Catherine, Called Birdy

“I am bit by fleas and plagued by my family.”

This opens the book by establishing a mood—dark and petulant on the part of Birdy—and a setting. Fleas and plagues are regular and sometimes deadly annoyances of the medieval period. This quote also immediately casts her family as antagonists, as their torments are likened to those of plague-carrying fleas.

“That is all there is to say.”

Birdy’s emphatic tone implies that she has the last word in these recollections and judgments recorded in her diary—and indeed she does: “There is no more to say” (9). Everything is recounted through Birdy’s point of view, and the reader should sometimes question whether her perspective is valid—or at least, the only valid perspective. This makes her an unreliable narrator, especially when it comes to character assessments and emotions.

“I am near fourteen and have never yet seen a hanging. My life is barren.”

This reveals Birdy’s naiveté and her longing for adventure. In the first instance, Birdy exaggerates her frustration at being prohibited from seeing a hanging; this is typical overwrought teenage emotion from Birdy. Readers witness her experience with a hanging later, and the awfulness and injustice of the event leave Birdy fleeing the scene and vomiting; in her innocence, she is unaware of the implications of being a witness to an execution.