Kestrel for a Knave Summary Notes

Billy had thrown the ring at me. I kept walking. ‘Guess what?’ Billy shouted. ‘I raped you!’” (pg. 87). Jeannette is confused when she hears what Billy says. She is sexually assaulted at the age of eight, and it only seems to get worse as she moves from place to place. With each attack resulting due to the continued neglect that Rex and Rose Mary show towards their kids by not providing stability. The neglect that Jeannette experiences, but does not yet understand, eventually results in the involvement of Social Services with the Walls family; “He’d launch an investigation and end up sending me and Brian and Lori and Maureen off to live with different families, even though we all got good grades and knew Morse code. I couldn’t let that happen. No way was I going to lose Brian and Lori and Maureen.” (pg. 194). It is here that Jeannette shows how much she truly cares about her family. The neglect of her parents has required her to become the responsible figure head of the Walls household and she learns to protect and care for her siblings. Jeannette develops the characteristics of a mother figure despite the careless absence of her own mother.

In the book where the red fern grows by Wilson Rawls, the main character Billy Coleman faces many internal and external conflicts on of which is puppy love. Puppy love is one of the internal conflicts because when he gets the dogs he has been working towards for two years he loves his two Koon hounds old Dan and Little Ann. Another internal conflict that billy faces is companionship. He faces companionship because there are not many people where he lives and his crazy sisters are not his companion. So he needs the dogs for companionship. The last internal conflict is billy guilt. He feels guilty because when he went shopping he bought overalls for his father, a bunch of yarn for his mother and candy for himself. The reason he feels guilty is

          Billy didn’t want to marry ugly Valencia. She was one of the symptoms of his disease. He knew he was going crazy when he heard himself proposing marriage to her, when he begged her so take the diamond ring and be his companion for life.

To the casual eye, Billy looks like the typical bad boy. A boy that ran away from home, showing his rebellious tendencies. A boy that would most certainly be a bad influence over anyone. However, as we take a closer look into Billy's true personality,

Caitlin loves Billy’s character even though he is homeless. Caitlin is fascinated with Billy’s character rather than what he has and his status. Caitlin is engrossed in Billy because he is clean. Billy keeps his clothes clean, himself clean and his carriage clean. In the passage Billy’s cave (p. 62).Caitlin says that his carriage is clean and warm. Caitlin is also attracted to billy’s character because he is not a normal hobo. Billy is smart, clean, polite and calm. In the passage Caitlin and mopping (p. 35).Caitlin says that Billy as ‘so calm’ when he exited McDonalds. This shows that Caitlin enjoys Billy’s company despite Billy not having any

A reason for Billy being so unattached would be PTSD. PTSD leaves people feeling alone and depressed. He is having flashbacks of parts of his life and at the end of the book he is reliving his moments during the war.

Mrs.Bibbit, Billy’s mother, and friends with Nurse Ratched, is another authoritative figure in the novel. Mrs. Bibbit gains her power by preventing Billy, from becoming an adult. At first Mrs. Bibbit does realize that Billy is an adult and is able to function in society, When his mother tells him he has plenty of time to accomplish things such as going to college, and Billy reminds his mother that he is thirty-one years old, she replies, "'Sweetheart, do I look like the mother of a middle-aged man?'" (Kesey 247). This shows that Billy’s mom does not seem to understand that Billy is an adult that is able to live in the outside world. This Results in him feeling Insecure and he chooses to remain in the ward. “Sure! It’s Billy, turned from the screen... If I had the guts.” (168). This takes place after McMurphy realizes that the men are there voluntary, Billy explains to McMurphy that he could leave at any time if he wanted to but he believes he doesn’t have the guts to go out in society. Unfortunately in the end it is just the fear of his own mother, and Nurse Ratched’s manipulative ways that causes him to take his own life. Another family member who manipulates her "loved one" is Vera Harding, whose control over her husband is similar to that of Billy and his mother.

about his dealings with Candy. In doing so, the nurse is able to get Billy to turn on the other

Not one to give up, she tells him that she knows he is missing someone but she does not want anything serious. She says that she only means to have fun and Billy

Billy does not have any ambition he just reacts to circumstances that happen to him. He wife face gives him an optometry office to run. He married valenca just because she is there not because he is in love with her. “I is so sort and jumbled and jangled”(pg.19) he takes the path of less resistance rather than navigating the complex path of life. Krebs also lacks motivation, direction, and ambition he lives with his parents and does not have a job. He “sleeps late in bed” every day for him is like a vacation rather than real life. Krebs father thinks he has “lost his ambition, that you haven't got a different aim in life”(pg.75). His parents think it is time for him to move on from the war and make something of his life. The war affect both billy and krebs in a major way the weight of the war crushed their

Billy was a rebellious kid who had his heart set on making Jeanette his girlfriend. At first she is reserved about the matter, saying that she does not want to be his girlfriend, but she also says she was excited for the attention. Soon after Billy gives her a ring. Jeanette knows that if she takes the ring, that to Billy, she will be his girlfriend. Jeanette accepts the ring anyway asd the ring is very appealing to her. Soonafter the next day when she goes out to hangout with her friends (including billy). They decide to play a game of hide and seek when Jeanette goes to hide billy followers her there. Whilst they are hiding Billy starts to try to kiss Jeanette and take of their clothes. Fighting back, Jeanette bites his ear and escapes. Upon seeing billy the next day she gives the ring back, “ "I don't want to be your friend," I said. "And I don't want your ring anymore." “ (Walls 87). She is willing to give up the ring following the Assault, but the thing that influenced jeanette most in the future is what Billy said next, “I raped you!” Jeanette is exposed to many adult themes when she is young, without the concept of it being a misdeed since she is very young, her mind would never repress what

Lizzie wants to know where Billy is going. He doesn’t tell her.  He sounds like a suspicious character.

Billy has lost a sense of love as death has faced him in the eyes once too many. Billy deals with his pain by turning to alcohol abuse, he cannot deal with his mourning, "Sometimes it's not as if they have died so much as that I myself have died and become a ghost." (43). From Dolores and Billy, the central theme is slowly revealed.

them of Billy's mum. I think the dad misses his wife so much that he

Billy didn't want to marry ugly Valencia. She was one of the symptoms of his disease. He knew he was going crazy when he heard himself proposing marriage to her, when he begged her to take the diamond ring and be his companion for life (Vonnegut, p.107).