Topic > An essay to show how Billy is treated in A Kestrel for...

In this essay I will look at the treatment of Billy in A Kestrel for a Knave, the emotions surrounding them and compare and contrast the differences between how three characters they deal with Billy, those three characters are Billy's mother, Jud, and Mr. Farthing. The novel, A Kestrel for a Rascal, is about a little boy who doesn't fit in very well, doesn't have another and gets picked on at school, to top it off he has a terrible home life with his brother. Jud bullied him and his mother went out drinking every night. When you take all of this into consideration, these factors help amplify any feelings we get when a character interacts with our underdog, Billy. The first character I will consider is Billy's mother. Billy's mother is a little sleepy; this is implied because when we first meet her in the novel she mistakes Billy coming into the house for her current boyfriend Reg. During this scene it is also implied that she doesn't care much for Billy or is a bit careless as he asks for a cigarette to Billy even though he's only 15 and basically asks him to steal some cigarettes, eggs, butter. and bread from the local shop. We also see that he is careless because when he goes to the pub he leaves him money for "some pop and some crisps" for dinner. She is not a great mother, as demonstrated by the description of the house at the beginning of the novel; it's cold, it's inhospitable and there's no food, there are scattered clothes piled up on the furniture, which shows that she doesn't care too much about keeping things in order, she's also a coward and doesn't stand up to her son Jud. Personally I think Mrs. Casper is a pathetic role model; she doesn't care about Billy's health and treats him as if he were her own person......middle of paper......she has spoken to Billy more than once, she also knows about Billy's history with the police and how he was constantly in trouble, but instead of judging him based on that, Mr. Farthing makes sure he doesn't get into trouble and offers alternatives to wandering the streets with MacDowell's gang such as youth clubs. Mr. Farthing is the only adult in the book who treats Billy properly in my opinion, also because everyone else mistreats him, which makes Mr. Farthing seem even kinder. Overall Billy is treated very poorly by his family and teachers, excluding Mr Farthing who acts as a sort of father figure towards Billy, Mr Farthing is also the only one who takes an interest in Billy's talents and interests. Like I said before, Billy is definitely a loser, but that only helps the reader feel for him even more because you can empathize with Billy one way or another..