter he couldn't live with himself after knew found out what Joe did. The way the author describes the characters in this novel is he used archetypes most stories use these to mold story ideas most books follow the same archetypes they model their stories with theses archetypes and this author is one of

The descriptions in Byron's text seem, largely, distant emotionally and physically. He doesn't attempt to revisit his