The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA

In Woods’s novel, the image of eyes is frequently employed to symbolize empathy. The narrator introduces this symbol in the opening sentence, stating, “One funny thing about life and all the stuff that happens while you’re living it is that mostly you only see it through your own eyes, that is, unless you decide to try to see things through the eyes of someone else” (1). The symbol connects to The Power of Mentorship and Intergenerational Friendship because the importance of “seeing life through more eyes than just the two on [his] face” is one of the most meaningful lessons that Meriwether teaches Gabriel (1).

Woods also uses the image of eyes to develop the novel’s central characters and their bond. For example, Meriwether shows perspective and resilience when he uses the symbol of eyes to explain why he doesn’t worry about not having a car:

I’m just one of many in South Carolina—in the whole of these United States, for that matter—who don’t have an automobile, and for now that bicycle gets me where I need to go. But when I look at it through four eyes—my two plus your two—I can be both content and have hope.