He is continually forced to redefine his notions of what it means to be, and to act like, a man.
Henry spends the onset of puberty dressed as a girl, while occasionally surrounded by women he falls in love with. The Good Lord Bird is based on the real events of John Brown’s life, but it also functions as Henry’s coming of age tale. Henry escapes to Philadelphia and gains his freedom. The attack fails, and Brown and most of his men are hanged.
Each victory makes John Brown’s legend grow, and he eventually becomes ambitious enough to lead at attack on the armory at Harpers Ferry, determined the overthrow the government. The army rides from town to town, fighting skirmishes against rebel troops. The majority of the novel concerns the various misadventures that befall Henry as he rides with Brown’s army, all while pretending to be a girl. Brown is a fierce fighter and willing to kill anyone who tries to harm his men. Brown is often presented as a comical character: a Bible-quoting Christian zealot whose elevated views of his own destiny are on par with those of Don Quixote. Over the course of the next three years, Henry spends most of his time with Brown’s ever-shifting army of abolitionists. He calls Henry “Little Onion” after Henry eats an onion that Brown considers his good luck charm.
He mistakes Henry for a girl and quickly clothes him in a bonnet and dress. Henry’s father is killed in the fight and Brown takes Henry with him. The gunfight involves Dutch Henry, Henry’s owner. Brown is infamous by that point, and when he is recognized by other men in the saloon, a fight erupts. At the beginning of Part 1, a twelve-year old boy named Henry Shackleford is with his father when a renegade abolitionist named John Brown comes in to get a haircut. The Good Lord Bird is told in three parts.
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