Characters
Major Characters:
Bud Caldwell
Bud is the absolute soul of the novel. He is a little ten-year old African-American orphan boy who has seen and suffered through a great deal in his short ten years, but who is definitely a survivor. His determination to find his father and his ability to use his survival skills to do so make him a heroic character for the reader. Bud is our protagonist.
Mr. Herman E. Calloway
He is the band leader of a Depression Era Negro Band whom Bud believes is his father. He turns out to be a rather cranky old man who doesn’t trust Bud and acts mean to nearly everyone. He is actually a very sad man who yearns for the daughter he drove away with his need for her to be what he wanted her to be. Herman is one of our antagonists.
Angela Janet Caldwell
Although she has died before the story begins, her character is a very real presence for most of the other characters in the story. The lessons she taught Bud and his memories of her pervade the ideas of the plot and she seems as real as if she were interacting with the characters in the story.
Todd Amos and his parents
This is the foster family from whom Bud runs away after he is abused. They are typical of some foster families who would take in children just for the money the state would pay. They often mistreated them or at best, just ignored them. In this case, Todd is a terrible bully and his parents deny his behavior is anything other than that of a victim. As a result, Bud is punished for having been beaten up by the older boy. This is the catalyst that sets him on his journey to find his father.
Deza Malone
She is a young girl who teaches Bud how to do dishes in the cardboard jungle known as Hooverville. She gives him very wise advice about how to remember his mother and even gives him his first kiss, telling him she’ll see him seven years just like the characters in the song “Shenandoah.”
Lefty Lewis
This is the very kind black man who picks Bud up along the road to Grand Rapids. He takes him to his daughter’s home where he is fed and given clean clothes. He is a kind of courier who brings blood needed at hospitals and sneaks in union flyers to illegal organizations. He shows Bud basic kindness and compassion, two emotions he has felt little of in his life.
"The Band"
Miss Grace Thomas
She is the “vocal stylist” of Herman Calloway’s band. She knew and loved Bud’s mother and even before she knows Bud’s relationship to Mr. Calloway, she offers him a motherly love and comfort. Bud thinks she is very beautiful and the music that comes out of her mouth is something so special that he is dazed by it. She believes that Bud is a godsend.
Steady Eddie, The Thug, Dirty Deed, Doo-Doo Bug and Mr. Jimmy
These are the band members who tease Bud unmercifully, but also show him how to be a good and loving person. They buy him his own saxophone and give him a name in a secret ceremony that makes him one of them.
Minor Characters:
Bugs
He is one of the boys at the Home who was nicknamed Bugs, because he got a cockroach stuck in his ear. He claimed that he could hear the cockroach screaming as they pulled its legs off with the tweezers. He finds Bud and after swearing to be brothers, the two decide to ride the rails to Chicago. Unfortunately, fate intervenes and Bud is unable to get on the train and he loses track of Bugs.
Mrs. Sleet, Scott, and Kim
These are Lefty Lewis’ daughter and her children. She gives Bud a place to sleep and food to eat and shows him what a real family can be like.
Miss Hill
She was a librarian at the Flint Public Library BudNotBuddy01BudNotBuddy01who had befriended Bud when his mother was still alive. When he runs away, he thinks of her first as someone who can help him. Unfortunately, she has gotten married and moved to Chicago.
The man with the mouth organ
He is the first one Bud speaks to in Hooverville. He gives him information about what draws people to this little cardboard jungle and when the train will leave the next day.
Jerry Clark
He is the little boy who is being taken to a new foster home the same day Bud is being taken to the Amos home. He is only six and very afraid, but Bud, in spite of his own nervousness, takes the time to comfort the boy and explain why he will be going to good place. Jerry reminds Bud of himself when he was six and his mother died. Bud's Mother - was a nice lady who died when Bud was six.
Bud Caldwell
Bud is the absolute soul of the novel. He is a little ten-year old African-American orphan boy who has seen and suffered through a great deal in his short ten years, but who is definitely a survivor. His determination to find his father and his ability to use his survival skills to do so make him a heroic character for the reader. Bud is our protagonist.
Mr. Herman E. Calloway
He is the band leader of a Depression Era Negro Band whom Bud believes is his father. He turns out to be a rather cranky old man who doesn’t trust Bud and acts mean to nearly everyone. He is actually a very sad man who yearns for the daughter he drove away with his need for her to be what he wanted her to be. Herman is one of our antagonists.
Angela Janet Caldwell
Although she has died before the story begins, her character is a very real presence for most of the other characters in the story. The lessons she taught Bud and his memories of her pervade the ideas of the plot and she seems as real as if she were interacting with the characters in the story.
Todd Amos and his parents
This is the foster family from whom Bud runs away after he is abused. They are typical of some foster families who would take in children just for the money the state would pay. They often mistreated them or at best, just ignored them. In this case, Todd is a terrible bully and his parents deny his behavior is anything other than that of a victim. As a result, Bud is punished for having been beaten up by the older boy. This is the catalyst that sets him on his journey to find his father.
Deza Malone
She is a young girl who teaches Bud how to do dishes in the cardboard jungle known as Hooverville. She gives him very wise advice about how to remember his mother and even gives him his first kiss, telling him she’ll see him seven years just like the characters in the song “Shenandoah.”
Lefty Lewis
This is the very kind black man who picks Bud up along the road to Grand Rapids. He takes him to his daughter’s home where he is fed and given clean clothes. He is a kind of courier who brings blood needed at hospitals and sneaks in union flyers to illegal organizations. He shows Bud basic kindness and compassion, two emotions he has felt little of in his life.
"The Band"
Miss Grace Thomas
She is the “vocal stylist” of Herman Calloway’s band. She knew and loved Bud’s mother and even before she knows Bud’s relationship to Mr. Calloway, she offers him a motherly love and comfort. Bud thinks she is very beautiful and the music that comes out of her mouth is something so special that he is dazed by it. She believes that Bud is a godsend.
Steady Eddie, The Thug, Dirty Deed, Doo-Doo Bug and Mr. Jimmy
These are the band members who tease Bud unmercifully, but also show him how to be a good and loving person. They buy him his own saxophone and give him a name in a secret ceremony that makes him one of them.
Minor Characters:
Bugs
He is one of the boys at the Home who was nicknamed Bugs, because he got a cockroach stuck in his ear. He claimed that he could hear the cockroach screaming as they pulled its legs off with the tweezers. He finds Bud and after swearing to be brothers, the two decide to ride the rails to Chicago. Unfortunately, fate intervenes and Bud is unable to get on the train and he loses track of Bugs.
Mrs. Sleet, Scott, and Kim
These are Lefty Lewis’ daughter and her children. She gives Bud a place to sleep and food to eat and shows him what a real family can be like.
Miss Hill
She was a librarian at the Flint Public Library BudNotBuddy01BudNotBuddy01who had befriended Bud when his mother was still alive. When he runs away, he thinks of her first as someone who can help him. Unfortunately, she has gotten married and moved to Chicago.
The man with the mouth organ
He is the first one Bud speaks to in Hooverville. He gives him information about what draws people to this little cardboard jungle and when the train will leave the next day.
Jerry Clark
He is the little boy who is being taken to a new foster home the same day Bud is being taken to the Amos home. He is only six and very afraid, but Bud, in spite of his own nervousness, takes the time to comfort the boy and explain why he will be going to good place. Jerry reminds Bud of himself when he was six and his mother died. Bud's Mother - was a nice lady who died when Bud was six.
Setting
Bud, Not Buddy takes place in Flint and Grand Rapids, Michigan in the 1930’s during the Great Depression.
Plot
A young boy named Bud (not Buddy!) Caldwell, who has been an orphan since he was six, runs away after being abused in a foster home. He sets out to find his father, a man named Herman E. Calloway, a bandleader in Michigan during the Depression. He has many adventures along the way and learns many lessons he can take with him in his life.
Conflicts
Man vs. Man- Bud’s meeting with Mr. Lewis
Man vs. Self- Bud’s feeling for Herman E. Calloway
Man vs. Society- Treatment of families in Hoovervilles.
Man vs. Nature- Bud being attacked by hornets.
Man vs. Fate- Bud lines up in the food line and is reunited with his pretend family.
Man vs. Self- Bud’s feeling for Herman E. Calloway
Man vs. Society- Treatment of families in Hoovervilles.
Man vs. Nature- Bud being attacked by hornets.
Man vs. Fate- Bud lines up in the food line and is reunited with his pretend family.
Point of View
The story is told by Bud's point of view. It is considered 1st person because he uses the pronouns, "I', "me", and "my".
Themes
When God closes one door, he always opens another
The first and most important theme is when God closes one door, he always opens another. Bud learns this every time something eventful happens in his life and is followed by another path that leads him to what seems to be his destiny.
Fate or Destiny
Another theme involves the idea of fate or destiny. All the way through the story events occur that keep Bud walking a continual path to Herman Calloway. For example, instead of being to ride the rails with Bugs, he can’t run fast enough to jump on a boxcar. This turns out to be good, because Mr. Calloway is in Grand Rapids not Chicago.
People Helping People
A third theme involves the idea of people helping people. In spite of abusive people like the Amoses, there are many examples in the story of people banding together to help each other survive the Depression. It leaves the reader with a sense of hope for what Bud called “human beans.”
The Impact of Segregation
A final theme is more subtle, but nonetheless important: the impact of segregation. Blacks like Bud were treated as second-class citizens during this time period. They couldn’t own land or enter into contracts and the Depression was even harder on them. However, out of this comes the sense that many African-Americans became stronger for it.
The first and most important theme is when God closes one door, he always opens another. Bud learns this every time something eventful happens in his life and is followed by another path that leads him to what seems to be his destiny.
Fate or Destiny
Another theme involves the idea of fate or destiny. All the way through the story events occur that keep Bud walking a continual path to Herman Calloway. For example, instead of being to ride the rails with Bugs, he can’t run fast enough to jump on a boxcar. This turns out to be good, because Mr. Calloway is in Grand Rapids not Chicago.
People Helping People
A third theme involves the idea of people helping people. In spite of abusive people like the Amoses, there are many examples in the story of people banding together to help each other survive the Depression. It leaves the reader with a sense of hope for what Bud called “human beans.”
The Impact of Segregation
A final theme is more subtle, but nonetheless important: the impact of segregation. Blacks like Bud were treated as second-class citizens during this time period. They couldn’t own land or enter into contracts and the Depression was even harder on them. However, out of this comes the sense that many African-Americans became stronger for it.