Reading Log Questions #2

Moises Rodriguez

ENGW 1101
Professor Young

February 7, 2016

Reading Log Questions #2

            In chapter 5 of the novel The God Lord Bird by James McBride, two new characters have appeared Kelly and Nigger Bob. Kelly is described by Onions as a “Sour-looking feller with a face like molded bread, pock-faced” (McBride 59). Also he is the leader of the red-shirts, but who exactly are the red-shirts? These 16 men are what seems to be rebels. They go around killing those who are supporting the free slave’s states, as it is seems in the case of Pardee however, Pardee is let loose because him and Kelly knew each other for years. And it is fair to say that Kelly is the foil of Old John Brown in this novel.

            On the other hand, we have another new character, Nigger Bob. Nigger Bob is the slave driving the open-back wagon carrying Pardee as a hostage by the red-shirts. Nigger Bob is described by Onions as a “Hardy, tall, fit Negro, no more than twenty-five” (62). It is later revealed that Nigger Bob does not know how to read, when he is asked to read a document by Kelly. Onions also describes how Nigger Bob is the first Negro he has seen talking back to a white man. 

Works Cited

McBride, James. The Good Lord Bird. , 2013. Print.