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
In the shed, Bud convinces himself that he is calm and realizes that Mr. Amos may have just pretended to lock the shed. He reaches his arm to try the door but becomes terrified when he sees “three little flat monster heads guarding the doorknob.” The heads have sharp teeth and lips that looked “ready to bite.”
In the absence of an adult, Bud consoles himself and even tells himself things to make himself feel better. He is so successful than he even believes that Mr. Amos may have only pretended to lock the door. When he goes to check, however, he loses his earlier composure and becomes terrified when he sees the “monsters” that guard the door. In this scene, Bud goes back and forth between seeming like an adult and a child, reminding readers how young he really is but how responsible and mature he’s had to be.
Themes
The heads make Bud feel as if he’s suffocating, so he finds some rags in the shed and covers the “fish heads that someone had nailed to the door so [he] couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see [him].” Afterwards, he considers where to sleep. He does not want to sleep on the floor for fear of the “bugs and roaches [that] were crawling around.”
Bud’s resourcefulness is on full display in this passage. He pushes through his fear to cover up the fish heads—what he originally conceived of as “monsters”—so at least he can think clearly without having to look at them. Moreover, Bud’s worries about sleeping on the floor show how much he thinks of self-preservation and depends on himself in a way he can’t depend on other adults in his life.
Themes
Bud thinks about what happened to his best friend, Bugs, at the Home after a cockroach crawled into his ear. Adults had only managed to use tweezers to pull the cockroach’s legs off, and after 15 minutes, Bugs had to be taken to the hospital. When he returned, Bud was the only one awake; Bugs told Bud that the roach was so loud that it had drowned out the sound of his own screams. Bugs insisted that the roach had screamed for his legs, not in a bug language, but in English. From that day on, he became known as Bugs.
Even though Bud is outside the Home, its shadow continues to follow him. He remembers Bugs fondly in this moment, grateful that his best friend taught him the dangers of insects crawling into one’s head. He also perhaps misses Bugs and having someone, anyone, to talk to.
Themes
Bud refuses to let a roach crawl into his ear and scream “his head off right against [Bud’s] eardrum,” and so he spreads his blanket so that he can lie flush against the window.
Bud—ever the planner—was smart enough to bring his blanket and uses it to ward off insects that may try to crawl into his ear.
Themes
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Eventually Bud begins to scratch some of the paper covering the window with his jackknife so that he can see outside. Peering outside, he sees the back of the Amoses’ house and a light on in the bedroom. The light keeps Bud calm enough to take a nap.
Bud also brought his jackknife with him to the shed, suggesting that it is one of those staples that never leave his side. He uses it to take off some of the newspapers covering the window of the shed and spy on the Amoses. He seems to derive calmness from knowing of the Amoses whereabouts, so he decides to nap.
Themes
When Bud wakes from his nap, he first notices that there is no longer a light on in the Amoses’ bedroom. Next, he notices a big vampire bat inside the shed. Scared and worried that the bat will wake up any minute, Bud tries to escape through the window, but it budges only an inch.
Bud wakes up from his nap, immediately aware of the fact that the Amoses have likely gone to bed. Before he has time to react to this, however, he sees what looks like a “vampire bat.” As quick on his feet as he is, Bud makes a daring attempt to escape through the window.
Themes
Next, Bud tries the door. He is able to turn the knob at first, which makes him believe that Mr. Amos is “trying to [help] him.” But his happiness is short lived as he realizes he can only open the door a little bit because the “padlock and chain on the outside kept it tight.”
Bud’s previous setback does not stop him from continuing to try and escape from danger. He is resilient, so he tries the door after he fails to open the window, though he is unsuccessful again. While he previously held out hope that Mr. Amos had only pretended to lock the door, it’s clear that Mr. Amos is just as cruel as the rest of the family. Trapped by “padlock and chain,” Bud is essentially the family’s prisoner.
Themes
Out of options, Bud finally picks up a rake and tries to hit the vampire bat, though “every part of [his] guts was shaking.” He remembers “rule 328” of his guide: “when you make up your mind to do something, Hurry up and do it, if you wait you might talk yourself out of what you wanted in the first place.”
Again, Bud shows his knack for thinking on his feet. His two previous escape attempts foiled, Bud uses the tools he has at his disposal to ward off the bat—pushing through his deep fear. Moreover, he shows how much he depends on his “rules” to guide him through hard and scary situations in the absence of an adult.
Themes
Bud takes out his silver knife in case he doesn’t kill the vampire right away, before using the rake to hit the bat. The rake cuts the bat in a half and Bud is surprised that the vampire didn’t scream out any words in pain.
Bud also hatches a backup plan in case his plan with the rake fails. Again, it shows his ability to plan ahead and adapt to scary situations that other kids would likely be unable to handle. Soon after, Bud’s adaptability helps him find his first success of the night, and he kills the “bat.”
Themes
Bud curiously begins to hear a sound reminiscent of a buzz saw right as he begins to feel a sting on his cheek. He realizes too late that the vampire bat was actually a hornet’s nest, with “six thousand hornets […] looking for [him].”
Of course, Bud’s success story is short lived as he realizes that the “bat” was really a hornet’s nest. Bud again faces more prospects of pain, making his time at the Amoses’ home even more miserable than before.
Themes
As the hornets continue to sting him, Bud tries to escape by “charging the door,” though all it does is make the rag he used to cover the fish’s heads fall. He tries again, this time charging it with a stance similar to that of Paul Robeson, but again he’s unsuccessful. He ends up getting cut by one of the fish head’s teeth.
The hornets hurt Bud with their stings, so Bud desperately continues to look for an out instead of giving up. With no adult to turn to, he draws on Paul Robeson—an African American musician, actor, athlete, and activist—for inspiration. Though Bud of course fails again to get the door to open—and is instead cut by the fish heads—it is still a moment that shows off Bud’s strength and courage.
Themes
Desperate, Bud tries the window again. He guesses his fear allows him to open the window that time; he tumbles out of it with three hornets who happened to be stinging him at the very same time.
At last, Bud makes an escape through the window, showing his profound ability to persevere through adversity.
Themes
The stings and the cut from the teeth stop hurting as much, though the pain is replaced by Bud’s anger. He is mad at the Amoses and at himself for getting trapped “when there wasn’t anybody who cared what happened to [him].”
Though he is especially mad at the Amoses, Bud blames himself for not looking out for himself more—knowing that he is the only one who cares about his well-being in the world. Bud’s pain, isolation, and loneliness bubble up to the novel’s surface as he admits to himself for the first time that he doesn’t trust anyone to care about him. He has to be his own caretaker—even though he still has so much growing up to do himself.
Themes
Bud considers how to get even with the Amoses and fantasizes about pulling the trigger of the double barrel shotgun. Eventually he sneaks up the back porch and into the house, plotting.
Bud’s anger even propels him to think violent thoughts about the Amoses, which perhaps speaks to the trauma he has faced in the hands of adults in the past. Given his thoughts about how no one cares about him, it seems that Bud’s revenge on the Amoses will be revenge against all the adults who have neglected him.
Themes
