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 wakes up and sees the sun peeking through a Christmas tree. He jumps up and runs “six or seven blocks down to the mission.” He notices the line is long and tries to get behind the last person but is stopped by a man who tells him the line is closed.
The long line at the mission is another reminder that the book is set during the Great Depression and that these are hard times for everyone.
Themes
Bud tries to protest, but the man tells him that rules are rules. Everyone else has been waiting in line for the past two hours, so it’s not fair that Bud gets to sleep in and slip into the line. Just because Bud is “skinny and raggedy,” the man adds, doesn’t mean he can get special treatment. He reminds Bud to get in line for dinner at 4 p.m.—dinner is served at 6 p.m.—and threatens him with a “heavy black strap,” forcing Bud to back away.
The man seems to be some sort of mission security guard, given the strap that he carries. He is strict, domineering, and unfeeling, which seems representative of the adults who have been tasked with taking care of Bud since his mother’s passing. The man doesn’t care that Bud is “skinny and raggedy,” nor does he worry about the fact that Bud is all alone—instead, he treats Bud like a lazy, good-for-nothing kid who intentionally slept in, which readers know isn’t the case.
Themes
Bud takes two steps back before another man puts his hand around Bud’s neck from behind. Startled, Bud looks behind him and sees a “tall, square-shaped man in old blue overalls.” The man begins referring to Bud as Clarence and shakes his head at Bud when Bud tries to deny his name is Clarence. He motions for Bud to join his “momma” in line and Bud sees a woman, “pointing her finger at her feet” next to two children. Bud walks towards her and the children, and the woman slaps him when he gets there.
Luckily, a stranger comes to Bud’s rescue by making it seem as if Bud is his son. Unaccustomed to having other people looking out for him—and generally skeptical of adults—Bud at first does not understand what is going on. However, the man continues to insist that Bud is part of the family—unwilling to see Bud leave without food. He even makes Bud join the rest of the “family” in line, inducting Bud into his family in the process so that Bud belongs with them at least temporarily.
Themes
Bud tries to thank the strangers for saving him, but his “pretend parents” hit him whenever he tries to say something out of character. He waits in line with his pretend parents for a “long, long time,” and remarks that everyone in line was “very quiet.” Finally, as they near the end of the line, people start “laughing and talking,” mostly about the sign on the building. The sign shows a rich, smiling white family in a fancy car with a sign that reads, “THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE AMERICA TODAY!”
Bud begins to think of these kindly strangers as his “pretend parents,” which shows that he is willing to play into the fantasy of having a real family. The picture of the smiling white family seems to be mocking all those in line by singing praises about America at a time marked by economic struggle. Race is a subtle undercurrent in the novel, and the fact that the family on the sign is white—and that they appear both rich and optimistic about life in their country—speaks to the profound racial inequality in the United States during this time, as white people were able to enjoy countless privileges and opportunities that black people had no way to access. This book is set during the Great Depression, and segregation didn’t end in the U.S. for nearly 20 years after that.
Themes
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Bud enters the mission with his pretend parents. They say thank you a lot as they are served oatmeal, two pieces of bread, and a glass of milk. As they walk through the breakfast line, they are reminded to read the signs on the walls. The signs remind them to eat quickly and quietly and to be considerate.
Bud, flanked by his pretend parents, enjoys a hearty breakfast. Even though these people are strangers whom Bud met by chance, they are taking far better care of him than most of the adults in the novel who are legally tasked with caring for Bud.
Themes
Bud and his pretend family get to the table and sit next to a group of strangers. Bud’s pretend momma asks her children if they mind sharing some of their brown sugar with “Clarence,” and though Bud’s pretend siblings pout, the woman pours a third of the sugar into Bud’s oatmeal. Bud thanks her and calls her momma, which makes his pretend parents laugh. They congratulate him for “catch[ing] on.”
Unlike an intimate meal with a real family, Bud eats surrounded by strangers. However, Bud experiences more warmth and love in the care of these strangers than he did in the care of his many foster families or the Home . Bud is grateful to his pretend parents for sharing what little luxuries, like sugar, that they have with him, an outsider. This passage highlights how economic hardship has the power to bring people together and create solidarity, as Bud's pretend parents treat him with kindness and tease him as if he truly were part of their family.
Themes
The pretend parents tell Bud they only come in the mornings and remind him to get there early for dinner. One their way out, one of Bud’s pretend siblings sticks his tongue out at Bud, but he doesn’t blame them for not wanting to share their parents.
Eventually Bud and his pretend family part ways, and though Bud puts on a brave face, he appears a little wistful for their presence. Like the pretend parents’ son, he would never want to share his parents either—if he had them.
Themes
