Blackbird House

Dorey exemplifies the theme of Resilience Resulting From Adversity because she can handle any challenge. Physically, she’s tough: She can “walk across snow barefoot and not get frostbite” (117). Additionally, the scars on her body are visceral reminders of her suffering and perseverance. When Violet sees them, she notes, “They had turned purple, almost red. From the icy cold, the color of the pears on the tree in the yard, the color of blood that can’t be washed away and of things that can never be undone” (129). Violet’s description articulates how scars reveal trauma that can’t be forgotten. Furthermore, the association with red, specifically bloodshed, evokes the notion of physical pain. In addition to her bodily survival, Dorey has built mental resilience. She tells Lion:

“I got out. I lied to everyone and anyone, but you can only get away with a lie for so long. Then you have to switch to another lie if you want to keep living. One minute you’re a prisoner, then you’re a soldier’s whore, then you’re a guide. I could be anything at all next. I know quite a few tricks” (112).

Dorey’s survival in the war depended on her ability to adapt to her surroundings. Both her physical and mental toughness sprout from and help her overcome her circumstances. This characterization of a strong woman also extends to Violet. First, the text alludes to both women as having magical powers, like witches, which is evident in chapter seven’s title, “The Conjurer’s Handbook.” A conjurer practices magic, and although the label is never explicitly applied to anyone, both women demonstrate capabilities bordering on magical. Violet sets traps to drive Dorey away, and she’s superstitious, believing that the last pear dropping from the tree is an ill omen. Dorey, in turn, seems to conjure solutions to every trap Violet sets, like when she calms the bees with smoke, and then “reached into the hive and took out a handful of honey. It was red-clover-and-sweet-pea honey, the best there is on the Cape. There was enough to fill a small crockery jar” (123). To pull out this bounty in one handful is unlikely, yet Dorey does so. The mysteriousness of both women highlights their strong personalities, blurring the line between what’s real and what isn’t, as well as what it means to be a witch.

Although not invoking witchcraft, both Rosalyn and Grace continue the pattern of strong women who have experienced trauma. Rosalyn summons the power to defend herself against her husband: “Everyone had known what was going on, and no one had done a damn thing about it” (148). The bruises Jamie sees when he finds Rosalyn are evidence of the domestic violence she endured. Despite her fragile state when Jamie finds her, she musters the strength to remove evidence and to look out for Jamie when she sends him home. Likewise, Grace exhibits toughness in keeping Rosalyn’s story to herself, protecting not only her neighbor but also her son. In addition, repeated references to Coral Hadley, reminders that “[a]ll these years later, her presence was still felt” [134], highlight the history of tough women and their survival, supporting the theme of Resilience Resulting From Adversity.

Another character, Jamie, undergoes an unfortunate transformation. He’s initially described as a boy who can’t sit still, and he obeys his mother without complaint. In many ways, he’s a happy-go-lucky kid, even humming show tunes. However, once he looks in the neighbor’s window, this all changes: “One minute he had been a fourteen-year-old boy with nothing much on his mind. Now he was someone else entirely” (141). After witnessing the aftermath of violence and bloodshed, he feels a weight that changes him; the lightness of humming no longer seems possible. In addition, the diction subtly indicates the change in Jamie: When he first looks through the window, he sees something red on her face. This detail indicates that he’s unprepared for the horror he encounters: The red is clearly blood. Then, he finds himself embroiled in the crime, walking through Hal’s blood and helping remove the body. He grows up in an instant, and the only reminder that he’s a child is when Rosalyn kisses him and tells him to go home to his mom. Once there, Jamie thinks “of all the wounded people there were in this world, people he’d never even know, and he felt helpless” (147). After tonight, Jamie can no longer see the world through the eyes of a child; instead, with a dawning realization of the world’s harsh realities, he can think only of all the horror that exists. This moment marks his loss of innocence.