Watson's Go To Birmingham Character Analysis

How many changes can one boy go through when growing up? Growing up can be very complicated because parents demand more of older children. These increased expectations are often met by resistance which leads to rebelliousness. Byron Watson, a boy who lives in the time of segregation, is greatly influenced by adults expecting more of him. In the novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, Curtis presents the story of a young teenager who struggles in facing the reality that surrounds him. Byron changes his ways to become a caring and responsible boy, even though transitioning can be hard for a boy who is about to become a teenager. Byron changes from uncaring to caring by being more protective. He transforms from obnoxious to respectful by listening to the elders. Lastly, he changes from delinquent to well behaved by not taking chances with Momma and learning his lesson the first time his mom tells him. While Kenny is jawing to Byron, he didn’t know Byron would save his life.

A real one” (Hinton 63). He never shows this type of emotion to anyone else in the story. Bryon’s decision came as a total blind side to Mark. There are many examples in the story where Mark takes care of Bryon during his wrong doing. For example, when Bryon gets drunk in the story Mark is there to take care of him.

Mark had moved in with Bryon and his mother at an early age, due to the fact that his parents had shot each other during an argument (Hinton 115). Mark was the product of a broken home. Mark had no guidance in his early years, which led him to have no sense of right and wrong later in life. The early years of a child can be the most important when it comes to their character. Mark’s early childhood experiences resulted in him being emotionless and dysfunctional.

After finding drugs under Mark’s mattress, Bryon realizes that Mark had been earning money through selling drugs. Fueled with rage because of what had just happened with M&M, Bryon reported Mark to the authorities. Bryon had said, “‘We were like brothers,’ I said desperate. ‘You were my best friend-’” This shows how Bryon and Mark's relationship had ended because Bryon had turned Mark in. Bryon now speaks in the past tense while describing their friendship. On the final day that Bryon had visited his best friend, Mark had said, ‘“I didn’t have to see you. I wanted to, though. I had to make sure…’ ‘Make sure I hated you.’” This really hurt Bryon. This made Bryon finally realize, his brother was gone. Mark was no longer his brother. He was just a shadow of what his best friend used to be. Now Bryon also realizes that not even the best of friendships can last

I have a couple of questions about the book that I would like to ask. What would it have been like if Bryon didn’t call the police on Mark? I’m asking this because it seemed like Mark and Bryon were growing farther and farther apart as they got older. Would they still have been best friends forever? I’m also wondering what made Bryon realize he had to do the right thing and call the police on Mark? They had been like brothers their whole entire lives, what was going

Bryon, the protagonist in a book called That Was Then, This Is Now, has had girlfriends since he was thirteen, but two particular girls caught his attention. Their names are Cathy and Angela. The author of the book, S.E Hinton, has Bryon compare and contrast Cathy and Angela.

There are many forces in life that can affect a person’s character and perspective of life. The novel “The Watson Goes to Birmingham” by Christopher Paul Curtis is based on a loving African American family, living in the town of Flint, Michigan in 1963, where the oldest son, Byron, begins to get into a bit of trouble. The parents decide he should spend the summer and possibly the next school year with Grandma Sands in Birmingham, Alabama. The entire family travels there together by car, and during their visit, tragic events take place that affect the whole family. Both external and internal forces have cause Byron to grow to a better person.

Bryon believed he did the right thing at that moment. I agree with Bryon. Mark basically said that he would change, even though he has shown time and time again that he is incapable of change (Hinton 145). For instance, Mark was already in trouble with the police for stealing cars. They put him on parole for stealing the cars. Even when he was on parole he stole his car to see his parole officer (Hinton, 16). This shows’ you he cant change his ways. Bryon was in the right to call the police on Mark for selling drugs (Hinton 145).

In S.E. Hinton’s novel, That Was Then And This Is Now, there is a conflict between the main characters, Bryon and Mark. They each have different morals of right and wrong, Bryon says, “ Mark couldn’t see the anything was wrong with stealing stuff. It didn’t much matter to me whether or not Mark was a thief, but I still felt that stealing was wrong --at least it’s against the law.”(25). Mark does whatever he wants and doesn’t think about the consequences, it’s all just a game to him but Bryon thinks otherwise. Bryon always thinks before his actions because he wants to have a future and doesn’t want to go to jail. He is also more mature than Mark because Mark likes to seek revenge on people

He got caught up in his own pride so much so that he taught Doodle to walk just so he was not ashamed.“They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother”(Hurst 3). “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who was possibly not all there was unbearable, so I began to make plans to kill him by smothering him with a pillow”(Hurst 1).Brother did not like having a brother that could not walk. He was so ashamed of Doodle that he had thoughts of killing him by smothering him with a pillow. When he realized that Doodle was actually all there, his hopes were lifted. Then he realized that Doodle could not walk, and that was a bad thing for him in his eyes. It was so bad that he sought out to make sure Doodle will walk one day. Brother’s pride got the best of him, pushing Doodle until he could go no more. Brother helped Doodle be like other kids only because he did not want to be the kid with the crippled brother.All the brother wanted as a normal brother , not crippled, just normal and he got Doodle to where he wanted him to be but just a little too

First, Byron is a Juvenile delinquent in middle school. Bryon is know as the school god at school. Byron wants to be a “cool kid” so he went out and got a conk a type of Mexican hair cut style.

Bryon didn’t make the right decision. Bryon and Mark had been friends since they were kids. They help each other in different situations. They were like brothers more than friends. Friends or family should not turn on each other. Bryon and his mother took in Mark after Mark’s Parent had argument and kill each other. (Hinton, p12). Mark had been living with Bryon and his mother when he was young and they bond through out the years.

Bryon was right for turning Mark in. Mark’s actions were putting everyone in the house in jeopardy. Mark was keeping the drugs at his and Bryon’s house. Bryon found the drugs in a cylindrical container under marks bed, this same night Bryon’s girlfriend found her brother in a hippie house and they had to take to the hospital because he was in a very bad situation. Bryon was not in his right mind when he called the cops on Mark, he was emotionally unset and honestly wasn’t in the mood to deal

Bryon is a risky person. Bryon protect his friends and that makes him a risky person. Bryon and his friends went to a dance

Bryon had began spending a lot of time with Cathy. Over the last two weeks, he’s been spending more time with Cathy than Mark, which was unusual. Bryon has Charlie’s car, and he took Cathy out for cokes quite often.