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Chapter 8
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 eats at the mission and then heads to the library where he sees the librarian he met previously. He asks her for a pencil, paper, and the book “about how far one city is from another.”
After breakfast, Bud intends to find answers so, like before, he looks to the librarian for guidance.
Themes
The librarian tells Bud that she remembers how he and his mother used to come to the library together years ago. His mother would ask for “mysteries and fairy tales,” but he would ask for Civil War books.
The librarian’s revelation suggests that the library was a haven for both Bud and his mother. In fact, it is perhaps for this reason that Bud still continues to go to the library when he needs answers.
Themes
After the librarian gives Bud the supplies, she tells him that she has a surprise for him. The librarian is beaming, but Bud isn’t too excited about it.
Bud does not seem to trust the librarian’s surprise. His response reveals the wariness he reserves for adults.
Themes
Bud calculates that he’ll need to walk for 24 hours to get to Grand Rapids. He decides to do the “night part first” and writes down names of cities he’ll walk through on his way.
Bud uses the supplies the librarian gave him to calculate the distance he’ll have to travel to get to the city he believes his father resides. Bud’s resourcefulness gets him one step closer to finding his family.
Themes
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When Bud returns to the librarian, she gives him a huge book called The Pictorial History of the War Between the States, and while Bud isn’t excited about the history part, he notes that the gory pictures make it a “great book.”
The librarian’s surprise—while Bud isn’t too excited about it—does show Bud that some adult surprises aren’t all that bad.
Themes
Bud gets engrossed in the book and doesn’t feel time passing. The librarian tells him he can “start up again first thing tomorrow.” The librarian gives him a paper bag, and he return to his spot under the tree to eat the cheese sandwich that he finds in it. After, he begins his journey to Grand Rapids.
Because Bud loves learning and spending time in the library, time passes so quickly that he doesn’t realize the library is closing until the librarian tells him. The librarian also gives him a sandwich, further proving to Bud that he can have a pleasant interaction with an adult—as rare and brief as they may be.
Themes
Bud remembers the “seed” of his idea that Herman E Calloway was his father began with a boy named Billy Burns. Billy had challenged him and other boys to name their parents, hinting that they didn’t know them. Bud tried to prove him wrong by telling him that “my daddy plays a giant fiddle and his name is Herman E. Calloway.” The “seed” of that idea continued to grow into a “mighty maple” as he imagined his mother must have left the flyers as a “message” to him “about who [his] daddy was.”
While thinking about his trip to Grand Rapids, Bud realizes how successfully he had nursed and cultivated the “seed” of his idea that Herman E. Calloway was his father until it became a maple tree of its own that could stand without needing constant attention from Bud to give it life. Bud is proud of himself and his ability to flower ideas and read the clues he believes his mother left him.
Themes
Bud looks through more flyers from his suitcase, and he notes that two of them have the same picture of Herman E Calloway, while some just have drawings with names. After putting the flyers back, Bud exclaims that like Bugs, he “was going west!”
Bud studies the picture of Herman in an attempt to learn as much of his “father” as possible. It is as if the flyers of Herman contain pivotal information that will make and get Bud closer to him.
Themes
