Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Bud, Not Buddy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Economic Insecurity and Community
Children vs. Adults
Resourcefulness
Family and Home
Race and Racism
Summary
Analysis
Bud leaves Flint and realizes that 24 hours of walking will be a lot longer than he thought. He is alarmed by the country sounds of “bugs and toady-frogs and mice and rats playing a dangerous scary kind of hide-and-go-seek.”
Bud’s journey does not start off on the right foot as the night’s noises frighten him and make him feel even more isolated and vulnerable. However, he does not give up because of his certainty that the road will bring him towards a family.
Themes
Bud takes to hiding in bushes when cars go by, but as he grows tired, he does it less frequently. Consequently, a car speeding through almost blinds Buddy, prompting him to hide in the bushes. The man in the car pulls up near Bud and gets out. He whistles loudly, making all the country noises stop, and calls out for Bud with a “Say hey!”
Bud, aware of his vulnerability as a child, seeks to avoid any adults that will ruin his plans and send him back to the Home.
Themes
Bud eventually peeks his head out, and the man tells him “he’s a long way from home” and asks him if he’s from Flint. Bud stays quiet, so the man tempts him by telling him he has a spare baloney sandwich and an apple in his car. He continues by offering Bud and “extra red pop” as well.
Bud eventually decides to peek and see who has discovered him, not because he trusts the man but because he doesn’t feel like he has another choice. Bud does not speak, however, forcing the man to offer him food for information after he likely senses how hungry Bud would be on the run as a vulnerable child.
Themes
Bud tries to get the man to leave the food on the side of the road, but the man tells him that the deal only works if Bud shows him his face. Bud thinks the man sounds OK, so he slides his suitcase in the weeds and reveals himself.
Bud tries to convince the man to leave the food on the side of the road, another one of his attempts to outsmart adults and call the shots. The man, however, proves to be a match for Bud, and he makes Bud reveal his face. It is unclear who the true winner is as Bud successfully maneuvers his suitcase out of sight—showing that he still has some control over the situation.
Themes
Get the entire Bud, Not Buddy LitChart as a printable PDF.
Before he gives the sandwich and soda to Bud, the man explains that they have “some talking to do first.” In the meantime, Bud notices he’s wearing the hat of someone “who drove fancy cars for rich folks”—a red hat.
The man prods Bud with questions instead of giving him the food, showing that he may have some ulterior motives for getting Bud to come out. As a result, Bud perhaps puts his guard back up and he begins to take in his surroundings, looking for clues about who this man is and what his intentions are.
Themes
The man tells Bud he has a problem that he needs Bud’s help with. This prompts Bud to note that according to “rule 87,” this usually means that the adult wants the child to get something for them.
Bud’s skepticism for the man grows when the man seems to try and trick Bud. In response, Bud once again turns to his rules to help him make sense of his current situation and figure out what to do.
Themes
The man suggests that Bud tell him what he’s doing on the road first, so they can “go about [their] business.” Eventually the man prods Bud to tell him his name—“Bud, not Buddy”—and Bud explains that he’s run away from home.
The man’s tactics, however prove to be successful, perhaps because he makes it seem as if he will let Bud go once he finds out the information that he’s seeking. Either way, Bud complies with the man uses the opportunity to proudly declare to him that his name is Bud and nothing else.
Themes
The man gives Bud the soda, but before Bud can finish it, he asks Bud where “home” is. Bud, more alert, is suspicious that the man won’t let him stay on the road, but he realizes he’s fine with it. He also decides that he won’t tell the stranger about the Home or the Amoses.
The man proves to be a man of his word at first, but Bud quickly becomes suspicious again when the man begins to ask him questions about his “home.” Bud quickly decides to lie about his home so that the man won’t send him back to the Amoses or the Home and ruin his plans to find Herman.
Themes
Bud lies that he ran away from Grand Rapids, secretly hoping that the man will put him on a bus so that he won’t have to do more walking. Instead the man tells him he’s from Grand Rapids too, grabs Bud’s hand, and walks him to the car. The man explains that they’re in a town called Owosso, and that not too long ago there was a sign hanging in the town that read: “To Our Negro Friends Who Are Passing Through, Kindly Don’t Let the Sun Set on Your Rear End in Owosso!” Bud remembers his suitcase, so the man walks him back to the bushes to get it, never letting his grip go—Bud thinks the man must not trust him.
Bud decides to tell the man that he is running from Grand Rapids instead of to Grand Rapids to ensure that the man can’t take him back to Flint, the place he is trying to escape from and the place of all his most recent misery. This moment echoes an earlier one in the novel, when Bud pleaded with Mrs. Amos to not send him back to the Home in the secret hope that she would. This moment is also another dark reminder of the racism pervading the nation at this point in time. The sign in Owosso suggests it’s a sundown town—an all-white town that restricts black people from being within town limits after dark through a combination of intimidation, discriminatory laws, and brutal violence.
Themes
Afterwards, the man opens the passenger’s seat and Bud sees him take out a box from the front seat to put in the back. Bud wishes he could run “like the devil was chasing [him]” when he sees that “URGENT: CONTAINS HUMAN BLOOD!!!” is written on the box. Bud believes the man must be a vampire and thinks the man would “rather have [his] fresh blood than blood out of a bottle.”
Bud remains suspicious and appears to look for clues that show the man’s intentions are not good—regardless of how the man has proved himself. After all, Bud is often wary of the adults in his life. For this reason, he is more prone to believe that the man is a vampire, a leap in logic that reminds readers how young and impressionable Bud really is, even if he is mature for his age.
Themes
The man tells Bud that he’ll send a telegram to Bud’s family and drive him down to Grand Rapids tomorrow. He tells Bud to enter the car and lets go of his arm. So, Bud enters and locks the door, then slides to the driver’s side and closes it before locking the door just as the “vampire” tries to get in. From there, Bud puts his jackknife under his thigh and takes off in the car as the vampire runs after him.
Bud puts his resources and knowledge to the test again by tricking the man into leaving him alone with his car. He hatches and executes a plan to take off with the car to keep from being a victim of yet another powerful adult. After everything he’s been through with the Amoses, he knows now to run at any slight suggestion of violence from a grownup.
Themes
