White Bird: A Wonder Story

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2019

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Epigraph-Part 1, Chapters 1-10

Part 2, Chapters 1-6

Part 3, Chapters 1-5 and Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Learning from the Past

White Bird is a book set within the context of the second world war and the Holocaust. These events had a profound impact on all of humanity, changing the way human nature is regarded and international relations are conducted across the globe. Owing to this, the idea of history is present as an unseen character and a forceful theme all at once, the overwhelming message being the need for humanity to learn from its past.

The idea of learning from past mistakes is first presented on a smaller scale, and at an individual level. In the Prologue, Julian and Grandmère talk about their shared feeling of regret over their respective past actions. White Bird is set in the universe of Wonder, a novel by the same author. Julian’s actions in Wonder are referenced, where he bullied a boy named Auggie (the protagonist of Wonder), who has a genetic condition called mandibulofacial dysostosis that has left his face misshapen. In the Prologue, Julian expresses genuine regret over his past actions, and this is echoed by Grandmère, who reassures Julian that the important thing is to learn from one’s mistakes.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Grandmère is not only referencing the larger scale events of the Holocaust and World War II, but incidents from her own life. As a young girl, Grandmère—or Sara—is shown to be someone preoccupied with frivolous things. Appearances and popularity are important to Sara, and although she is never directly unkind to Julien, it never occurs to her to stand up for him when he is bullied. Sara is content with being a bystander, ignorant of the fact that, in the face of cruelty and violence, inaction serves to condone it further.

However, Sara’s experiences with the Beaumiers prompt her to learn from her mistakes. It is the kindness and bravery of Julien and his family that keeps Sara safe, time and again. Sara recognizes this, and the value of action in the face of oppression finally dawns on her. As a result, when Vincent attacks Julien in the barn, Sara is prepared to risk her own life to save him. Despite Julien lashing out at her afterwards and accusing her of being thoughtless and selfish, Sara has learned and grown. Julien himself acknowledges this later.

The Holocaust having had the kind of impact it did on humanity and shaking the very foundation of people’s belief in the goodness of man, Grandmère’s despair in the Epilogue is understandable and palpable. History is repeating itself in the events reported in the newspaper. Xenophobic governmental policies and regulations are emerging around the globe once again, resulting in increased violence towards and hate between different groups of people. Nevertheless, there is hope, and this is evidenced by the mirroring of ideas presented in quotes that precede the Prologue and the Epilogue.

The idea is the same: One must learn from one’s mistakes to prevent them from recurring. The George Santayana quote serves as a warning: If one will not remember the past, one will be condemned to repeat it. The quote works to preface the tragedy that unfolds through Sara’s story. However, the Anne Frank quote preceding the Epilogue presents the same idea as a hope: Although one cannot undo the past, one can prevent it from happening. This hope is what led Grandmère to narrate her story in the first place, difficult as it may have been, so that Julian’s generation learns from the past. The realization of this hope is presented most poignantly in the final image of the book, where Julian holds aloft a banner at a protest bearing the words “Never Again #WeRemember” (204).

Kindness as a Form of Selflessness and Bravery

An idea that is presented in the book is that kindness and bravery are related, and that both require a blurring of lines between the self and the other. This is highlighted through the depiction of the extremes that human beings are capable of—the selflessness, as well as the cruelty—and the contrast underlines the kind of risks involved in being kind under unprecedented circumstances.

One set of contrasts is presented in the way Sara’s life changes before the war and during the war. Sara describes her life as a fairy tale,” and her descriptions and the accompanying illustrations are, indeed, replete with magic. There is the picture-perfect family and life, peppered with visits to a forest covered in mesmerizing bluebells. The same forest, however, is portrayed to be eerie during the winter, with legends about wolves that roam the woods. This is a telling indication of how things change for Sara, as she goes from a comfortable and free life to one spent hiding out in a rodent-infested barn. The red shoes serve to highlight this contrast. While Sara initially chose to wear them instead of her winter boots for fear of appearing unfashionable, she is forced to wade through sewers in those same shoes, and she eventually ends up using the shoes to chase away mice in the barn.

While Sara is the victim of Nazi hate crimes, true bravery is seen in the many kind acts carried out by the allies of the Jews. Pastor Luc organizes for the Jewish children to be smuggled away when the soldiers arrive; the young maquisard willingly sacrifices his life in the process; and Mademoiselle Petit-Jean chooses to accompany the children and keep them safe, perishing with them along the way. Similarly, the Beaumiers and the Lafleurs risk their own lives every day, as they provide asylum to Sara and the Bernsteins respectively. The kind of danger they are in is highlighted by the incident where Vincent attacks Julien. There is real threat to life in being discovered by the Nazis as a Jewish ally. Even in the face of death, however, Julien stands up to Vincent, shouting “Vive L’Humanité” to distract Vincent from discovering Sara—just as the maquisard once shouted before he was shot dead. The belief in the underlying goodness of humanity is encapsulated in this French phrase, translated to mean “Long Live Humanity.” It is this belief that prompts people like Julien and the maquisards to be brave in the face of death. It is this belief that the Beaumiers hold on to, as Vivienne tells Pastor Luc that it is up to people, not God, to stop evil.

The actions of the Beaumiers, the Lafleurs, the teachers of the École Lafayette, and various other members of underground resistance to the Nazis exemplify acts of selflessness and bravery. There are other, smaller kindnesses that are present throughout the book that require an equally important blurring of lines between the self and the other. Vivienne is most representative of this: in the way she travels a long and complicated route just to spend a few hours with Sara every day; in the bottle of milk she regularly and unfailingly leaves out for the Lafleurs despite their strained relationship; and in the chocolate cake she bakes for Sara’s birthday after having saved rations to do so for months. These are not large or loud acts that save one from immediate threat to life; nevertheless, these small but meaningful and deeply thoughtful acts of kindness are what continue to buoy Sara’s spirits throughout, keeping her hopeful and whole. They are selfless in that they require a daily consideration of the other’s needs on an equal scale as one’s own; they are lifesaving in that they help preserve Sara’s sanity and spirit throughout the war.

In this manner, kindness is showcased as both a brave act, and a selfless one. Not only does it require one to keep another in consideration when under risk to life and limb, but it requires a tireless practice of the belief that the life and dignity of another is of as much value as one’s own, in big ways and small.

The Political is Personal

The phrase “The personal is political” is one that is associated with second-wave feminism. It is a political slogan expressing a belief that the personal experiences of women cannot be viewed separately from their political situation and gender inequality. In the context of White Bird, the phrase can be flipped and applied to mean that the personal experiences of the Jews and other oppressed groups are directly caused by political ideology and propaganda. It also references how the innate nature of human beings and its expression in individual relationships can be seen at a macrocosmic level in the relations between entire races and nations. White Bird explores the idea that the instincts, urges, and desires inside an individual, are reflected externally in the actions of humanity—the political is personal.

An example of this is first presented in the conversation between Julian and Grandmère in the Prologue. Their shared feelings of regret about past actions are in reference to having been an active bully, or a passive bystander to bullying, in their respective cases. However, Grandmère’s pain is derived not just from her own actions, but from those of human beings at large, and the atrocities she witnessed during World War II. The overwhelming need she feels to tell her story and urge younger generations to learn from their mistakes—another theme explored in the book—springs from mistakes that have been made at an individual level, as well as at a much larger scale.

The atrocities committed by the Nazis were done so at a national and global scale. Their methodology involved identifying specific groups of people based on shared characteristics, spreading hate and misperceptions about them, and actively discriminating against them. The xenophobic nature of the Holocaust reflects an in-group/out-group mentality. The desire to protect those within one’s in-group, realized through the active destruction of the out-group. Thus, the Jews become the Nazis’ main target, along with some other racial groups, differently abled people, and people with mental illness.

However, this in-group/out-group mentality is seen in display even within the context of a school. Julien is targeted because of his limp, and false rumors are spread about him smelling like the sewers; this leads to him being ostracized by most and bullied by some. Julien is clearly a member of the out-group, while Vincent and his popular friends constitute the in-group. Vincent is also one of the people who actively maintains Julien’s out-group status, consistently mocking and tormenting him; Vincent’s attitude towards Julien parallels the Nazis’ attitude towards the Jews. The political and the personal converge when Vincent begins to target not just Julien, but Sara and other Jews as well. Vincent’s nature is a brutish one, and his instincts are those of cruelty. It is these instincts that play out into global propaganda against the Jews, created by the Nazis; this same propaganda, in turn, allows Vincent a government-sanctioned outlet for his cruelty.

It is not just cruelty but also kindness that plays out on personal and political levels. Pastor Luc, Mademoiselle Petitjean, the Beaumiers, and the Lafleurs, all carry out acts of kindness and bravery on individual levels—they attempt to protect and safeguard people whom they know and care about. Their actions are not driven by political motive, but personal belief—in the equal right to life and dignity of all humanity. However, it is this personal belief that translates into the Maquis’ war cry: “Vive L’Humanité!” It is this belief around which different forms of resistance come to be organized, from the Maquis to the Armée Juive—in fact, Pastor Luc does eventually join the Maquis. And in carrying out these individual acts of kindness and goodness based on personal beliefs, people like Pastor Luc and the Beaumiers are, unconsciously and implicitly, carrying out a political resistance—a resistance to harmful ideology. In this manner, within the context of White Bird, the political and the personal become synonymous and mutually influenceable.