Bud, Not Buddy

Throughout the novel, readers can find evidence of the theme of growing up, specifically regarding the gaining wisdom in advance of one’s years. This is seen mostly with Bud’s character but also with Bugs and Deza. Because of the economic and social impacts of the Great Depression, each of these characters is forced to mature early. Because they cannot benefit from a traditionally stable and loving home environment with family to shelter and provide for them, they each feel the need to tend to basic necessities for themselves. These experiences grant each character a share of precocious wisdom that is incomplete and tempered with a child’s innocence.

Bud thinks of himself as quite mature and “almost grown” (43). It is not a coincidence that he believes age six marks a person’s coming-of-age: “Most folks think you start to be a real adult when you’re fifteen or sixteen years old, but that’s not true, it really starts when you’re around six” (4). Bud discusses how losing teeth at this age and adults “giving you slugs that’ll knock you right down” (4) make one grow up quickly, but readers also know that six is the age Bud lost his mother. Learning and surviving the orphanage and foster care system imparts to Bud a harsh wisdom that he shares with Jerry: “I know being in a house with three girls sounds terrible, Jerry, but it’s a lot better than being with a boy who’s a couple of years older than you” (3). From experience and intuition, Bud knows Todd Amos is going to be trouble. Bud’s “Rules and Things” throughout the story also demonstrate his ironic blend of wisdom and innocence; his words are generally always true, but the diction and phrasing depict a young boy trying to comprehend the often paradoxical truths of the world: “Rules and Things Number 39: The Older You Get, the Worse Something Has to Be to Make You Cry” (219).

Bugs is precocious in a different way, having train hopped and travelled in a way that Bud has not. While the reader cannot be certain the level of experience Bugs really has, he seems to know the basics: there is work picking fruit out west, how many trains you hop determines how long it takes to get to a place, and it’s easier to board a slow or sitting train rather than one moving quickly (which serves as foreshadowing for the moment Bugs manages to board the train to Chicago and Bud does not). Bugs saw his share of Hoovervilles in his travels, though he did not recognize Flint’s Hooverville by that name: “Shoot, this ain’t no city, this is just another cardboard jungle” (65).

Finally, though she is described as a “little girl,” Deza Malone offers kind and wise words to Bud regarding his dead mother and missing father: “I guess you sort of carry your family around inside of you, huh?” (73). She also says she can tell by looking at Bud’s thinness that he’s been in the orphanage, and from his kindness that he does not know much about hopping trains. Here, her knowledge and wisdom stem from her experience in Hooverville and her father, who will be “trying again” to find work by leaving his family to go west. Her wisdom juxtaposes against Bud’s lack of knowledge and reminds readers that Bud must rely on others’ help and advice.