History Literature / TheGoodLordBird

* AmbiguousDisorder: Brown has vivid "visions from God" and oscilates between fatherly warmth and growling rage (at anything connected to slavery). Something's clearly not all right with his head.

* SaltAndPepper: Douglass and Brown have the dynamic in reverse: the African-American Douglass is much calmer and collected, trying to defeat slavery in the arena of public speech, while the white John Brown is a raving guerilla fighter trying to actively incite rebellion. They actually discuss the irony of this for a bit when they meet.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: "All of this is true. Most of it happened."

''The Good Lord Bird'' is a 2013 HistoricalFiction novel authored by James [=McBride=] as a retelling of the life and death of radical abolitionist John Brown that is at once darkly comedic, dramatic and epic. The story concerns itself with the young former slave Henry Shackleford, nicknamed "Onion" and mistaken for a woman after being freed by John Brown and his militia and becoming friends with him. From Bleeding Kansas to the doomed Harper's Ferry raid, Little Onion gets to witness firsthand the might and madness of John Brown while discovering his own identity as America itself changes with time.

''The Good Lord Bird'' is a 2013 HistoricalFiction novel authored by James [=McBride=] as a retelling of the life and death of radical abolitionist John Brown that is both darkly comedic, dramatic and epic. The story concerns itself with the young former slave Henry Shackleford, nicknamed "Onion" and mistaken for a woman after being freed by John Brown and his militia and becoming friends with him. From Bleeding Kansas to the doomed Harper's Ferry raid, Little Onion gets to witness firsthand the might and madness of John Brown while discovering his own identity as America itself changes with time.

* WretchedHive: Pikesville, Missouri, is a microcosm of every nasty frontier town in every gritty Western you've ever watched. It seems to be one of the only locations in the story that's entirely fictional, which is probably just as well.

[[quoteright:268:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/good_lord_bird_4.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:268:''"If you stand for the Lord, the Lord will stand for you!"'']]

''The Good Lord Bird'' is a 2013 HistoricalFiction novel authored by James [=McBride=] as a retelling of the life and death of radical abolitionist John Brown that is both darkly comedic, dramatic and epic. The story concerns itself with the young former slave Henry Shackleford, nicknamed "Onion" and mistaken for a woman after being freed by the legendary abolitionist John Brown and his militia and becoming friends with him. From Bleeding Kansas to the doomed Harper's Ferry raid, Little Onion gets to witness firsthand the might and madness of John Brown while discovering his own identity as America itself changes with time.

The book was (faithfully) adapted into a seven-episode miniseries in 2020 by Showtime, starring Creator/EthanHawke as John Brown and Joshua Caleb Johnson as Henry "Onion" Shackleford. James [=McBride=] acted as a executive producer.

-->-- '''Henry "Onion" Shackleford, regarding John Brown'''

* FamousLastWords: "What a beautiful country", the very first line of spoken dialogue in the show as Brown approaches the gallows. This is allegedly what Brown said before death as well.

''The Good Lord Bird'' is a 2013 HistoricalFiction novel authored by James [=McBride=] as a retelling of the life and death of radical abolitionist John Brown that is both darkly comedic, dramatic and epic. The story concerns itself with the young former slave Henry Shackleford, nicknamed "Little Onion" and mistaken for a woman after being freed by the legendary abolitionist John Brown and his militia and becoming friends with him. From Bleeding Kansas to the doomed Harper's Ferry raid, Little Onion gets to witness firsthand the might and madness of John Brown while discovering his own identity as America itself changes with time.

The book was (faithfully) adapted into a 7 episode 2020 miniseries by Showtime, starring Creator/EthanHawke as John Brown and Joshua Caleb Johnson as Little Onion. James [=McBride=] acted as a executive producer.

[[caption-width-right:268:"If you stand for the Lord, the Lord will stand for you!"]]

-->-- '''Onion, regarding John Brown'''

* TheWestern: One of the Southern-set variation dealing with the evils of slavery allá Film/DjangoUnchained.

* WildHair: Brown's hair (and beard) gets progressively more unkempt and scraggly as the story goes on. By the end you can barely see his face.

* TragicHero: Brown's unflinching faith in his own ideals ultimately render him into a societal pariah, cost him his men, several of his sons and ultimately his own life.
* TerrorHero: Brown fights for the righteous end of slavery, but he does so by some very bloody and gruesome methods that leave his enemies in utter panic.

* CrazySane: Ultimately where the narrative lands regarding John Brown. Towards the end of the narrative, a slaver calls him a madman, and Brown simply points out he's the sanest man he'll ever meet: it's all those who stand by and support slavery who have gone mad. In short, Brown's erratic, bombastic and may be hallucinating, but as Onion points, his judgement of society is perhaps the sanest one in the entire narrative.

* ForegoneConclusion: Even if you're unaware of the life and death of John Brown, the very first scene of the miniseries is John Brown walking to the gallows as Onion watches on.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Despite his utmost viciousness at any pro slavery human being within stabbing/shooting distance, Brown is shown as very gentle towards animals and is often seen caressing random wild animals.

* LargeHam: John Brown is not a subtle man in any regard. Ethan Hawke's portrayal oscilates between a snarling and screaming at the drop of a hat.

* ParentalSubstitute: Brown grows to be into something of a weird father figure for Onion (as the story begins with his father's death).

* WartsAndAll: The idea here is to portray all historical figures with no hagiography. There's Brown himself portrayed as a unstable madman (if a undeniably righteous one), but the other prominent example is the focus given to Douglass's gigantic ego and womanizing ways.

* WildHair: Brown's hair (and beard) gets progessively more unkempt and scraggly as the story goes on. By the end you can barely see his face.

* BerserkButton: Brown is a gentle (if kooky and eccentric) man...unless you support slavery in any fashion. Then he'll probably loop off your head with a broadsword on the spot.

* TheCasanova: Frederick Douglass gets quite nicely with the ladies. One of Brown's soldiers, Sam Cooke, also has an affinity for the fairer sex (which proves to be a problem when his philandering gets in the way of Brown's plans).
* ChurchMilitant: John Brown is a very proud Christian, and his path of faith is one laced with gunpowder against those who would support slavery.

* FreudianTrio: While they don't share any actual moments all together on-screen, this is the dynamic between Frederick Douglass, John Brown and Harriet Taubman. Douglass is the collected intellectual fighting against slavery through speeches and debates (The Superego), John Brown is a fiery hellstorm of a man fighting against slavery with all manner of violence (The Id) and Taubman seems to be trying to make sure both approaches aid her Underground Railroad (The Ego).

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Aside form John Brown and his assorted bunch, Frederick Douglass is a supporting character, Harriet Taubman shows up in one scene and future Confederate general Jeb Stuart is a recurring antagonist.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: "The General" Harriet Taubman shows up for exactly one scene, but the weight she has on the narrative is colossal.

* TheCasanova: Frederick Douglass gets quite nicely with the ladies. One of Brown's soldiers, Sam Cooke, also has an affinity for the fairer sex (which proves to be a proble when his philandering gets in the way of Brown's plans).

* ChurchMilitant: John Brown is a very proud Christian, and his path is one of gunpowder and led against those who stand for slavery.
* CrazySane: Ultimately where the narrative lands regarding John Brown. Towards the end of the narrative, a slaver calls him a madman, and Brown simply points out he's the sanest man he'll ever meet: it's all those who stand by and support slavery who have gone mad. In short, Brown's erratic, bombastic and may be hallucinating, but as Onion points, but his judgement of society is perhaps the sanest one in the entire narrative.