Bud, Not Buddy: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Bud immediately deciphers the caseworker’s presence, suggesting that he has had experience both being “paddled” and either going through foster homes himself or watching other people get shifted from home to home. Neither option seems to generate any particularly positive emotions from him.

Echoing the novel’s title, Bud stops the caseworker from calling him anything other than Bud, a moment that reveals for the first time just how important his identity and name are to him.

As an orphan in the foster care system, Bud does not have a say in where his new home will be, when he must start living with his new family, or a sense of who the people are. This profound lack of agency begins to suggest that Bud is expendable within the system.

Bud is pressured to be overjoyed by the revelation that he is fortunate enough to have new home at a time when the Great Depression is making life miserable for many people in the country. The caseworker seems to be reminding the boys that not only are they expendable, but that they are also essentially charity cases for their foster families. This message further promotes feelings of insecurity and unworthiness for the boys, making them feel like they are not allowed to express themselves in any way other than joy during a really difficult and lonely experience.

Bud suggests that though he’s gotten the hang of being shuttled from place to place, it still affects him in surprising ways. His lack of tears may be an attempt at adapting to his volatile life, but he may also be numb to the experience of being in the foster care system.  But just because he’s stopped crying does not mean that he is incapable of feeling sad and isolated.

Bud functions as a parental figure for Jerry in this moment, in the absence of a guardian or counselor at the Home to prepare them for their new temporary homes. Bud appears to be comfortable with this parental role, though he does reveal that his fears for himself about living with an older boy.

Bud’s care for Jerry continues as Bud reflects on his time as a six-year-old like Jerry. He suggests that he grew up in that year, more than he ever could as a teenager. Moreover, Bud reveals that this growth stemmed from the interactions he had with adults, who were impatient with him and his age.

Bud also reflects on how scary and disorienting everything was when he was six—even his own body wasn’t impervious to change. To make matters worse, that disorientation was sharpened by losing his mother—who, given the fact that he’s now in the foster care system, was likely his primary guardian and caretaker—and being sent to an orphanage called the Home, a place that is only a “home,” in name.

Bud’s first quiet moment with his suitcase is marked by his anxiety that everything in it might not be inside. The moment shows just how dear the suitcase and its belongings are to him. It also shows that he views the Home skeptically and doesn’t quite trust everyone in it not to steal.

Bud’s anxiety about the security of his suitcase’s contents means that his few belongings—like these seemingly random flyers—are precious to him. “S.R.O.” is an acronym for “standing room only,” suggesting that these flyers are advertising a band’s show. The reference to “Devastators of the Depression” also reinforce that this book is set during the Great Depression.

In holding on to these flyers, it seems that Bud hopes they provide a clue to tracking down his father and having a real family again. Bud carries this hope with him in his suitcase so that it is always with him regardless of where he is and whose temporary care he is in.

Bud speculates on his father’s temperament, which makes his dreams of having a father feel more concrete.

Bud’s flyers also appear to be closely tied with his last few memories of his mother—both right before she died and right after. Thus, the flyers appear to be even more symbolic to Bud as they are literally one of the last things she touched that meant something to her. It’s possible that Bud thinks uncovering the “secret” of the flyers will bring them even closer together.

Bud and Jerry share a moment of comradery as they await their uncertain future. The image of their shoulders touching suggests that they are a united front—it’s them versus the adult world of the foster care system.