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Chapter 1: Champagne Billy
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Simple Gift, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Riches and Poverty
Redemption
Love and Family
Rules and Freedom
Summary
Analysis
Bendarat. Dawn breaks, foggy and cold. Billy packs his bag, warms his hands over the guard car’s heater, and waits for Ernie’s signal. Billy is miles from home, miles from school, and in another state. He steps down, waves at the departing train, and walks slowly into town.
At the beginning of the novel, Billy’s overwhelming desire was to escape his terrible home life and downtrodden hometown. As he arrives in Bendarat, he’s ready to begin life on his own terms.
Themes
Tonight, and the night after. As Billy walks into town, he encounters cars and school busses full of children. The kids yell out the bus windows, calling Billy a bum—but he’d rather be a bum than a school kid. The town looks desperate—there’s a “Sale” sign in almost every shop window. And with only fifty dollars to live on, Billy knows he is desperate, too. But he isn’t worried yet. The sun is shining, and Bendarat has a beautiful library. Today, Billy will spend the day reading about people who don’t need money and who have a place to sleep tonight and the night after.
The school busses that Billy passes represent the life he’s abandoned with few (if any) regrets. Even the pejorative labels, like “bum,” that passersby put on him don’t bother Billy. He might not have a home or much money, but he would prefer to be in charge of his own life to living in a house or attending a school where the people who should care for him fail to do so. Billy finds more value in freedom than in material goods.
Themes
Lord of the lounge. Billy appreciates the library, which has soft, comfortable chairs and dozens of books to pick from. He chooses one about a bunch of kids stranded on a deserted island. Some try to live “right” while others “go feral.” Billy tries to decide which side he’d be on. But then he realizes that he would go off alone. He doesn’t trust the rule-makers or the rule-breakers.
In the library, Billy reads Lord of the Flies. This book argues that, left to their own devices, most children—and by extension, most people—will turn feral, behaving more like wild beasts than civilized people. Billy’s story directly contradicts this assertion; his life as a runaway is less violent and destructive than his previous, “normal” life. This scene in the library is a key moment in the book, because Billy articulates his idea of freedom. The rule-breakers (like his dad) harmed him directly. But the rule-makers (represented by the teachers at his old school before and represented later in the novel by the police and welfare officers) equally fail to protect him. Billy doesn’t trust either group, and instead, he’ll later decide to find his own way outside of the rules.
Themes
The librarian. Irene Thompson, the chief librarian, interrupts Billy’s reading to ask if he wants to check out the book. Billy says he wants to be left alone to finish it. The library closes in 10 minutes for lunch, but Irene tells him he’s welcome to come back at 2pm to finish. She likes the book he chose and wants to make sure he can finish it. She’s nicer than the librarian in Billy’s hometown, who hated it when anyone touched the books.
On his own, in his new life, Billy seems to find worthwhile people easily. The kindness with which Ernie and Irene Thompson treat him suggest that he’s made the right choice in leaving his old life behind. Comparing her to his old town’s librarian continues Billy’s critique of those rule-makers who should have protected him from abuse and pain. Still, this conversation reminds Billy (and readers) of his precarious situation. He can pass the day in the shelter and comfort of the library, but he has nowhere to go when the library closes.
Themes
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Lunch. Poor and homeless, Billy still isn’t stupid. At lunch, he goes to the grocery store, where he buys a tomato, some rolls, and cheese. He’ll get a few meals out of this haul. He sits in Bendarat Gardens to eat, where he tosses a few crumbs to the pigeons and watches a young couple kissing on a picnic blanket. He wants to applaud their performance, but he doesn’t. After all, he isn’t stupid.
By using his money carefully and by focusing on how to get what he needs for cheap or for free, Billy shows that he has street smarts as well as intelligence. His desire to applaud the romantically entangled couple suggests an initial bitterness over their intimacy—Billy doesn’t seem to have had any intimate or loving relationships in his life yet.
Themes
The Motel Bendarat. In the late afternoon, Billy finishes his book and says goodbye to Irene. He walks outside into a fine drizzle. He won’t be able to sleep in the park in this weather, so he considers his options. Churches are too cold and spooky, so he decides on the train station. At the train station, he watches tired businessmen in suits waiting for the bus. Across from the platform, past the Freight Yard, Billy finds old, abandoned freight train cars. He tries the doors until he finds one that opens. It’s warm and dry inside, and there’s a long, comfortable bench that he can sleep on. Carriage 1864, painted red and yellow, will be Billy’s Motel Bendarat.
Earlier, the stopped freight train offered Billy his chance to get out of his dead-end life; now the train cars again offer him the help he needs as he begins his new life. By naming his carriage “Motel Bendarat,” Billy declares his intent that his itinerant life as an unhoused runaway will be temporary. He has his sights on a better life, but he needs the time and the space to figure out how to make it for himself. He has a sense of purpose in his life, even if he isn’t sure where he’s going yet.
Themes
Night. Billy eats two of his rolls for dinner, washing them down with the last of the beer he took from his dad’s fridge. He sleeps a deep and dreamless sleep, interrupted only occasionally by the sound of a train whistle or the sounds of workers moving cars around the Freight Yard. He misses Bunkbrain’s company.
Ernie’s kindness broke the isolation of Billy’s first night as a runaway. He doesn’t get the same relief on his second night. His pining for his dog reminds readers that, although he’s relieved to have escaped his abusive father, Billy still craves love, connection, and family.
Themes
Eating out. On his second day in Bendarat, Billy finishes his rolls and cheese. So, he goes to McDonald’s for dinner. He buys just a small lemonade, which he takes to the upstairs dining room. He reads the free newspaper while he waits. As other diners eat their fill and leave extra fries or hamburger halves on their tables, Billy helps himself to the free food.
Billy’s clever plan to take abandoned food at McDonald’s reminds readers how little he has in the way of worldly possessions. But his lack of resources doesn’t seem to bother him—it’s the price he must pay for freedom from abuse and suffering.
Themes
