I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Roddy Tucker is Barry’s father and a jazz musician in New Orleans. Roddy is a caring father, who uses his love of music to help keep his family calm in the face of the storm. Roddy makes decisions in his family’s best interest as the storm lands and acts as a guiding force in Barry’s decision-making as Barry becomes separated from his family and must survive the storm on his own.

Roddy is an important influence on Barry from early in the text. When Barry faces local bully, Abe, Barry’s thoughts turn immediately to his father: “If only Barry was more like his father. Nothing ever got to Roddy Tucker” (11). Barry wants to be more like Roddy, who is calm in the face of danger and sets a positive example for Barry and his family. This becomes even more true when Hurricane Katrina makes landfall, and Barry looks to his father for how to react.

He recalls an earlier episode in his life when Barry and his father experienced turbulence on a flight and Roddy shared his secret to staying calm: “As long as Dad was calm, he decided, he didn’t have to worry [...] ‘When I get nervous, I play the song ‘Blueberry Hill’ in my mind’” (37-38). Roddy again uses music as the hurricane intensifies, using his musical talents to reframe the storm as a piece of music: “The wind shrieked a high note. Dad put his trumpet to his lips and played along [...] He played softly, along with the wind, until after a while that wind didn’t seem so scary, and it actually sounded like a song” (39). Roddy can transform things around him, helping Barry to reframe his own way of thinking.

The true scope of Roddy’s influence on Barry’s life is highlighted when Barry falls off the roof and has to fend for himself in the storm. Barry takes on the caregiver and protector role for Cruz the dog: “Barry kept singing [...] until Cruz put his head on Barry’s knee and closed his eyes” (68). Barry sings “Blueberry Hill” to Cruz, mirroring the same scenes of Roddy comforting Barry in times of fear, but now Barry is in the role of caretaker. Barry shows here that he is more like his father than he thinks: He has internalized his father’s ability to remain calm in crisis and to help others through strife as well.

Nell is a New Orleans resident who independently begins rescuing people in her yellow rubber raft as the storm abates. At a crucial moment in which Barry begins to question what will happen to him and Cruz, Nell arrives to rescue them. She immediately instills a sense of calm and comfort in Barry: “‘Well, look at you, brave soul,’ [...] She seemed like some kind of fairy—a beautiful fairy in a yellow rubber boat” (78). Nell is almost like a fairy godmother figure in the text: someone swooping in with aid just as the protagonist begins to feel hopelessness and doubt creep in.

Despite her fairytale-like characteristics, Nell represents the real surge in community-led recovery efforts that occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and the slow arrival of government aid. As she steers the boat to safety, she explains to Barry the scope of the need for rescuers like her: “There are thousands of people stranded, just here in the Lower Nine, [...] I’ve already picked up more than thirty people” (81). As Barry realizes that organized and coordinated recovery efforts do not exist, Nell’s efforts take on even greater significance.

While Nell appears in the text only briefly, she has a significant impact on Barry and his self-development. As Nell prepares to leave Barry on the bridge, off to rescue yet more people, she leaves him with a parting gesture that changes the way Barry views himself: “She didn’t say anything for a moment. She just looked into his eyes, like she saw something there worth looking at. ‘You’re strong,’ she said with no doubt in her voice” (84). Nell sees in Barry what he fails to see in himself. Without knowing anything about Barry, Nell can see through to the core of who he is: a survivor, someone who has the strength to survive in the face of incredible odds. At first, Barry struggles to believe her because he has felt fear nearly the entire time he has been in the storm. As he repeats her words to him, he realizes that “soon it wasn’t Nell’s voice he was hearing in his mind. It was his own voice” (85). Nell helps Barry to understand the depths of his strength, and that Bravery and Fear can coexist.