In this essay, I’m going to discuss ‘Buddy’, a lively and an exciting novel written by Nigel Hinton, and focus on how the main characters develop, changing throughout the novel. Buddy is a teenager; he’s fourteen years of age. At the beginning of the interesting, spectacular book, Buddy’s Mum and Dad split up, which left Buddy, living with his irresponsible Father. Buddy had been complaining, and at the same time, he felt anger, deep inside his heart. He takes all of this in, thinking that he caused his Mum to be in that upsetting situation. After all of this, he stopped shop-lifting and stealing things, which did not belong to him. Only his Dad hadn’t stopped…
Buddy’s character changes throughout this book. The novel opens with Buddy, taking money from his Mother’s purse. “He tip-toed into the front room and slipped the purse out of her handbag. He clicked it open and took out a £5 note.” This shows that he was untrustworthy to his own Mum, and also, he was a shop-lifter. Later in the novel, Buddy changes his character, “He stopped in front of the pen counter and picked up ball point that wrote in three different colours.” “He looked around -nobody here. He checked the ceiling –were there any T.V cameras? It would be easy to slip the pen into his pocket. He put the pen back in the display and walked on.” Buddy had stopped shop-lifting, and was able to be trusted.
Terry’s character changes throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Terry cared more about his motorbike (Harley Davidson) than his family. “It didn’t look like his house without the Harley Davidson outside.” The motorbike was his Dad’s most important possession. He’d be heartbroken or angry. Over the next few scenes, Terry becomes more responsible and caring towards his family. He encourages his family to succeed. “You keep ‘elping your Mum wiv ‘er exam- ok?” Terry becomes a friendly and a much more trustworthy character at the end.
