'Buddy', written by Nigel Hinton, tells the story of the eponymous Buddy, who we feel sympathy for throughout the book. The author manages to make us feel this way, by going in depth with the main character's personal reflection. In this essay, my aim is to show how the author creates sympathy for the central character.
This novel opens with Buddy feeling guilty after his mother leaving home. He then lives in poor conditions with his unemployed, "Teddy Boy" father, whom Buddy finds embarrassing. With the loss of Buddy's mum, money becomes a problem and his dad re-begins his life of theft. Buddy then becomes worried about his dad, and plots to have the man leading his father astray arrested, allowing his dad to start a normal, risk-free job. However, this plan backfires and Buddy's dad ends up with an eighteen month sentence.
The first way we feel sympathy for Buddy is at the beginning at the book after he fells guilty for stealing.
My Name Is Buddy
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BuddyWe find Buddy feeling disgusted with himself after stealing a ã5 note from his mother's purse for a school trip. It is clear that he is disappointed with himself after we read the metaphor "wave of disgust". This may not be a big issue normally, but for Buddy's family ã5 is a lot due to financial difficulties, hence why he feels so very irritated with himself. Later, his mother would compare him to his father, as Buddy's dad was once in jail due to theft. As well as this, we feel sympathy for Buddy, just as he leaves the house for school; he calls goodbye, yet receives no reply. Instead, he hears "another" row erupting between his parents. The simple sentence "Another row." obviously implies that his...