Children vs. Adults Theme Analysis

Bud, Not Buddy follows the perspective of 10-year-old Bud Caldwell as he navigates the world of adults armed only with his suitcase and list of rules he created himself. As an orphan on the run, Bud appears to have a tense relationship with adults, whom he frequently views skeptically. Oftentimes he relies on his rules, “Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things to Have a Funner Life and Make a Better Liar Out of Yourself,” to outsmart adults, to find out more information about them than they would otherwise be willing to share, and to build a database of solutions for the problems adults throw at him. These rules operate as Bud’s guardian, in absence of a true parental figure, and give him advice on the best course of action to take when interacting with an adult. Bud even at one point refers to himself as “just about a man,” or on the cusp of manhood, suggesting that his knowledge of the adult world puts him on the same footing as adults despite his age. Curtis suggests that Bud’s innocent and nascent curiosity and understanding of the world of “grown folks” is what he uses to fill the hole left by his mother. By raising himself with his own rules and using those guiding principles to stand up to adults and hold his own, Bud attempts to prove to himself and others that he can raise himself better than any living adult can. Thus, Curtis suggests that Bud’s rules are a defense mechanism, a way of feeling his mother’s absence less while dealing with his constantly changing circumstances.

Bud’s ability to use his rules to navigate the adult world is on full display when he outsmarts the Amoses and ensures that they’ll “punish” him by sending him back to the Home, which is what he secretly wants. With a clever appeal to reverse psychology, Bud responds to their threats to send him back to the Home by begging them to “give [him] another chance […] [to] do a whole lot better,” despite the fact that “going back to the Home was just what [he] wanted to do.” While on the surface it looks like the Amoses are the ones making the decision, it is really Bud calling the shots from behind the scenes by manipulating the Amoses, as if he is the adult in the encounter. He uses “rule 118” to remind himself that “you have to give adults something that they think they can use to hurt you by taking it away. That way they might not take something away that you really do want.” Thus, he dangles getting sent back to the Home under the Amoses’ nose to ensure that that is exactly what they’ll do to punish him. Here, Bud fully takes on the role of the adult. As a child would turn to a guardian, Bud consults himself and his rules to impart wisdom and to respond to the challenges he faces in the Amoses’ household by applying old rules to new situations.

Bud’s ability to adapt his rules for unpredictable situations comes in handy once again when he falls asleep in Lefty Lewis’s care on their way to Grand Rapids. Rather than panic when he wakes up and doesn’t remember where he is, Bud once again turns to his rules to figure out how to use the situation to his advantage, get information from the adults, and decide the best course of action for himself. Bud wakes up to woman’s voice, but instead of opening his eyes, he pretends that he is asleep. As he pretends, he remembers “rule 29”: “When you wake up and don’t know for sure where you’re at and there’s a bunch of people standing around you, it’s best to pretend you’re still asleep until you can figure out what’s going on and what you should do.” Again, Bud’s rules are oriented towards what he should do in the situation as if he is the one with the deciding power. He treats the adults in the room as if they are a merely a means to an end instead of the ones with the true power. In this way he subtly inverts the child/adult relationship and becomes the authority figure in the room, leaving the true adults who are present, Lefty Lewis and Mrs. Sleet, to sit on the sidelines while he decides for himself what is best. Bud’s decision to stay quiet and listen is the reason he is able to find out that Herman E. Calloway was married once before and that Bud may have a sister. Without his mother to impart this information to Bud about his family history, Bud is left with his experiences and his rules to fend for himself, find out the information he needs to survive, and to make the decision to leave Flint for Grand Rapids.

Having been forced to grow up beyond his years in the foster care system, Bud learns how to parent himself better than any adult. As many of the adults in his life have treated him unfairly—particularly the Amoses and former foster parents—becoming the adult in the room becomes a matter of survival. Curtis suggests that if Bud were to relegate jurisdiction over himself to the adults in the room, he would be doomed. For that reason, Bud must hold his own.