The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

by

Christopher Paul Curtis

Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) Character Analysis

Wilona is Kenny’s mother. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, she moved to Flint when she married Daniel. Even after living in Michigan for many years, she can’t take the cold and often playfully criticizes Daniel for making her leave behind the warm climate of the South. Her Southern upbringing is something everyone in the family is particularly aware of, especially since her Southern accent becomes more pronounced whenever she’s angry. Daniel, for his part, often makes fun of this accent, and though Wilona always defends her Alabama roots, she also takes her husband’s jokes in stride. Still, she thinks that spending time in Birmingham would help Byron learn a little discipline, which is why she and Daniel agree that their eldest son should live in Birmingham with Grandma Sands—Wilona’s mother—for the summer and possibly the following school year. The entire family drives Byron to Alabama and stays for a little while, giving Wilona the chance to catch up with her mother for the first time in a long while. She learns that Grandma Sands has taken a new lover, Mr. Robert. This discovery upsets her and causes her to forget her manners, giving Kenny the strange opportunity to see his mother behave like a child. When Kenny feels sad after witnessing the aftermath of a church bombing in Birmingham, Wilona and Daniel worry about how to help their children make sense of such violent and racist hatred, but all they’re able to do is fret and cry, hoping he’ll find a way to move on—something Byron ultimately helps him do.

Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) Quotes in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

The The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 quotes below are all either spoken by Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) or refer to Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Change, Coming of Age, and Maturity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

All of my family sat real close together on the couch under a blanket. Dad said this would generate a little heat but he didn’t have to tell us this, it seemed like the cold automatically made us want to get together and huddle up.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Byron Watson, Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Joetta Watson (Joey)
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:

“Oh yeah,” Dad interrupted, “they’re a laugh a minute down there. Let’s see, where was that ‘Coloreds Only’ bathroom downtown?”

“Daniel, you know what I mean, things aren’t perfect but people are more honest about the way they feel”—she took her mean eyes off Dad and put them on Byron—“and folks there do know how to respect their parents.”

Related Characters: Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father) (speaker), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) (speaker), Byron Watson
Page Number: 6
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“But you notice that not everybody gets froze like that, it’s just them folks from down South who got that thin, down-home blood who freeze so quick. And you know Momma ain’t from Flint, she grew up in Alabama and that means half of y’all’s blood is real thin, so Momma’s worried that one morning it’s gonna be cold enough to freeze you all.

“That’s where them fake garbage trucks come in. Every morning they go round picking the froze folks off the street, and they need them big doors because someone who got froze don’t bend in the middle and they wouldn’t fit in no regular ambulance.”

Related Characters: Byron Watson (speaker), Kenny Watson, Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Joetta Watson (Joey)
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

It was hard to do, but I kind of felt sorry for Byron, though not too sorry because I knew he deserved whatever happened, first because he had a chance to escape and didn’t take it and second because he was being a bad influence on me. Nazi Parachutes Attack America and Get Shot Down over the Flint River by Captain Byron Watson and His Flamethrower of Death looked like a real cool movie for me to make too. If Momma just gave Byron some stupid punishment, then maybe it would be worth it for me to flush some Nazis down the drain myself. But if you got set on fire for doing it the movie wasn’t worth making.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Byron Watson, Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Joetta Watson (Joey)
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Listen here, Mr. High and Mighty, since you just got to know, food is food. You’ve eaten welfare food in this house before and if need be you’ll eat it again. Don’t come playin’ that nonsense with me. I already told you, this is not welfare food. You’ve got about five seconds to have that door hit you in the back. Kenny, move.”

Related Characters: Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) (speaker), Kenny Watson, Byron Watson
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

I thought about it for a minute, then asked, “Momma, how come we don’t just drive until Dad gets tired, then stop?”

Dad did an imitation of a hillbilly accent. “’Cuz, boy, this he-uh is the deep South you-all is gonna be drivin’ thoo. Y’all colored folks cain’t be jes’ pullin’ up tuh any ol’ way-uh an be ’spectin’ tuh get no room uh no food, yuh heah, boy? I said yuh heah what I’m sayin’, boy?”

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father) (speaker), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother)
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

I picked up my spoon and kept eating. This was great! I’d never seen Momma act like a little kid who just got yelled at but there she was, picking at a piece of paper towel and looking kind of embarrassed.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Grandma Sands, Mr. Robert
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

Grandma Sands called a couple of times and told them that the police thought two white men drove by in a car and threw it in during services, or that they’d already hidden it in the church with a clock set to go off during Sunday school. However it got in the church it had killed four little girls, blinded a couple more and sent a bunch of other people to the hospital. I couldn’t stop wondering if those two little girls I saw on the lawn were okay.

From my secret hiding place in the living room I could listen to Momma and Dad and it seemed like they spent most of the time trying to figure out how they could explain to us what happened. Some of the time they were mad, some of the time they were calm and some of the time they just sat on the couch and cried.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Grandma Sands
Page Number: 191
Explanation and Analysis:

He was also very wrong about there not being anything like magic powers or genies or angels. Maybe those weren’t the things that could make a run-over dog walk without wobbling but they were out there.

Maybe they were in the way your father smiled at you even after you’d messed something up real bad. Maybe they were in the way you understood that your mother wasn’t trying to make you the laughing “sock” of the whole school when she’d call you over in front of a bunch of your friends and use spit on her finger to wipe the sleep out of your eyes. Maybe it was magic powers that let you know she was just being Momma. Maybe they were the reason that you really didn’t care when the kids would say, “Yuck! You let your momma slob on you?” and you had to say, “Shut up. That’s my momma, we got the same germs.”

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Byron Watson, Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother)
Related Symbols: Angels and Magical Powers
Page Number: 204-205
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 PDF

Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) Quotes in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

The The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 quotes below are all either spoken by Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) or refer to Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Change, Coming of Age, and Maturity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

All of my family sat real close together on the couch under a blanket. Dad said this would generate a little heat but he didn’t have to tell us this, it seemed like the cold automatically made us want to get together and huddle up.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Byron Watson, Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Joetta Watson (Joey)
Page Number: 1
Explanation and Analysis:

“Oh yeah,” Dad interrupted, “they’re a laugh a minute down there. Let’s see, where was that ‘Coloreds Only’ bathroom downtown?”

“Daniel, you know what I mean, things aren’t perfect but people are more honest about the way they feel”—she took her mean eyes off Dad and put them on Byron—“and folks there do know how to respect their parents.”

Related Characters: Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father) (speaker), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) (speaker), Byron Watson
Page Number: 6
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“But you notice that not everybody gets froze like that, it’s just them folks from down South who got that thin, down-home blood who freeze so quick. And you know Momma ain’t from Flint, she grew up in Alabama and that means half of y’all’s blood is real thin, so Momma’s worried that one morning it’s gonna be cold enough to freeze you all.

“That’s where them fake garbage trucks come in. Every morning they go round picking the froze folks off the street, and they need them big doors because someone who got froze don’t bend in the middle and they wouldn’t fit in no regular ambulance.”

Related Characters: Byron Watson (speaker), Kenny Watson, Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Joetta Watson (Joey)
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

It was hard to do, but I kind of felt sorry for Byron, though not too sorry because I knew he deserved whatever happened, first because he had a chance to escape and didn’t take it and second because he was being a bad influence on me. Nazi Parachutes Attack America and Get Shot Down over the Flint River by Captain Byron Watson and His Flamethrower of Death looked like a real cool movie for me to make too. If Momma just gave Byron some stupid punishment, then maybe it would be worth it for me to flush some Nazis down the drain myself. But if you got set on fire for doing it the movie wasn’t worth making.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Byron Watson, Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Joetta Watson (Joey)
Page Number: 70
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

“Listen here, Mr. High and Mighty, since you just got to know, food is food. You’ve eaten welfare food in this house before and if need be you’ll eat it again. Don’t come playin’ that nonsense with me. I already told you, this is not welfare food. You’ve got about five seconds to have that door hit you in the back. Kenny, move.”

Related Characters: Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother) (speaker), Kenny Watson, Byron Watson
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

I thought about it for a minute, then asked, “Momma, how come we don’t just drive until Dad gets tired, then stop?”

Dad did an imitation of a hillbilly accent. “’Cuz, boy, this he-uh is the deep South you-all is gonna be drivin’ thoo. Y’all colored folks cain’t be jes’ pullin’ up tuh any ol’ way-uh an be ’spectin’ tuh get no room uh no food, yuh heah, boy? I said yuh heah what I’m sayin’, boy?”

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father) (speaker), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother)
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

I picked up my spoon and kept eating. This was great! I’d never seen Momma act like a little kid who just got yelled at but there she was, picking at a piece of paper towel and looking kind of embarrassed.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Grandma Sands, Mr. Robert
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

Grandma Sands called a couple of times and told them that the police thought two white men drove by in a car and threw it in during services, or that they’d already hidden it in the church with a clock set to go off during Sunday school. However it got in the church it had killed four little girls, blinded a couple more and sent a bunch of other people to the hospital. I couldn’t stop wondering if those two little girls I saw on the lawn were okay.

From my secret hiding place in the living room I could listen to Momma and Dad and it seemed like they spent most of the time trying to figure out how they could explain to us what happened. Some of the time they were mad, some of the time they were calm and some of the time they just sat on the couch and cried.

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother), Grandma Sands
Page Number: 191
Explanation and Analysis:

He was also very wrong about there not being anything like magic powers or genies or angels. Maybe those weren’t the things that could make a run-over dog walk without wobbling but they were out there.

Maybe they were in the way your father smiled at you even after you’d messed something up real bad. Maybe they were in the way you understood that your mother wasn’t trying to make you the laughing “sock” of the whole school when she’d call you over in front of a bunch of your friends and use spit on her finger to wipe the sleep out of your eyes. Maybe it was magic powers that let you know she was just being Momma. Maybe they were the reason that you really didn’t care when the kids would say, “Yuck! You let your momma slob on you?” and you had to say, “Shut up. That’s my momma, we got the same germs.”

Related Characters: Kenny Watson (speaker), Byron Watson, Daniel Watson (Kenny’s Father), Wilona Watson (Kenny’s Mother)
Related Symbols: Angels and Magical Powers
Page Number: 204-205
Explanation and Analysis: