The characters that we meet in Missouri are Sibonia, Ms. Abby, The Reverend, Pie, and Darg.


Sibonia
Sibonia is Libby's sister and they are both slaves living in the pen outside of the Pikesville. She was sort of short tempered because when Onion asked about Bob, she threw a ball of mud at him.

Ms. Abby
She is described as a white woman wearing red lipstick and a face covered in powder smoking a cigar. She is in charge of the prostitutes and Onion was sent into her room to get forced to work since he accidentally said that he worked in that field of work.

The Reverend
We meet Reverend Martin again on page 112 after Fred shoots and kills a Good Lord Bird. Him and Onion hear horses coming towards them so Fred orders Onion to hide. One of the men riding up to greet them turns out to be The Reverend, "the feller Fred drawed on back at the Old Man's camp" (McBride 112). He was wearing "his two shiny pearl-handled numbers on his belt, which he likely stole off some dead Free Stater, for he hadn't had them things before" (McBride 112). This proves that he has changed himself, at least physically, from the last time that Onion and the army had seen him. As soon as Fred recognized Reverend Martin, he shot him in the chest and said "'That'll teach you to draw on me, you apple-headed, horse-thieving, nigger-loving bastard'" (McBride 113). He then proceeded to gloat about killing Fred, almost as if he had been hunting a large animal, saying, "'I got me one of the Brown's boys,' he said proudly. 'Got the biggest one'" (McBride 113). 
It is interesting seeing how the Reverend has flip-flopped from being a part of John Brown's army to leaving, joining up with and maybe even leading what seem to be Pro Slavers, and then killing Fred Brown in cold blood.

Pie
We meet Pie when Chase, one of the men that brought Onion and Bob to Missouri, takes them to the Pikesville Hotel. Onion thought that there "weren't nothing compared to seeing that bundle of beauty coming down them stairs that first time. She would blow the hat off your head. She was a mulatto woman" (McBride 144). She was a black prostitute and apparently Chase owes her $9.

Darg
Darg works for Ms. Abby who uses him as an enforcer. That is all we know about him so far.

1. What is the meaning of the good lord bird? What does it represent?  How does it connect to to the title of the book?

• The good lord bird is described on page 33 as a woodpecker because, "when man sees it, he says, 'Good Lord'". Its feathers are said to bring you understanding that will last your whole life. The bird basically hypnotized Fred while they were looking at it and instead of taking the chance to run away, Henry took out the feather from a good lord bird that John Brown had given him. This connects to the story because John Brown had given Henry a feather which symbolized a lifetime of understanding. This is fitting because John Brown was an abolitionist trying to fight for the freedom of slaves which proves that he has an understanding that he was trying to share with Henry. Also, the book in itself represents coming of age and self discovery. While being freed from one owner, Henry finds himself under the control of yet another white man. The need for freedom is a constant as the story goes on which relates to a bird needing to fly. Henry tries to take flight multiple times during the story which connects him to the good lord bird. 

2. What is Henry’s nickname?  How did he earn it?

• Henry was nicknamed "Little Onion" because when John Brown reached into his coat pocket and dug out a dirty old onion, Henry thought that he was supposed to eat it, which he did. The onion turned out to be John Brown's good luck charm that he was giving to Henry as a gift now that he was free. Since he ate it, Henry became John Brown's new good luck charm and was therefore called "Little Onion".

3. What was Henry’s rationale for continuing to live a lie?  Was it justifiable?

• Henry was unable to inform John Brown in the beginning that his name was actually Henry and that he was in fact a male. As time went on, it became harder and harder to try and correct John Brown. Furthermore, Henry knew that he would be treated differently as a female than as a male so it seemed like the smart decision to stick to the lie and keep pretending to be Henrietta. 

Is it permissible to lie? If so, when? If not, why?

Lying can go one of two ways; either you get away with it or you don't. After that, you have to wait and see if the lie you told helped you or hurt you. So far, the way that I see it, Henry has told 1.5 lies. The first one being that he was a girl. However, he did not outwardly saw that he was a female. He simply stopped trying to object. The other time that I only kind of counted was when he was given the onion by John Brown and pretended he that knew what he was supposed to do with it. Henry's way of lying seems to be omitting the truth. This leads me to believe that he is just a shy 10 year old boy and that has led to these so called lies.

In my opinion by omitting the information, he has actually helped himself because by being a "girl" he will get better treatment. Also, by eating the onion, he has now become John Brown's good luck charm which will help him in the long run because he will probably get preferential treatment.

In these two cases, he has both gotten away with the lies and they have helped him.