Wow…a lot of changes in this section of the book. Their father gets a new girlfriend named Carmen, who is a black version of barbie. She adores Cole, but does not like Birdie for some reason and i’m not sure why. She basically ignores Birdie when they are all together and seems upset when Birdie tags along, as if Carmen just wants to be with Cole. I feel as though Birdie is really disliked because of her skin tone. She’s still black, but very light skinned and I feel like Carmen doesn’t like that for some reason. I’m also very confused as to why their father went to Brazil with Carmen and Cole. I know they’re probably going into hiding just like Birdie and her mother are, but I’m confused as to why they picked Brazil. I’m also confused as to why their mother needs to go into hiding and get out of boston. I know the FBI are looking for her and Birdie, but I’m curious as to what their mother did and why she needed to borrow money from their grandmother. That was a really strange visit that they had. Their mother seems racist, and sees Birdie as being white. She doesn’t like the fact that the girls go to an all black school because it’s not safe. Another thing that was sort of strange was when Redbone came to their school and took a picture of Birdie on the playground. It was very random that he was there. Maybe he was taking a picture of her to send to the FBI so they could see what she looks like and be able to catch them. Redbone is very shady to me and I’m curious as to what he is up to as well as their mother. The scene with her and the black men who had the green van was weird. I’m curious as to what was in the duffle bags. We’ll just have to read more and hopefully theses questions will be answered.
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mackerelc503 Said:
on 11/15/2009 at 1:21 pm
I think that Carmen is supposed to represent like the typical view of the US at that time.. that it didn’t matter who you were or where you came from, it was the color of your skin and your hair, that defined who you are; if you didn’t fill the requirements for a group of people then you really weren’t welcome.
jdarose Said:
on 11/15/2009 at 2:31 pm
I’m also was very confused as to why the father, cole and carmen went to Brazil. I suspect its to go into hiding but I’m not really sure. It makes me think that the father had to know that the FBI was looking for Sandy because why else would he have chosen that time to leave. I also talked about Redbone in my blog. He was such a creep, taking pictures and talking to Birdie the way he did. I found it interesting that he said she looked like a guinea and that people used to say that to him also. This section of the book threw me for a loop.
samsayshi2004 Said:
on 11/15/2009 at 9:39 pm
I pretty much have all the same questions that you have. My guess was that Sandy was right when she said that Birdie probably reminds Carmen of Sandy because Birdie looks so white. I can only imagine that Carmen dreams of marrying Deck and adopting his two girls that had been left with their insane FBI-chased mother. In Carmen’s daydreams, Birdie was probably just as dark as Cole, and would fit in perfectly with said daydream. However, once Carmen meets Birdie and sees how white she is, there is no way that Birdie could ever pass as Carmen’s daughter, so her dream is shattered. Therefore, Carmen blames Birdie, who of course has no control over her skin color. Yeah, that was a rant, but hey, that was what I got from it. Haha. =)