Essay 1 Freedom

Renato Ramblas
May 6, 2015
Proffessor Young English 1101
Essay 1


                                                                    Freedom


        "There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundation of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. A promise all men would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness". These are the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in his pursuit for every man no matter the race or color in America be free. Despite Martin Luther Kin's best efforts, many individuals had little to no freedom in America for instance, in James McBride's novel " The Good Lord Bird", readers are introduced to two characters Sibonia and Pie. Both Sibonia and Pie are women slaves working for slave owner Miss Abbey in her businesses . One would think that both Sibonia and Pie are equally without freedom because they are slaves but that is far from the case. Pie is freer than Sibonia because she had more rights as a slave than Sibonia did.
          
 How can a slave be free or even have any freedoms at all? As long as you were black you had no freedom period! Since freedom can be defined in many ways I'll be concentrating on whether Pie or Sibonia had more rights than the other. If one of these characters had more rights than I conclude one was in fact freer than the other. Pie was a slave who worked in Miss Abbey's  whorehouse. Pie was not like other Negro's she was special. Pie was a mulatto woman. In contrast Sibonia was a slave who worked outdoors at a pigpen. Sibonia is a outspoken individual and somewhat crazy as well.

Slaves who worked indoors were above those who worked outdoors. Unlike Sibonia, Pie worked indoors as a whore in Miss Abbey's whorehouse. Working indoors had its advantages compared to working outside. Outdoor workers had hard manual labor  while working indoors did not. Also working indoors meant you had more contact with the outside world. I would even go on to say Pie is a step below Miss Abbey in authority. According to Onion, " Miss Abby gived her the run of the place, let her choose her own customers more or less, and live as she wanted." (McBride).This made Pie free because she had certain rights a colored woman wouldn't. If your slave owner gave you rights to operate one of there most successful businesses alone you weren't just looked as a slave anymore you were viewed as a person who could be trusted.

The differences between how Sibonia and Pie dressed also determined why Pie was freer than Sibonia. Working as a whore Pie had to wear clothing that made men dumbstruck. According to Onion, Pie wore a flowered blue dress. Other slaves like Sibonia didn't even wear clothing but instead  would wear rags and walk barefoot. Clothes were a sign of freedom because of it defined your position as  a slave. People today may not think wearing clothes meant you were free but it did. Clothing made slaves more or less feel human instead of thinking there animals or  tools. The higher the position you were as a slave the more a slave would feel that they were equal in the eyes of whites.

On the other hand, Sibonia didn't have the right to dress like Pie did. Sibonia wore rags and had no shoes. This was a sign that you were a nobody in the eyes of your slave holder and even other slaves that had better jobs around a plantation. Wearing rags dehumanized yard workers like Sibonia making  it seem that despite how hard they worked they'll never be free.

Another reason Pie was freer than Sibonia was because of were she lived. Pie lived indoors and Sibonia lived outside. Living indoors was far better than living outside. Living indoors meant warmth and safety. Slaves that lived indoors like Pie also had the right to feel white. Did white people sleep outside? No, slaves slept outside. So this feeling of experiencing what a white man or woman would live like every day kind of let you escape from reality believing one is not a slave but a free man or woman.

However, Sibonia was a slave that didn't live inside but outside. Sibonia was less free because she didn't have a room to herself like Pie. All Sibonia had was the cold hard ground to sleep on. Slaves like Sibonia had no right to sleep on a bed as if they were white. If a slave like Sibonia were to sneak inside to sleep indoors they would be killed immediately! Pie however could sleep outside if she wanted but why should she? If Pie could sleep outside without being sent to the slaughter doesn't that prove Sibonia was less free than Pie?

Most importantly, it is how even slaves themselves treated one another that determined who was free or not. In America today everyone is entitled to freedom of speech. If someone spoke to in a way you didn't like you have the right to speak your mind and retaliate. This was not the case for a slave like Sibonia she couldn't speak back to anyone not even another slave. When Onion spoke to Sibonia he refer to her as  a " mealymouth, lowlife, no-count, starving pen nigger" (McBride). If someone spoke to me that way I would knock them out because I have the freedom to or right to. Sibonia however couldn't hit or talk back at Onion a indoor nigger fearing she could die if she did retaliate.

In conclusion, Pie had a life that was more free than Sibonia. Although both  Pie and Sibonia were slaves Pie had more rights than Sibonia.