Bluebird, Bluebird

“Seemed like death had a mind to follow her around in this lifetime. It was a sly shadow at her back, as single-minded as a dog on a hunt; as faithful, too.”

 As Geneva ends her graveside vigil, she ponders the suffering she has endured in her life. Personification intensifies her pain. Death is portrayed as a hungry dog following her throughout life. This is not a friendly canine, but a wolf-like creature that haunts Geneva with the heaviness of sorrow and loss.

“The blue guitar, the amber warmth of bourbon, they floated through the edge of his memory.”

Darren struggles with alcohol addiction. It runs in his family, as his mother is almost always drunk. Powerful imagery highlights the escape Darren seeks through drinking. The music is equally as intoxicating as the bourbon, and both serve to take Darren out of his present painful reality. The first flashback is signaled in the text as Darren tries to summon the memory of the previous night.

“He’d broken one of his uncle’s cardinal rules: never go to town looking sorry or second-rate or like a man who felt like explaining himself fifteen times a day. Even his uncle Clayton, a onetime defense lawyer and professor of constitutional law, was known to say that for men like us, a pair of baggy pants or shirttail hanging out was ‘walking probable cause.’”

Raised by his uncles to take pride in himself, Darren is ashamed of how he appears in court, hungover and disheveled. His outward appearance is an indication of his deep internal struggle. His uncles also taught him that the way a Black man dresses is judged more harshly and has often been used to accuse men of crimes they did not commit simply based on the way they are dressed. This pattern of self-doubt will continue throughout the novel.

“Criminality, once it touched black life, was a stain hard to remove. But Darren was a cop, so he did his job.”

As a Black man living in America, Darren knows systemic inequalities lie buried in the criminal justice system for people of color. They are more likely to be arrested and serve time in jail for crimes they did not commit. His position is complicated, as he is a part of this system as a revered Texas Ranger. It is his job to protect citizens, yet he knows the system is flawed. His friendship with Mack further complicates the case.

“He’d practically taught Greg the art of code-switching, if only by osmosis. To Darren it was a balletic sport in which every black man should be schooled.”

Code-switching, a linguistics term, is used when a person alternates between different languages or changes syntax and phonology to better suit a context or situation. Darren recognizes the need for a Black man to change the way he speaks in certain situations. He describes how his white friend Greg has learned to adjust as well. The idea that race permeates all facets of culture and community is introduced, including language and all the subtle nuances of interpersonal communication.

“But trying to take down the Brotherhood without dealing with the racial hatred at its core was like trying to take a dip in a swimming pool without getting wet.”

The Aryan Brotherhood is the oldest white supremacist prison gang in the nation. With 20,000 members strong both in and out of prison, the gang festers intolerance, hatred, and violence across the nation. The employment of this factual detail grounds the narrative. People like Ronnie exist in the real world, and it is incumbent on law enforcement to keep hate groups like these in check. Darren is once again thrust into a place where race and justice are inextricably woven. He cannot fight their criminality without also fighting their vitriolic hatred for people of his same skin color.

“But sometime after he hit forty, the word Mama shot out as if it were a stubborn see lodged in his teeth all these years had finally popped free.”

Darren’s relationship with his familial roots is complicated. Though he had a stable childhood through the parenting of his uncles, he was able to know his mother and develop a relationship with her over the years. This relationship is clouded by Bell’s addiction and is often based on her need for financial help from Darren, not out of a desire to love him. Figurative language highlights the irritation and pain Darren’s mother often causes him. He only began calling her mother in his forties because it took him that long to accept her and realize their relationship will never look like that of a traditional family.

“Without the badge, he was just a black man traveling the highway alone.”

The symbolic removal of Darren’s badge offers several layers of meaning. At this point, Darren has already been metaphorically stripped of his badge as he was put on temporary suspension. Yet, he continued to wear it. The badge holds great personal meaning for Darren as he sees his Ranger status as a crucial part of his identity as a person. Without it, he feels lost and adrift, not only in his career but in his life.

“It had run out ahead of the wagon he’d pledged to ride, a wild stallion that had somehow gotten hold of the reins and was pulling Darren by the neck.”

Darren has an alcohol addiction. Like many people with addictions, he tries and fails to beat his addiction solely on willpower. Personification in this passage highlights the insufferable physical and emotional grip the addiction has on him. The chemical need is described as a wild, untamable animal that is dragging him along violently. He cannot control it.

“‘Who’s us, son?’ Wally said. ‘You a Houston boy, ain’t you?’ ‘Watch that boy shit.’”

In this dialogue between Wally, a white man, and Tim, a Black man, the racial tension in the town is exposed. The conversation in the café surrounding the two bodies, one Black and one white, is loaded with racial undercurrents. When Wally refers to Tim as “boy” he reopens an old wound dating back to the era of slavery and civil rights. It was common for white people to call Black males “boy” no matter their age. The lack of using a name is dehumanizing, and to call a grown man “boy” is derogatory and demeaning, thus Tim’s warning to Wally to watch his words.

“He sat back and let the bourbon settle in, like hot butter through his veins, everything coming loose.”

Figurative language in this passage describes alcohol’s calming effects for Darren. Bourbon is his preferred drink, and the usage of a simile provides a visceral sense of what the liquor does in smoothing out the tension in Darren’s body. The motif of food is continued in the comparison to hot butter.

“The dark was extraordinary, thick enough to touch, a velvet quilt of black stitched through with stars, tiny knots of light barely bright enough to let you see your hand in front of your face.”

Vivid imagery and figurative language in this passage give a complete sensory experience of the scene as Darren walks along the deserted highway retracing Michael’s footsteps. Though the space is open and vast, the darkness is so palpable, that it is claustrophobic and suffocating. The thick, disorienting darkness also serves as a metaphor for Darren’s mental condition. He feels lost and unable to find his path in life.

“It was as he turned back to the car, the sloppy pivot of his left foot, that he slipped. The drop wasn’t deep, but the shock of it made it impossible to stop the fall. He twisted his body as he went down, but he couldn’t gain enough purchase and lost his flashlight in the process. He went into the bayou boots first, shooting horizontally and feeling the water seep across the front of his body.”

Retracing Michael Wright’s final steps provides Darren insight into what happened to him before his murder and symbolizes the path Darren is about to traverse in his investigation. As a Black Texas Ranger, Darren struggles to figuratively gain enough purchase to enact the changes he desires, while the loss of the flashlight symbolizes the dark underbelly of Lark that Darren must confront. This scene of struggle and surprise foreshadows the coming conflicts in the novel.

“‘Then let me talk to him,’ Darren said. ‘Let me do my job.’ He was asking for something more than a ten-minute talk with Van Horn, and they both knew it. It was the thing that hadn’t been discussed on the phone with his wife yesterday—the fact that his conscience might not let him quit, that the badge was who he’d become, the only way he knew to navigate his life as a Texan.”

Darren’s struggle with his identity as a Texas Ranger is highlighted as he pushes his lieutenant to speak with a local sheriff. His inability to separate from his work demonstrates how his role as a Ranger has become central to his life, regardless of how it has strained his relationships. Darren is determined to prove his value as a Ranger, even as he struggles with his addiction and marital issues.

“Darren wished she’d put a ma’am on it or a thank you, wished she understood you’d do well down here to meet white folks with a hefty benefit of the doubt. You’d know their real colors soon enough, so it didn’t hurt to be civil up top, insurance against pissing off the ones who were on your side.”

Randie Winston does not have the same views on manners and society as Darren and cares not how white people view her. Though her response to Laura is completely appropriate, especially considering the situation and the trauma she has experienced, Darren would prefer she code-switch in deference to Wally’s wife. Code-switching evolved out of a need for self-preservation and, in some cases, survival for Black people. Darren may think this is more of a mannerly way to smooth the tension of the situation, but code-switching to appease a white person is another issue altogether. The damaging role language has played in racism throughout history is highlighted.

“She had a milky skin tone that was just short of high yellow […]”

A distinction is used when describing the physical appearance of Geneva’s granddaughter Faith. The term “high yellow” dates to the nineteenth century and was used to describe people of both Black and white ancestry. A Black person who appeared to be white was thought to be of higher social class, and in some cases, could pass for white depending on the lightness of their skin. This acknowledgment of colorism further draws attention to the racism that still exists today.

“These two establishments, on opposite ends of town and separated by a quarter mile of highway, were like twin poles in the story of these two murders: it was impossible to understand one without the other.”

The story is supported with geography for narrative structure but also thematic meaning. The most important events in the narrative arc take place at Geneva’s café and Wally’s icehouse. Past events at the two locations are important pieces of the puzzle. The two buildings also symbolize the racial division in the town. Though segregation is a part of the past, in Lark, the citizens are still choosing to live separate lives. The deep division sows seeds of mistrust and hatred amongst some members of the town which ultimately leads to tragedy and needless death.

“[H]e made a show of capping the bottle, of the fact that it was just a little something he needed, that it didn’t signify a problem so much as an itch for which the slightest scratch would do.”

Darren’s internal monologue is that of someone in denial of their addiction. The moment Darren leaves the courthouse, he speeds to the nearest liquor store to placate the addiction that has such a powerful grip on him. In this passage, it is shown how the addiction is controlling Darren in every way, yet he still deludes himself into thinking it is not a problem.

“That was my September eleventh.”

Darren explains to Randie why he left Chicago to come home to Texas and become a Ranger. The real-life murder of James Byrd Jr. in 1998 is brought into the text as a defining moment for the protagonist. Just as many people chose to join the military after September 11, 2001, Darren chose to become a cop after the Jasper tragedy. He sees his work against racial hate crimes as the same as military service to the country.

“For black folks, injustice came from both sides of the law, a double-edged sword of heartache and pain.”

At many points in his career and in solving the Wright case, Darren acknowledges the many injustices that exist in his field of work. Non-white people must deal with the possibility they or a loved one may be accused and incarcerated for a crime they did not commit. There is also the chance that a loved one may be injured or killed, and the perpetrator never caught or prosecuted. In researching the law firm Lennon & Pelkin, Darren sees there are others like him, defenders of the law working to right these corruptions and bring truth and equality to the justice system.

“The mask fell completely, and she crumpled, her face and body twisted in agony over the madness that had taken her husband’s life. She toppled like a totem, her head landing in Randie’s lap.”

When Darren delivers the truth of Joe’s murder to Geneva, she releases all the pain she held inside for six years. She has never allowed herself to truly grieve the loss, and though the truth is devastating, it serves as a release, a closure for a painful wound left open for too long. Figurative language is used to compare Geneva to a totem pole. She has stood for a long time as a strong pillar of the community, and now she surrenders to grief so her healing can truly begin.

“Michael’s and Missy’s murders were race crimes, yes, but that was mainly because of the ways race defined so much about Lark, Texas, especially in terms of love, unexpected, and the family ties it created.”

Darren Mathews prides himself on being a Ranger, specifically one who seeks to expunge racial hate crimes from existence. What he found in Lark exposed him to the reality of race in America and how intertwined it still is in communities, especially those that are economically depressed. Race becomes even more complicated when it becomes ensnared within the complicated tangles of love and families. He may never be able to fully eradicate racial hatred, but he can continue to help one person at a time find peace and justice in their situation.

“This is what abandonment does to a man.”

The reunion between Darren and Lisa is subtly constrained. Though the sight of her reawakens his physical desire, he still harbors a grudge that she does not support his career. He takes her concern and frustration as abandonment, which are not the same issues. It is here where Darren’s estranged relationship with his mother rears its ugly head. Deep within himself, he has not resolved the trauma of the lack of a mother, and it taints every female relationship he has.