Billy's Kestrel example essay topic

At the beginning of the extract Billy Casper is talking to the librarian. Although she will not let him borrow a book on falconry, she does advise him to go and look in a certain bookshop. Billy knows which bookshop she means and sets off towards it. When Billy enters the bookshop, the first thing he does is to scan the room. He mentally notes the layout of the shop. It is a room lined with books, with a large book covered table in the centre.

Most importantly, he notes the people. There are people browsing through the books and the shop assistants are busy. Billy heads to the book shelves and looks around for a while until he finds a book entitled ' A Falconer's Handbook'. He looks around to check that the coast is clear and when he sees that everyone is distracted, seizes the opportunity to walk out of the shop with the book. Billy obviously enters the shop intending to steal the book. He has no money and he can not ask his mother to buy it for him.

We hear earlier on in the book, that Billy has stolen in the past, but this is the first time when come across him actually doing it. In this passage we perhaps gain some insight into the reasons Billy steals. Billy does not steal out of boredom or for fun but because he is not being cared for properly by his family. Billy has a hard enough time getting food in the mornings, his very basic needs are not being met, least of all some of his "higher needs", like feeling loved and supported.

Billy does not feel he can turn to his mother and expect her to take his interest in falconry seriously. Billy is forced to fend for himself and steal. In the bookshop, while Billy is reading the book, we see the same sensitive side to him that we see when Billy is in nature. Billy seems to be a boy fascinated by the world and all things alive, and eager to learn more. As Billy leafs through the pages of the book we get the impression he is for once in his life, truly interested and passionate about something. Although he is probably aware that Jud, his older brother will tease him for having the book, he is possessed by a steely determination to get the book and train Kes.

Billy's Kestrel seems to have awaken a self belief we had not come across in Billy before and a burning desire to succeed. Not only is Kes an interesting pet and a distraction for Billy but he also finds, in her, the "emotional" response he so desperately lacks from his school mates or family. I think that this passage is an important moment in the book, because Billy is taking a risk to make real his dream of raising a kestrel and setting himself even further apart from his family.