Resourcefulness Theme Analysis

Bud, Not Buddy is the story of a 10-year-old African American boy named Bud Caldwell, who as the title suggests, insists on being called Bud instead of Buddy. Though an orphan on the run from Flint to Grand Rapids, Bud has a strong sense of identity and a keen understanding of what he wants in life, which helps him overcome the biggest and most challenging of obstacles. Bud hatches numerous plans throughout the narrative, some small, others big, all in a quest to outrun situations that don’t suit him. His age never seems to hamper his resourcefulness; with the poise of someone much older, Bud’s penchant for planning for contingencies oftentimes takes him far. For example, when the toxic environment of the Amoses’ household drives him to run away and he has to spend the night under a Christmas tree, he sagely states that “most folks don’t have sense enough to carry a blanket around with them, but you never know when you might be sleeping under a Christmas tree at the library so I always keep mine handy.” This exemplifies Bud’s typical responses to the most trying situations: to have a blanket, or a plan of escape. This knack for being resourceful is what leads Bud to escape the Amoses’ shed and how to figure out how to get to Grand Rapids without a driver’s license or a guardian. All in all, Bud’s resourcefulness is what ensures his resilience, what helps him survive life on the run, and what allows him to stay true to himself and chase down what he wants in life.

Bud’s escape from the Amoses’ shed is just one example of his ability to use his limited resources to change an outcome for the better. In escaping the shed, Bud simultaneously rejects the Amoses’ attempt to reinvent him as an expendable, unwanted orphan. After being unfairly locked in a dark shed by Mr. Amos, Bud must battle fish heads that guard the door, vampire bats, and a hornet’s nest, things scary enough for “a normal kid [to] […] have busted out crying.” Instead, these obstacles make Bud all the more determined to break out. At one point during the night, Bud, instead of cowering in fear when he sees a vampire bat, tries to use a rake to kill the bat. He doesn’t stop there, however. Bud also takes his “jackknife out of [his] pocket and [pulls] the blade open [so] if [he] didn’t kill him with the rake and it came down to the two of [them] tussling on the floor maybe a silver blade in his heart would be just as good as a silver bullet.” This way of thinking shows Bud’s ability to be quick on his feet in challenging situations that call for sudden action and strategy. His ability to be resourceful is what gives him the courage to use his intuition and skills to attempt to kill the bat and later escape a horde of hornets by breaking through a window. It is no surprise, then, that the adrenaline from the breakout leaves Bud with the determination to never again relive a scenario like the one he is escaping from. He chooses life on the run as a way of exerting control over himself and his life in rejection of the box (or shed) that the world, the Home, and his foster parents have put him in as their ward.

Bud’s resourcefulness is again on full display when he figures out how to get from Flint to Grand Rapids to find the man he thinks is his father. His plan to get to Grand Rapids, like his decision to run away, shows his determination to further distance himself from who he is in Flint—Bud, the orphan—and reinvent himself as simply Bud. With nothing but an estimate of the distance and the length of time it would take him to walk from Flint to Grand Rapids, Bud hatches a plan. He notes that “it would be easiest to do the night part first, […] to stick around the library until it got dark, then head for Grand Rapids.” Afterwards, he shows off his ability to be thorough in his planning and begins to write “down all the names of all the cities [he’d] have to pass through to get there.” Bud’s ability to put his plan into motion with detailed care and foresight shows the extent to which he is unsatisfied with the lack of opportunities Flint offers him to live outside the clutches of an abusive foster parents and foster care system.

Ultimately, Bud’s plan to make it to Grand Rapids becomes his saving grace, a way for him to both assert his right to a life free of abuse and a way for him to show the world who Bud is without the “orphan” attached to it. As Bud cleverly makes it out of the shed, out of the grasp of Mrs. Amos and Mr. Amos, and out of Flint, his resourcefulness becomes his ticket to a world of more opportunities.