Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Change, Coming of Age, and Maturity
Family, Friendship, and Support
Bullying and Injustice vs. Kindness and Compassion
Race and Class
Summary
Analysis
Kenny, Byron, and Joey decide to go swimming. As they leave, Grandma Sands warns them not to go to Collier’s Landing, where a little boy got caught in a whirlpool a few years ago and died. When they come to a fork in the path, they see a sign for Collier’s Landing. Kenny immediately says they should go, but Joey refuses, reminding him what their grandmother said—but she can’t remember the word “whirlpool,” so Byron jumps in and says that Grandma Sands was talking about the Wool Pooh, whom he claims is Winnie the Pooh’s “evil twin brother.” According to Byron, the Wool Pooh hides in the water and then pulls kids down under when they get too close, which is why they shouldn’t go that way.
Kenny wants to disobey his grandmother’s orders by going to Collier’s Landing, but both Joey and Byron refuse. Byron, for his part, tries to trick his younger siblings into not wanting to visit Collier’s Landing, perhaps thinking that scaring them off will make it easier to dissuade Kenny from checking out the whirlpool. What’s interesting, then, is that Byron uses his tendency to play tricks on his siblings to make sure they stay out of trouble—yet another sign that he has become more mature since arriving in Birmingham.
Themes
Byron takes Joey’s hand and starts in the other direction, but Kenny decides to prove that he’s not afraid of the Wool Pooh. He also doesn’t like how much his brother has changed. Byron always breaks the rules, but now he’s suddenly starting to follow them, so Kenny decides to go to Collier’s Landing on his own. Byron lets him go but tells him to stay out of the water.
Kenny tries to make up for the fact that Byron is no longer misbehaving. In a way, he sees his brother’s sudden change of heart as a distressing thing, as if he no longer understands who his brother is if Byron isn’t constantly getting into trouble. The fact that Kenny acts out thus suggests that it can be difficult to watch an older sibling change.
Themes
Kenny doesn’t know what to think about the Wool Pooh. He suspects it’s nonsense, but he’s unsure. He eventually comes across another sign warning people not to go to Collier’s Landing. The sign says that six people have died there. But Kenny pushes on. When he gets there, he sees nothing particularly sinister—he even peers into the water to see if the Wool Pooh is hiding beneath. And then he has a realization: the warning signs are only there to keep people away because this is the best swimming spot around.
Kenny’s supposed realization is incorrect: the warning signs aren’t there because locals want to keep the best swimming spot a secret—they’re there because there’s a dangerous whirlpool! The problem, though, is that powerful undercurrents aren’t always visible from the surface. Just because the water looks calm doesn’t mean it’s safe for swimming, but Kenny’s a little boy who doesn’t have much experience, so he doesn’t know any better.
Themes
Kenny thinks about how getting into trouble happens somewhat gradually. There are always several steps before you’re really in trouble. That’s exactly what happens as he eases into the water. At first, he feels fine. Soon, though, he sees a big drop-off, where the water gets much deeper. He also sees a turtle, which he lunges for. The turtle swims away, and then Kenny realizes that he can’t touch the ground anymore. The more he struggles, the harder it is for him to get back to shore. He gets swept up in a whirlpool and eventually can’t even keep his head above the water.
Kenny’s gradual process of getting swept up in the whirlpool is a good metaphor for what it’s like to get into trouble. The novel suggests that trouble accumulates slowly—people start by making a small mistake that seems excusable, so they make another, then another, until they’ve gone too far and realize that they’ve been completely foolish. Kenny’s first mistake is to go to Collier’s Landing without Byron and Joey. His second mistake is to step into the water. His third mistake is to lunge for the turtle—and then it’s too late: he’s in serious danger.
Themes
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Kenny gets really scared and tries to swim back to land, but then he feels as if the Wool Pooh comes swimming up from the depths and grabs him by the leg. The Wool Pooh doesn’t look like Winnie the Pooh. Instead, he has large, gray, stony fingers that refuse to let go of Kenny, pulling him under. As he thrashes beneath the surface, Kenny thinks he sees another person in the water: it’s a little girl, maybe an angel. When he looks closer, he realizes that it’s Joey, except she has a halo and wings. She tells him to swim up to the surface again, but he can’t. And then, all of a sudden, Byron is there, fighting the Wool Pooh and pulling Kenny out of the water.
As Kenny gets pummeled by the whirlpool, he thinks he’s struggling with the Wool Pooh, suggesting that he’s still young enough to believe the nonsense stories that Byron tells him. When he sees an image of Joey outfitted like an angel, the novel takes on a religious tone. However, The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 isn’t necessarily a religious novel. Rather, Joey’s appearance as an angel is more symbolic than anything, indicating that Kenny sees his family members and loved ones as saviors of sorts—people who can help guide him out of trouble. To that end, Byron appears in real life and does exactly that, dragging Kenny away from danger.
Themes
On land again, Kenny throws up water while Byron holds him upside down. Byron won’t stop repeating Kenny’s name. He stops holding Kenny upside down and then hugs him tightly, pressing his mouth against the top of his brother’s head and crying hard.
Byron openly shows his affection for Kenny after saving him from the whirlpool. His love for Kenny is intense, making it clear that he cares very deeply about his little brother and would be devastated to lose him.
Themes
