Cassidy Vastano

February 10, 2015

Professor Young

Essay 1: Freedom

To Be Free, Or Not To Be

Being free is truly a privilege, for that it allows people to express themselves and live the life they desire to live, no holding back. To be free means that you can live wherever you want, be independent, speak your own words, and have your own thoughts. Freedom gives you the ability to be whoever you want and follow your own goals without any limitations. In the book The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, two minor characters, Pie and Sibonia live during slavery where they both have no freedom. Pie and Sibonia are slaves, yet Pie gets treated significantly greater than Sibonia does due to her job as a whore. The book perfectly shows how anyone can be free, even during slavery. Depending on how you act and what your mindset is about the situations you encounter shows such attributes that Sibonia has. She acts very confident and brave over her mindset of becoming a free slave. Although both Pie and Sibonia are in the same social standings, within this book, Sibonia has much more freedom being a slave than Pie does.

            To be free as a slave does not necessarily mean what freedom means to us today. During slavery, slaves were in fact able to be free, just like Sibonia was. All it involved was speaking your mind and standing up for your own opinions, without caring about what there masters or the whites thought about what they had to say. Most blacks at this time were scared to say anything to whites in fear that they would be beaten or treated worse. Sibonia did not care about that, making her able to live freely in this time period. Although she was putting herself at risk by speaking her mind, she was bold and brave enough to do so. Many people called and considered her to be crazy for this reason. This led her to living an open minded, strong life of freedom, even while still being treated like a slave.

            On the other hand, Pie was also a slave and treated much better then Sibonia was. Pie got to live inside the house and eat better meals. She was even prettier, “ This woman had the kind of rhythm that you could hear a thousand miles down the Missouri. I wouldn’t throw her outta bed for eating crackers. She was all class” (McBride 144). Having been looked at as prettier then most, Pie may have seemed like she lived the better life just simply because of her looks. Unlike Sibonia, Pie was afraid to speak her mind like Sibonia was able to, which resulted in why she was not free. Sibonia did not get those chances of good meals or her own room and bed, but although she did not, Pie would not have been able to stick up for herself and ever be free like Sibonia was.

            Sibonia eventually rebelled against her master and slavery and was behind it all to escape it. She became very direct and assertive behind her words when she broke out and explained to everyone her plan of action in becoming free. Once word got out, the master found out and it caused problems within everyone involved and with those who heard about her plan to free everyone. This showed how Sibonia was outspoken and brave. Everyone considered her to be the crazy one for stepping outside her comfort zone and sticking up for being free. Being known as the crazy one helped her out in living such a free life in many ways. “She set the crazy women’s box down by the edge of the fence...The crazy coot calmed down and done it” (McBride 161). Being referred to as the crazy coot, impacted the way everyone saw Sibonia, giving her somewhat or comfort for the fact that she was going out on a limb and rebelling against slavery.           

            Pie would have never been able to be as brave or rebel like Sibnoia did. Pie did not have the outspoken personality or independent way of speaking or thinking. She was very much the opposite personality as Sibonia, which is why she was not free in the end. She never had the courage to stick up for herself in the house and not follow the rules of her master. Sibonia was able to break such rules and feel free and open about it. Although Pie got to live in a nice house, she could never escape from it. Being in the house kept her in a jail almost whereas she couldn’t speak her mind to others in the house because the others living in the house that surrounded her all were in control of her living there with such a job she had. Sibonia on the other hand was surrounded by more slaves like her who felt the same about being a slave and she was able to lead them all in becoming free for which she did by speaking out about the fact that it was not fair that they were slaves in the same confided space.

            A good way in which Sibonia showed her side of being brave and independent was the way she treated others around her, blacks or whites. “If you do, I’ll know about it, and you’ll wake up with a heap of knives poking out that pretty neck of yours” (McBride 166). She comes off intimidating which represents her strength and bravery she has, being that she is black and a slave at this time period.

Pie on the other hand can not at all speak her mind or rebel like Sibonia can in any sort of way. Although Pie lives inside and has her own room, it does not show her freedom at all. She is confined to the house and cannot speak her mind or be any bit of independent. Pie, being characterized as a whore due to her job, has to deal with these living conditions. The role of her job is self-explanatory but comes along with the extras of living in the house and not speaking her mind.

            Overall, Sibonia is superior to Pie as she is able to live freely while still being under the conditions of a slave. She is independent, brave, outspoken and wise. She knows her effect on people and she doesn’t hold back what she is thinking or feeling, from anyone. To be free means that you can express yourself however you want in whichever way, with no one holding you back. To be brave and smart, no matter what other people think of you or tell you, that is freedom. No matter what people say, you have the power to think however you want, stand up for yourself and follow your dreams. No one should ever be able to take such power away from you or limit you in such way if you are acting strong enough. If a woman during the slave period can be a free woman, then really anyone can create that for him or herself too.