A KESTREL FOR A KNAVE

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ENGLISH

BARRY HINES

A KESTREL FOR A KNAVE

I am going to explore the theme of bullying in the novel Kes. The novel is set in the north of England (Yorkshire). The social context of the novel is that the society offered them very little. Most of the children only got jobs in coal mines so the community was full of coal miners. The economic context of the novel is that they are quite poor. People left school at the age of fifteen before the raising of the school leaving age. Students like Billy felt that school and society offered them very little.

The writer explores many different themes in this novel; some of these are to with people feeling imprisoned, family conflicts, freedom, nature and education.

However the theme of bullying is of particular importance because Billy is subjected to a wide variety of different forms of bullying which almost crush his spirit and his sense of humour.

The novel opens with Jud; Jud is Billy’s older brother, so we have been told in the novel. Jud is the kind of person that likes to get his own way at home. As soon as Jud comes in to the scene we are shown the way in which he bullies Billy. This begins by the alarm going off for Jud. Jud is in a bad mood. Jud physically bullies Billy this is shown in the novel when

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‘He swung his fist under the blankets and thumped Billy in the kidneys’,

This is a very bad place to hit someone especially someone as small as Billy he can suffer really badly and would be in agony.

He also verbally bullies Billy this is by telling him things that had happened to him that he was not pleased with such as growing up to become a coal minor and getting up early in the morning.

‘Another few weeks lad, an’ tha’ll be getting up wi’ me.’

The reason that jud is like this is ...

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