In Parts 1 and 2, Woodson uses the Jesus Boy’s unexpected arrival in Frannie’s all-Black school to examine The Impact of Perceived Racial Differences on Community Dynamics. The novel is set in 1971, and although the US Supreme Court declared segregation in public schools illegal in 1954, New York City’s public schools remain separated by race, with an affluent white neighborhood on one side of the highway and a lower-socioeconomic neighborhood of people of color on the other. The racial divides in their city seem absolute to Frannie and her classmates, which explains why they are shocked by the presence of their new classmate, whom they initially believe to be white.

Trevor quickly emerges as the novel’s antagonist and a central figure in the theme of perceived racial differences by bullying the Jesus Boy. Woodson adds complexity to his characterization and the theme by revealing that Trevor faces speculation about his own ethnicity: “On the first day of school, Rayray made the mistake of asking him if he was part white and Trevor hit him. Hard” (5). Trevor feels personally invested in antagonizing the Jesus Boy because he has an estranged white father and feels that he must prove that he himself is not white. In Chapter 4, Frannie reflects on Trevor’s interracial identity and the “many beautiful colors” in his skin (20). Her thoughts point toward a positive shift in her community’s dynamics that would appreciate Trevor’s difference from the other students as a source of beauty rather than something he needs to deny or defend. Trevor’s bullying of the Jesus Boy and Frannie’s musings about the “regular boy” hiding inside the “Evil Trevor” foreshadow Trevor’s mounting antagonism toward the new student (20), as well as the vulnerability that Trevor shows later in the novel.

Frannie’s budding connection to the Jesus Boy sets the novel’s thematic engagement with The Search for Belonging into motion. The search to belong motivates the new student’s enrollment at the Price School because his “family didn’t belong” on the white side of the highway (27). In a powerful moment for the theme, the Jesus Boy cries and shares his father’s as-yet-unfulfilled promise that “people would be […] nice” to him in their new neighborhood (27). The protagonist understands what it’s like to feel excluded because she started first grade a month late. Samantha gave her the acceptance she sought by inviting her to play after “a whole week” in which Frannie “didn’t have a single friend” (8). This backstory helps to explain the closeness between the best friends as well as Frannie’s empathy for the isolated Jesus Boy. 

Despite their shared search for belonging and the narrator’s clear curiosity about the new student, Frannie is initially hesitant to interact with him, establishing her arc from observation to action over the course of the story. For example, Frannie points to another societal divide between herself and the Jesus Boy—gender—as a reason for keeping her distance rather than sitting with him when he’s alone at lunch, saying, “You’d think they’d assign him a partner or something […] Like another boy or something” (9). Despite their limited interactions in this section, moments like the first time Frannie sees the Jesus Boy use sign language, which she describes as “something amazing” (14), hint at the transformative friendship that will develop between the two students as the story continues.

The Jesus Boy’s presence prompts Frannie to engage in deep reflection and dialogue about questions of faith and hope, indicating his importance to the protagonist’s development. In Chapter 5, the author depicts religion as a source of solace in adversity by describing how Frannie’s parents began going to church after Lila’s death. Their faith offers them the comforting belief that “the baby w[ill] always be with [them]—somewhere, somehow” (31). Another key moment for the theme occurs in Chapter 4 when the Jesus Boy’s nickname sparks a debate among the sixth graders. Rayray’s insistence that “Jesus don’t belong in this room” indicates that the poverty and racism that the children experience in their segregated neighborhood negatively impact their self-worth (26). On the other hand, Samantha, one of the most devout characters in the novel, asserts that the new student may actually be Jesus Christ. Samantha’s belief weaves together the novel’s major themes by highlighting how the biblical Jesus and their new classmate both search for belonging: “Jesus wandered the earth that same way—looking for a place where he could be accepted” (35). At this point in the novel, Frannie struggles to find hope and wishes that she shared Samantha’s faith in “[b]ig and surreal things” (38). 

Feathers serve as the novel’s central symbol and give the story its title. Woodson references Emily Dickinson’s poem “‘Hope’ Is the Thing With Feathers” to develop the theme of The Role of Faith and Hope in Facing Challenges. The protagonist mentions her fondness for the poem in Chapter 1, and the symbol appears in her musings on hope later in the story. The author also utilizes the highway and bridges to symbolize societal divides and connection, respectively. Throughout the story, characters refer to the highway when discussing the separation of the predominantly Black neighborhood where Frannie lives from the predominantly white neighborhood where the Jesus Boy’s family used to live. For example, in Chapter 3, the protagonist questions this division and the inferiority that it implies, saying, “The first time I asked Mama about it, she said, They don’t want to live over here. And the way she said it made me wonder what was so wrong with our side of the highway” (16). In contrast, Sean introduces bridges as a symbol of connection across divisions in Chapter 3: “[I]magine if there was a bridge from every single window in the world to some whole new place” (17). The imaginary bridges illustrate Sean’s desire to experience more of life and challenge the idea that societal divisions are insurmountable.