Bluebird, Bluebird

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

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Themes

The Importance of an Internal Locus of Self-Worth and Identity

Humans seek to define themselves in a variety of ways. Some seek self-worth through religious affiliation and some through a hobby or creative pursuit. Through time and testing, individuals realize that self-worth cannot be found solely in external forces. In Bluebird, Bluebird, protagonist Darren Mathews is portrayed as a person in search of his identity, learning that he cannot truly find meaning in life through external edification and the truest sense of his being can only be found in learning to love himself.

Darren matured seeing himself only through the eyes of his twin uncles who raised him. They instilled in him the value of being a southern gentleman and an educated student of law and justice. However, without the maternal love of a mother to guide him in other ways, Darren comes of age knowing he was treasured, but missing an essential part of his identity. He seeks fulfillment in only the masculine side of his personality and marries that with his career path. As a boot-wearing Texas Ranger, Darren leans into his masculinity and neglects to learn how to express his emotions. This unbalanced sense of self comes to light in his relationship struggles and his addiction. His flawed relationship with his mother and stormy marital ties reveal a man who is not at peace within himself and allows it to overflow into every aspect of his life.

Any search for personal value outside the self can lead to misguided and even dangerous entanglements. Individuals can find themselves enmeshed in a religious cult or a militant hate group like the Aryan Brotherhood. Darren places far too much value on the badge itself and not enough on what it symbolizes inside him, lest his allegiance to it become dangerous. Darren must first define himself as a person who values truth and justice, not just as a Texas Ranger, the outward expression of the character trait. Darren is at his best as a human when he is not focused on his badge or title and when he is simply listening to people. To successfully solve the case and find personal peace, he must learn to accept himself as a flawed human and not try to mask his pain and personal failures in bravado and foolish pride.

The Lasting Effects of Trauma and Suffering

The endurance of hardships is a universal part of the human experience. The characters in Bluebird, Bluebird all experience trauma in some part of their life. Darren bears the pain of an absent mother who was addicted to alcohol. Randie Winston grieves the mysterious loss of her husband. Isaac shudders and runs in fear when shots ring out in the café, evidence of post-traumatic stress from the violence he has witnessed in the past. However, the theme finds its epicenter in Geneva Sweet. She is a Black woman who has endured the loss of the two most important people in her life and through the complicated relational entanglements of the narrative, finds death again at her doorstep, reawakening her pain. Through the characters of Geneva and Faith, the trauma inflicted on Black people and the generational suffering it instills in families and communities is explored.

Geneva carries the weight of not only her grief, but that of generations of racial trauma. This trauma can have long-lasting effects on its survivors, and Geneva’s tough exterior is a defense built as a survival instinct. She holds this weight even in her physical appearance as her body tenses, and “The muscles across her shoulders and back were taut with grief and the anxiety of trauma recounted” (264). Missy’s and Michael’s deaths retraumatize Geneva. Though Geneva’s personal story must be unearthed to solve the case, Darren must first recognize her wounds and proceed with care in her presence. Geneva’s entire family tree bears the marks of hatred and violence. By telling Geneva’s story, the novel is taken beyond just a mystery and bears witness to racial pain and the lasting effects it can have on an individual, a community, and a country.

Community Within Small Town Life

Bluebird, Bluebird is a noir novel set in the real east Texas town of Lark, located in the panhandle. Locke’s fictional town is bleak, lacking as much in character and charm as it does in industry and infrastructure. The town is so small it does not even have a police force, a detail that has not worked in its favor. Lark is also a place as deeply divided racially as it is cut through by the bayou. Just as Wendy peddles recycled junk to passersby, Lark recycles its same centuries-old grudges and discriminations from generation to generation. Texas Ranger Darren Mathews, although from a small town himself, learns quickly that Lark is a place suspicious of outsiders, and getting the answers he needs to solve the murder of Michael Wright will prove far more difficult in the tight-lipped community. Lark may be small in its geographic footprint, but it holds a deep history within the walls of its buildings and in the hearts of its residents.

What the town lacks in commerce, it well makes up for in its citizenry. The people of Lark, particularly those who gather at Geneva Sweet’s Sweets, are an eclectic blend of working-class folks all with unique perspectives on the unfolding events in the town. Geneva’s café serves as a beehive in the town, a place that is as lively as the decorations on the wall, and it is the centerpiece of the novel. Through the small-town dynamics of chatter and gossip, key pieces of information are revealed in the two murder cases. The town’s other gathering place, the icehouse, is less hospitable but no less enlightening to the town’s true character. Just as in any small town, Lark is reluctant to give up its dark secrets, but as Darren probes deeper into the history of the town, it is through its people he learns the truth of the injustice and tragedy buried beneath its drab, dusty exterior. Darren learns that his view of the state is narrow, and the people of Lark teach him there is more than one way to be a Texan. He blazes into town prideful in his ability to resolve the problem with brains and a badge, yet Lark humbles him, teaching him a lesson about the power of community and human connection unique to small town existence.