Causasia… invisibility
So I thought it was interesting to note how many times invisibility is brought up in the novel. In the intro, Birdie talks about becoming white, blending in… disappearing into America. She thinks she’s invisibile at Dot’s going away party, and there’s alot of her and Cole spying on their mother and father. Deck’s theory is that white people like to be invisible – they don’t like to be looked at – and when Deck takes Birdie out to the park, at the end of the visit he tells her to observe, and ‘take notes’. He turns her into a spy earlier, too, when he tells her to keep a look out for Redbone in her mother’s house. Senna pushes Birdie around like that, one minute being the invisible white girl and the next being Deck’s observant black daughter. You feel bad for her, because once Carmen enters the picture – who practically pretends Birdie doesn’t exist once she sees her - and once things with her mother start to blow up, Birdie goes from being half of both in Boston to half-Jewish in Maine, which is the strangest and most random choice I think Sandy could have fixated on. The next section is heading into their time in hiding… I’m wondering how much farther Sandy is going to take Birdie, and if she’ll ever get caught. I’m also wondering if Cole and Birdie ever see each other again.
