Little Onion: The Boy Who Became a Man James McBride did a great job writing The Good Lord Bird which includes many amazing characters, from old John Brown, the abolitionist of slavery, to the courageous little girl, Cipolla. McBride embraces a unique writing style where he brings his characters to life and demonstrates this through the portrayal of Little Onion. Little Onion comes to life because we can learn a lesson from him; he's just a kid trying to survive, but he doesn't know what else to do. He doesn't know what to do because he is a slave and also an orphan; she wants to run away from old John Brown because she thinks he's crazy, but where will she go? McBride then takes his readers on Little Onion's coming of age journey, a journey that details this James McBride shows Little Onion to simply go with the flow, but why? Usually, when a child is kidnapped by a stranger, he starts screaming and wonders what is happening and why it is happening. Little Onion does nothing. Instead, he wonders what Brown is about. “I think he felt guilty for kidnapping me and taking my dad's kilt, because his eyes were a little funny and he stared at me for a long time” (23). Another situation that depicts Little Onion as a brave child is when old John Brown forces him to eat an old-looking onion, which he considers to be a good luck charm. McBride suggests here that even if you don't want to do something, you should do it anyway because something good might benefit you. McBride describes Henry forcefully eating the onion as he thinks, “I took the thing and held it, scared and afraid, then, not knowing what it wanted, I thought it wanted me to eat it” (23). Following his instincts, Henry gets enormous affection from Old John Brown, who rejoices and tells him that he is his Little One.