Carte Blanche

Sarah LeChard

ENGW 1101

Essay 1: Freedom

Prof. Young

10  February 2015

Does Anyone Live Carte Blanche?

        The Good Lord Bird, written by James McBride, gives an accurate portrayal of what it was like to live in the time of slavery. If a person were colored, there was a great chance they would be owned by a white person. If a person was white and wealthy, there was a great chance they owned someone. Being a colored person owned by a white person was the norm. Being Mulatto is an in-between, mixed person who is superior to blacks because they are part white. Whoever was all white, took superiority over anyone else. In this book, Pie, a Mulatto woman, is owned by Miss Abby and works for Miss Abby in her whorehouse, which, in return for her work, lets Pie live and eat in her house for free. She has to follow every order given to her in order to please the customers. Blacks who were slaves were treated differently. Sibonia, an all black ,slave who lives in the slave pen, comes off as moronic. Although her first impression isn’t who she truly is, Sibonia can think what she wants, make secret plans and even has the opportunity to learn to read and write from Onion. She can live with the rest of the slaves in this pen and do almost anything she wants. Sibonia may be owned, but she is left with her intelligent mind while Pie is a mulatto who has no choice but to please the men that come into her whorehouse in return for living expenses, giving her less freedom.
        In modern society, freedom is looked at as a right while back in the 1850’s is was looked at as a privilege that only white people got. Slavery was so normal 150 years ago that no one saw the problem with it, except the people being owned. Sibonia sees a problem with how she is treated, being in the slave pen all day therefore she attempts to plan a revolt. White people swore they controlled everything they touched. They got to own colored people and take their freedom away like it meant nothing. The term Mulatto refers to an individual who is mixed, has white and colored genes.

        Pie is a Mulatto woman; therefore she has more rights than Sibonia does due to their race. Pie is

a prostitute in the whorehouse owned by Miss Abby. She has the freedom of living under a roof and having food given to her and not having to pay for anything. She ultimately is told everything she can do and is given off to any drunken man who walks into the house. She cannot say no and cannot argue or she will be kicked out. She cannot make decisions for herself. Pie feels how Onion feels now compared to his past. Onion went from being free to now being a slave in Miss Abby’s establishment. He says “I was back in bondage, true, but slavery ain’t too troublesome when you’re in the doing of it and growed used to it” (McBride 158).  While Onion is trying to defend being owned, Pie, who is also owned by the same person, has no freedom because she is being told what to do every day of her life.

        As a slave in a house filled with drunken, sex crazed men, Pie has experienced many different sexual encounters. She has had to please all of these men in order to keep Miss Abby’s business running. She gets thrown around and forced into an act most women wouldn’t want to be forced into. This gives pie less freedom. Onion soon realizes Pie doesn’t find what she’s forced into as a punishment. As he describes seeing Darg sexually forcing himself onto Pie, he wants to shoot Darg to get him off of Pie but does not. “...I would’a busted in there and put both loads in his head right then, but for her look of liking the whole business immensely” (McBride 190). To others looking in on the situation, Pie being forced into this kind of slavery is a terrible situation to watch, but Pie does not seem to mind. She just needs to do this one thing and gets a free living situation.She has almost grown used to it In comparison to Sibonia, Pie has fewer freedoms such as being able to say yes or no, but that doesn’t seem to matter to her on account that she likes when this happens to her.

        Sibonia has more freedom as a slave than Pie does as a freer woman living in a house. She may live out back behind the building in a pig sty, but she has the freedoms Pie does not. Sibonia can think what she wants and can even learn to read and write without being punished. Because she is living in a slave pen, she will only be there for a limited amount of time. These people that live in the slave pen are only there until their owner is satisfied inside Miss Abby’s business.

        Sibonia has a very smart mind. She comes off as a crazy lady when Onion goes to look for Bob, but once she starts to interact with Onion, she changes. She starts to talk to Onion, giving her lessons

about what will happen if he keeps lying about who he really is. McBride says “She glanced at the hotel door, saw it was still closed, then said to Libby in a plain voice “This child is troubled”” (163).  She puts on an act in front of the other slaves but is actually a somewhat smart individual. Being able to make accusations like this about another person she doesn’t know is a tough thing to do, but Sibonia is smart enough to realize when something isn’t right. “And with that, she turned, picked up her box, and cackled her way across the yard…” (166). She makes herself seem mindless to everyone around her, yet has the ability and freedom to gather her thoughts and plan out whatever she is able to. Although she may not be free, she has more natural born freedoms than Pie does as a slave.

Living in the slave pen has given Sibonia time to think. She sits out back with her thoughts all day long and gets out of doing work whenever Darg comes by because she seems incompetant. She, and all the other slaves, is over how they are being treated. This leads them to want to plan a revolt. Being able to think of ways to get away from their owners gives Sibonia and the other slaves more of a chance to get freedom then Pie does. Sibonia explains, “”I am the woman. I done it. And if I had the chance, I would do it again”” (McBride 176).While not caring that she got caught, Sibonia is loyal and has the decency to not rat out whoever else planned this with her.   Although Sibonia gets caught for plotting a revolt, she still was able to put together something like this due to her freedom in the pen. Darg only checking on the slaves once in a while gives perks to them.

        Being owned means an owner can make a slave work and do whatever he or she feels fit. Pie is constantly told what to do even though she lives for free. This is not freedom. Sibonia is an actual slave and seems like she has gone crazy from living out behind the hotel, meanwhile she can articulate thoughts and rationalize her ideas. Living in these not so great conditions is inspiration enough to want to leave. Pie does not see a reason to want to leave. Having to work for someone is working regardless of one’s status. Working as whore or living outside behind the hotel while someone’s owner is busy getting drunk, they are both owned. Because Sibonia has more human rights in these chapters, she has more freedom than Pie does as a Mulatto subjected to prostitution to live and eat for free.

Works Cited

McBride, James. The Good Lord Bird. New York City: Riverhead, 2013. Print.