The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA

Meriwether is the story’s deuteragonist. In Chapter 4, Gabriel describes him by saying, “His short wiry hair was black, and his skin was dark brown. He had a nice smile and a thick mustache and was tall, but not so tall that a person would think too much about it” (17). Meriwether’s race deeply impacts his experiences in the segregated town of Birdsong, and his smile reflects his caring, approachable personality. The narrative eventually reveals that Meriwether is a World War II veteran who served in the 761st Tank Battalion and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, upholding his promise “to be loyal to [his] country and bravely serve” (158). Woods quickly establishes Meriwether’s kindness and courage when the character risks his life to save Gabriel in his first appearance, even though the boy is a stranger to him at the time. Some of Meriwether’s personality traits reflect the ways that he has had to adapt to survive in the South during the Jim Crow era. For example, he is self-effacingly humble around white people, as when he refers to saving Gabriel’s life as only “a small favor” (58). Throughout the novel, Meriwether demonstrates an innate sense of determination. He does his “best to stay off relief and get back on [his] feet” despite a prolonged job search (68), and he never gives up on his goal of finding a home for his family that will be “a trifle more hospitable” despite the prejudice he encounters (179). Gabriel greatly admires Meriwether’s courage, kindness, and determination.

Meriwether’s friendship with Gabriel is at the heart of the story’s messages about mentorship, privilege, and the broader fight for recognition of Black contributions to society. His narrative function as the white protagonist’s helper and moral guide bears a resemblance to stereotypical depictions of Black people in literature. However, Woods grants Meriwether greater depth and agency than these past literary models by having him use his uncanny mechanical skills for his own good rather than exclusively for the benefit of the novel’s white characters. Additionally, the author gives him a significant backstory as a Black veteran, and Meriwether’s distinct goals for the future likewise have nothing to do with the protagonist.

Meriwether is the central figure in the novel’s examination of The Erasure of Black Contributions Versus the Fight for Recognition. Woods uses his story to address a particular manifestation of Jim Crow-era racism: the mistreatment of Black veterans after World War II. Meriwether’s dialogue about how he feels “fulla fear” and is “tired of keepin’ it bottled up” gives a voice to the silent, real-world pain of Black veterans who kept their military service a secret in an effort to shield themselves and their loved ones from hate crimes (135). Meriwether’s decision to tell Gabriel the story of his time in the 761st is a small but courageous act of defiance and a step toward gaining recognition for himself and his brothers-in-arms. His relationship with Gabriel also makes the boy more aware of his own privilege and gives him opportunities to exercise it responsibly, especially when he secures Meriwether a job at his father’s garage.

Meriwether is a dynamic character whose fear and righteous anger increase with Lucas’s escalating attacks against him and his family. Lucas’s attempt on Abigail’s life nearly drives Meriwether to kill the antagonist, and the author indicates that this action would represent an irrevocable betrayal of Meriwether’s values, placing his family in extreme danger. After Gabriel stops him from striking Lucas down, Meriwether testifies to the life-changing power of friendship, saying, “I saved you from bein’ hit by that car, and now you turned ’round and saved me from […] killin’ a man” (179). At the end of the novel, Meriwether leaves Birdsong with another gift that he gains through Gabriel’s friendship: hope in a more equitable future.

Jake is Gabriel’s father. He possesses a strong belief in equality and justice, and he and his wife, Agatha, strive to raise their son with anti-racist values. However, the Haberlins must navigate a society where their “northern ways” are so countercultural that their worldview is treated like “a contagious disease” (54). In his attempts to walk a fine line and keep his family and friends safe amid the prejudices that infect the town of Birdsong, Jake sometimes feels forced to compromise his own moral stance. For example, he cautions Gabriel against saying that Lucas took Meriwether’s bike, and when the sheriff asks him who put the deadly snake on the Hunters’ porch, he says that he “[c]an’t bring [himself] to accuse a man without proof” (165).

However, one of Jake’s most significant traits is his generosity. Although the small business owner isn’t wealthy, he is “a ways from being poor” (1), and he shares his good fortune by giving Meriwether a job and offering to give him the Chevy for free. In these ways, Jake seeks to live by his values of justice and generosity even has he cautiously navigates an environment that falls short of his ideals.

Jake is the protagonist’s primary role model of exercising privilege responsibly. His business is featured in The Green Book, signaling that he is “a decent man” whose establishment is a safe place for Black people. Jake’s inner conflict adds depth to the theme of Exercising Privilege Responsibly, as his actions show that the right course of action isn’t always easy. As he says to his family, “Should be some law that keeps you from doin’ harm when all you were aimin’ to do is good” (77). Woods adds complexity to the novel’s premise by showing that Jake sometimes struggles to reconcile his values with his socioeconomic needs. For example, he resists his desire to fire the racist Lucas because another employee recently quit without notice, leaving his business short on help. In the end, Jake facilitates the novel’s resolution by giving Meriwether the Chevy, and his allyship toward the novel’s Black characters teaches his son the importance of quiet, everyday acts of courage and integrity.

Lucas, the novel’s antagonist, is a mechanic who works at Jake’s garage. Gabriel describes him as being “skinny with bowed legs” and having “hair that [i]s usually in need of a shampoo and a brushing” (66). The man’s disregard for the social niceties of maintaining his personal hygiene and appearance reflects his lack of consideration for the people around him. From his first appearance in Chapter 11, Lucas is characterized as an embittered bigot, particularly when he reacts to the news that he might soon have a Black coworker by spitting “a spoonful of tobacco juice right on Meriwether’s shoes” (67). Seeing this supreme act of disrespect, Gabriel is “shocked” because this is one of the most overt demonstrations of racism that he has witnessed. Even at the start of the novel, Lucas is already known to be “as mean as a raccoon with rabies” (66), but he later sinks to new depths of cowardice and cruelty when he attempts to murder a child by hiding a rattlesnake in a gift box.

Near the end of the novel, Woods reveals that due to a heart condition, “the army, navy, and marines wouldn’t take [Lucas] when he tried to enlist” (66). This information is meant to explain why the man felt threatened by Meriwether’s service and targeted the veteran and his family, but at no point does the novel offer this explanation as an excuse for Lucas’s crimes. In short, Lucas is a cruel and insecure character who attacks others in a futile attempt to feel better about himself.

Through the rumors about Lucas’s “friends in a certain organization” and his attacks against the Hunters (69), Woods makes it clear that the antagonist embodies the omnipresent danger that white supremacists posed to Black people living in the South during the Jim Crow era. The author uses Lucas to show that, as the narrative states, prejudiced people “had trouble acceptin’ that […] colored soldiers not only had done [their] part but are as American as they are” (145).

Woods also underlines Lucas’s connection to the erasure of Black contributions by making Meriwether’s service part of the motivation behind the attempted murder of Abigail. This is revealed by the fact that the box addressed to the girl contains the snake and the photograph of Meriwether and his brothers-in-arms. The escalation of Lucas’s hostility toward Meriwether builds up to the novel’s climactic confrontation, in which Lucas’s cruelty nearly drives Meriwether to betray his principles and commit murder. After Lucas dies of a heart attack, Pastor Honeywell pointedly states that “God surely works in mysterious ways” and “expeditiously” (178). This comment implies that Lucas’s death is an act of divine intervention, and Woods obliquely asserts that divine justice exists even though legal justice offers no recourse in the novel.

As Meriwether’s young daughter, Abigail is wise beyond her years because she, like the rest of her family, is forced to deal with the systemic racism that surrounds her in the small Southern town of Birdsong. When she gives Gabriel a matter-of-fact description of the racist violence that befalls Black people (and particularly returning Black veterans), her tone makes it clear that she has long since been stripped of the pleasant illusions about the world’s essential “niceness”—illusions that Gabriel also gradually loses as the story progresses. When Lucas decides to express his hatred against Meriwether, the narrative implies that he does so by targeting Abigail directly, leaving her a gift box containing a deadly snake. However, she shows her resilience when she resolves to write a book celebrating her father’s accomplishments as a member of the 761st Tank Battalion, and her ambitions suggest that she will not allow the world’s prejudices to silence her or her family.