B For Buster Character Analysis

War has a lasting effect on misguided and misinformed teenagers who rashly make the decision to join the army without the appropriate knowledge on what war is really like. In the novel, ‘B for Buster’, by Iain Lawrence, which takes place on an airbase in England, readers can delve into a tale of woe and horror experienced by members of the air force. It is this woe and horror occurring in the air force that a young boy from Canada named Kak has come to know. Kak’s character undergoes significant adjustments with each month he spends in the air force and with each person he meets and grows close to. Lawrence uses Kak’s dynamic character to show the destruction of war on the minds of teenagers who illegally join the fight as Kak develops from
After his first operation, Kak becomes very wary of his personal safety and this causes him to have an irrational, but fairly common, way of thinking. Kak really only cares for his safety and has no qualms about doing what he considers necessary to keep it. He says, “Then, for the first time, I thought about the people below us. I imagined them scurrying from the flames, crowding into the shelters. But I didn’t feel sorry for them. I only wanted to get them before they got me” (155). In fact, this portrays Kak’s irrational determination to make sure he is safe as he feels no sympathy for those he must kill in the process. Kak becomes smug and self- praising when he knows how to do something a fellow crew member cannot do. In ‘Buster’, Kak says, “We listened to a distant drone that grew steadily louder and closer. Then the first Halifax thundered above us, flashing its recognition signal. Someone asked, “Is that Lofty?” I was pleased I could read the Morse better than the others. I rattled off the signals as each black machine passed overhead and banked to the right” (36). This portrays Kak’s smug attitude of him receiving a small rush of self-righteousness of being able to do things others can’t as he has an underlying drive to be the best and prove himself because he is underage. The kid regards others who he outranks in a social and in a military standing
The Kid`s own father never showed any form of affection toward Kak and this left him lonely and envious of the children whose parents cared for them affectionately. What is more, Kak even marvels at how Bert treats Percy. He says, ``I didn`t let Percy fly back to the loft. It wasn`t yet daylight, but I worried about hawks. So he rode in the truck like part of the crew, and I carried him down to see Bert. He got the sort of welcome from the pigeoneer that I imagined most boys got from their fathers after a long adventure. I didn`t really know, as the best I`d ever gotten was a cold stare and a drunken mumble, but it seemed right when Bert nearly cried to see Percy come home``(197-98). This shows how neglected and unloved Kak felt when it came to his parents. He wanted to be loved like how other children were by their parents. Unfortunately for Kak, his parents weren`t particularly affectionate. Kak was exposed to misery and dread for most of his life. He lived in fear of dying on an operation and in misery of neglect by his parents. His sub conscious bridges his two dominant emotions by a smart remark made by his pilot. ‘Buster’ says, `` Lofty clicked his intercom. `` Just shut the hell up, `` he said. He sounded exactly like my old man. I remembered hearing that so many times. Shut the hell up. Get the hell out. Go to hell, go to hell, go to hell. I wondered what he would say to me now if he