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 enters the Amoses’ house through an unlocked kitchen window. He finds his suitcase is still under the kitchen table, picks it up, and goes to see if the shotgun is still where he last saw it.
Once in the Amoses’ house, Bud decides to get his suitcase first before anything else, emphasizing how precious its contents are to him.
Themes
Thinking ahead, Bud then places his suitcase on the first step of the porch so he “[can] make a quick getaway after [he’s] through paying these Amoses back.”
Bud’s suitcase is so important to him that he makes sure it gets out of the house safely before he does.
Themes
Bud believes the Amoses are going to deserve “what they were going to get.” Moreover, he believes it is his job to stop Todd from “torturing the kids […] who didn’t know where their mothers and fathers were.”
Bud is intent on getting even with the Amoses not only to avenge himself but to avenge the kids who came before him and will come after him. His empathy and concern for these other kids highlights how he’s had to become a parental figure of sorts, looking out for himself and those who can’t protect themselves.
Themes
Bud picks up the shotgun and tries it on for size. He imagines shooting animals with it, and then fantasizes about “creeping” up to a sleeping Todd’s bed and putting the shotgun “right in his nose.” Bud knows he would have to quickly get the adult Amoses after that because “the shotgun going off in Todd’s room would give them a clue that something was going on.”
Bud’s anger draws him to the shotgun. He fantasizes about beating the Amoses at their own game, as his thoughts of putting a shotgun in Todd’s nose violently mirror Todd’s earlier act of shoving a pencil up the sleeping Bud’s nose. He even makes preliminary plans about what he would do if the shotgun going off in Todd Amoses’ room woke the adults up, suggesting how serious he is about getting revenge.
Themes
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Bud reveals that guns were “just too dangerous to play with” and that the first part of his revenge would be to “get the gun out of the way,” so if the Amoses woke up, they wouldn’t be able to rush and get the gun. Bud fears that “they’d shoot him in a flash and tell the Home it was an accident.” So, Bud hides the gun in a corner on the back porch.
Profoundly mature for his age, Bud is able to step away from the temptation of making a cruel and violent mistake and even sounds like an adult when he reasons that guns are “too dangerous to play with.” He does, however, have the foresight to hide the gun to make sure the Amoses don’t find an excuse to kill him by “accident,” knowing that such a thing might not be beyond them.
Themes
Bud finds a jar and turns on the tap water. He is surprised the Amoses have hot water running in their house. He fills the jar with warm water and goes to Todd’s room. He tests the water’s temperature, remarks that it’s the “perfect temperature.”
Bud is in awe of the Amoses’ indoor hot water, suggesting that he doesn’t get to enjoy such a luxury at the Home, and especially not in the midst of the Great Depression.
Themes
Even though someone at the Home had told Bud that dipping a sleeping person’s hand in warm water would make the wet bed, Bud’s attempt to dip Todd’s hands in the water and make him wet the bed are unsuccessful. Eventually, Bud decides to just pour the jar’s contents on Todd’s pajama pants. As Bud pours, Todd twitches and then smiles in his sleep, right before wetting the bed.
As toxic and isolating as the Home can be, it is also the site of many of Bud’s life lessons—like this all-important one about how to make someone wet the bed. True to character, Bud doesn’t give up when his plot doesn’t go quite as planned—he realizes that pouring the warm water on Todd’s pants might be even more effective, if nontraditional, and lo and behold, it works.
Themes
Bud tiptoes out of the room and out of the house and has a good laugh. He grabs his suitcase and begins walking towards the street, just as he realizes he is on the run and in “serious hot water.”
Bud’s earlier anger is replaced with joy at seeing his plans through and getting even. Moreover, his feelings of happiness are heightened as he’s reunited with his suitcase. With it, he feels complete and at home—though trouble clearly awaits him.
Themes
