Herman E. Calloway Character Analysis

Herman E. Calloway is the grandfather of Bud Caldwell and the estranged father of Bud’s mother, Angela Janet Caldwell. Herman is the band leader of the Dusky Devastators of the Depression/Nubian Knights. He has a volatile relationship with most people in the story, especially his late daughter and long-lost grandson. Herman is often set in his ways and does not want to entertain any opinions that go against him. Most notably, he takes Bud’s insistence that he is Herman’s son as a challenge and vows to find out the truth. While everyone else gives a measured response to Bud’s sudden appearance that later turns into acceptance, Herman continually rejects Bud and often treats his presence as an inconvenience at best and a nuisance at worst. He is also a perfectionist and demands the absolute best from everyone around him, including his band and his family. Nevertheless, Herman is a deeply sensitive man and truly cares about the people in his life. His grumpy, closed-off demeanor begins to unravel towards the end of the novel when Bud reveals to him that his daughter—Bud’s mother—is dead, and that Bud is the man’s grandson. It is a sobering moment for Herman who realizes that he was much too hard on his daughter during her life, and that he has made the mistake of pushing the people closest to him away by pushing them too hard. In the end when he apologizes to Bud, it is a sign that he is beginning to change and accept the things and people he can’t control.