Billy doesn’t exactly live in the land of luxury. He wakes to a grim bedroom and an unpleasant brother on the other side of the single bed, Billy and Jud share: “There were no curtains up. The window was a hard-edged block the colour of the night sky… ” Already we see that his bedroom is so basic, that there are no curtains. In Billy’s house there is no heating and so to get a bit of heat he has a fire, no central heating. The home is where a person should feel at ease and relaxed, but Billy can’t enjoy this luxury because when he is at home his brother miss – treats him and his mother ignores him.
As Billy’s home isn’t pleasant he spends a lot of his time out side. Billy needs to have two worlds because the real world in which he lives treats him extremely badly. Billy does not seem to have a good future ahead of him. His life looks very bleak. To get a bit of money Billy does a paper round. He gets on his bike every morning and delivers papers from his local newsagents; except this morning, his brother, Jud, took Billy’s bike. So this causes Billy to be late for his job. As Billy collects his papers he steals some chocolate, showing he is hungry.
Billy stales quite a lot, but only food and drink, I think he does it because he is always hungry and doesn’t get enough food at home. After the paper round Billy goes off to school. Billy school life is not much better than his home life; his school is a run down horrible school. Billy thinks the whole world is against him and he doesn’t get along with the other school kids. Barry Hines describes a bewildering scene into which Bill fits appropriately when he is fighting against a schoolmate over his brother: “Ii?? m not frightened of him. ” “Tha would be if he were here. ” “Would I heck, he is nowt you Jud. ” “Tha what!
Hei?’s ti?? cock oi?? ti?? estate, thati?’s all. ” “Who sayi?’s? I bet I know somebody who could fight him. ” Then a fight broke out causing pretty much the whole playground to gather around the boys. As you can see Billy’s school life also contains bullying, like the kind he receives off Jud. Billy ran at him. The gang scattered. McDowell took a step back, lifted one knee, and pushed Billy off with his foot. McDowell delivered a straight right, which caught Billy smack in the chest and bounced him back on his arse. Although Billy thinks everyone is against him, there is one teacher who likes him due to the Hawk.
He helped Billy later on against McDowell, stopping Billy getting in to trouble. This teacher is called Mr Farthing. Mr Fathering can see Billy’s talents and smartness, even though he isn’t academically smart. As he knows this he encourages Billy to talk about it and finds out about Billy’s Hawk and asks Billy if he can see it. Billy’s Kestrel is the only ounce of pleasure in his life. Billy found “Kes” when he was out in the forest and he trained Kes. Billy enjoys time alone with his hawk, “Kes”, and therefore spends a lot of time training her on the fields.
It is on the fields where you get an insite to the talents that Billy Casper has. He trains his hawk with enthusiasm and enjoys seeing her spread her wings and sore through the air. Later on in the book, Jud gave Billy some money to bet on the horses. So, Billy went down to the betting agency and prepared to bet for Jud. Billy spoke to one of Jud friend and he said it was not worth betting on he horse. : “No. I wouldn’t bother with that one… have they got a chance? ” The man chuckled in his throat and shook his head. Billy didn’t need to be told twice.
He took Jud’s money and ran out of the betting agency. With the money Billy bought some chips from “FISH F HARTLEY CHIPS. ” Then he got some meat scraps for his Kestrel, Kes from “GEORGE BEAL FAMILY BUTCHER. ” Then Billy returns to school. Jud came to Billy’s school looking for Billy and Billy knew why. Jud’s horses had won! But there was no bet on them. Jud was coming to get Billy! As soon as Billy saw Jud from his classroom Billy went hiding. Jud couldn’t find him anyway, the whole day. So, Jud went elsewhere! There isn’t anywhere, apart from being on the field with Kes, that Billy feels safe.
In his own home he has to dodge Jud because if he doesn’t Jud will take his anger out on him. At school the teachers and pupils bully him because he isn’t academically bright. The only person who compliments Billy is one of his teachers, Mr Fathering. He gets an incite to Billy’s talents and compliments him on them. “Marvellous, Casper! Brilliant! That’s one of the most exciting things I have ever seen” “You’re an expert lad” These are the only compliments Billy gets in the book and they are on the field, the only part in Billy’s environment that Billy can show his abilities.
