Barb Azure Baird was a resident of District 12 and member of the Covey. She played the bass in their performances.[1]
Quick Answers
What role did Barb Azure play in the Covey's performances?
What happened to Barb Azure's family during the First Rebellion?
What is the significance of Barb Azure in the context of LGBT representation in literature?
Who is Honor Gillies in relation to Barb Azure's story?
Biography[]
Early life[]
As members of a nomadic people called the Covey, Barb Azure and her family traveled throughout Panem amidst the Dark Days.
Covey Genocide[]
A few years prior to the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Peacekeepers rounded up the Covey and killed many of them. This presumably included the family of Barb Azure. The few remaining Covey were trapped in District 12, where they made their living doing musical performances.[2]
10th Hunger Games[]
Barb Azure's cousin, Lucy Gray Baird, had her name drawn at the reaping for the 10th Hunger Games.[3] While Lucy Gray was gone, the Covey didn't perform at all, and they only saw Coriolanus Snow once during the televised night of tribute interviews; it had been a clear night in District 12, and Tam Amber had used a lot of tin foil to improve the reception.[4] Based on their rejection of Billy Taupe Clade, they listened to Lucy Gray sing "The Ballad of Lucy Gray Baird" that night. She had written the song to inform them that Billy Taupe played a role in her being reaped.[5]
Aftermath[]
After the Games, the Covey reunited at some point with Lucy Gray, who came home the victor. While performing at the Hob for the first time since the Games, the Covey encountered Billy Taupe. Due to his actions against Lucy Gray, Barb Azure told him to leave them alone, as he had made his choice.[4]
Later, Coriolanus Snow and Sejanus Plinth visited the Covey's home, and Barb Azure was fetched by her young cousin Maude Ivory. She thanked Coriolanus for what he had done for Lucy Gray and told him he would find her in the Meadow. When Billy Taupe arrived, asking for his things, Barb Azure threw them out back, and she disapproved of him and Sejanus discussing the Peacekeeper base together.[4] Once Billy Taupe left, Barb Azure took a pan of chilled goat milk out of the refrigerator and examined it, determining if it would be enough for butter; seeing that it wasn't, she returned it to the fridge. She then strained fresh milk for the others to drink and explained where the Covey had traveled.[6]
While the rest of the Covey left to visit the lake, Barb Azure stayed at home and sent them off with supplies. According to Lucy Gray, Barb Azure had “started seeing a gal down the road” and they were likely “glad to have the place to themselves.” When the others returned home, she was picking through berries at the kitchen table.[7]
Physical description[]
Barb Azure was a willowy young woman who wore an ankle-length, checkered blue dress during a performance at the Hob.[1] She was also described as having a quiet voice. When Coriolanus and Sejanus visited the Covey in the Seam, Barb Azure appeared wearing an ordinary dress with her hair twisted up hastily into a knot.[4]
Family[]
Barb Azure and Maude Ivory
After the deaths of their immediate families, the six remaining Covey children were taken in by an old man for a fee. This included Barb Azure and her two Baird cousins, Lucy Gray and Maude Ivory. The man didn't raise the children, but he didn't "much mess with [them]" either. He died of black lung the year prior to Lucy Gray's reaping, but some of the Covey were old enough to manage things by then.[8]
Etymology[]
Barbara, which normally is long for Barb, is a name taken from the Ancient Greek "barbaros", meaning stranger or foreign. She was given her name from the folk song Barbara Allen, while the second part, Azure, is a shade of blue.[7] Her surname, Baird, is derived from the word "bard", meaning "poet" or a professional singer who tells stories through song. It is also only one letter off from "bird", which the Covey are often compared to in the novel.
Trivia[]
- Barb Azure is one of four characters confirmed to be a part of the LGBTQ community. The others are Pluribus Bell, his partner Cyrus,[9] and Clerk Carmine Clade.[10]
- There is a popular theory that Barb Azure is Burdock Everdeen’s grandmother or mother, as Burdock is described as a “distant relative” to Lenore Dove Baird.
- This is further backed up by the fact that she isn’t seen with the remains of the Covey in Sunrise on the Reaping.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 23
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 4
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 2
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 24
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 12
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 25
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 27
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 6
- ↑ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 11
- ↑ Sunrise on the Reaping, Chapter 1