‘Kes’ by Barry Hines and Allan Stronach
REVISION NOTES
CHARACTERISATION
Billy Casper:
BILLY: ‘I’m not going down the pit’ – Billy is frustrated with his ‘lot’ in life. Wants to break free of the constraints that his surroundings and those around him place on him. Billy doesn’t want to just follow convention.
MRS MACDOWELL: ‘Bugger off you little sod’ – Billy has a reputation as a bit of a rough lad who is known for getting into trouble. He seems to want to change this.
Billy is standing alone in one part of the playground – Billy is a very isolated character. He doesn’t appear to have many friends and nobody at home seems to have very many kind words to say to him.
BILLY: ‘I’ve a job to read or write’ – education seems to have failed Billy. However, his passion for his hawk shows that he is far from stupid.
BILLY:‘You’ll not catch me, you’ll never catch me’ – this is the last line of the play. Billy wants to be free, just like Kes. He cannot be tethered.
Jud Casper:
JUD: ‘I’ll murder you when I get home. And don’t bother with your bike – I’ve already got it.’ – Jud is nasty towards his younger brother: he makes him run around after him and mocks him when he shows interest in the hawk.
Mrs Casper:
MRS CASPER: ‘it’s only a bird’(after Jud has killed Kes) – this shows that she is not very concerned about her son’s feelings. In fact, she rarely seems to take any interest in what Billy is up to unless she wants to send him on an errand.
CONFLICT:
Conflict arises in the play between:
Billy and his family (Jud and his mum)
Billy and his teachers (Mr Gryce, Mr Sugden)
Billy and other pupils (MacDowell)
Billy and society (and the expectations that society has placed on him)
THEMES:
Bullying:
Pushes Billy’s face into a cushion and put his arm up his back - Jud’s treatment of Billy takes the form of both physical and verbal abuse. He throws his weight around by physically overpowering Billy, but he also mentally bullies him by taunting about his educational ability and mocking his love for his bird.
SUGDEN: ‘Stimulating you fool-S-T-I-M-U-L-A-T-I-N-G stimulating - Mr Sugden humiliates Billy’s lack of schooling by making him spell out ‘stimulating’. He also ridicules him by making him wear a pair of oversized shorts for P.E.
MACDOWELL: ‘He’s not your right brother’ – Billy is taunted by others in the playground because of his background and upbringing. This isolates him. MacDowall picks on boys who are smaller than him – the stereotypical coward.
MR GRYCE: ‘waste of time’ – Mr Gryce uses physical punishment to intimidate pupils. He doesn’t believe in reform or change and thinks that educating the likes of Billy is useless.
Social Deprivation:
JUD to Billy: ‘Just think, in a few weeks you’ll be coming down there with me’ – there is a lack of opportunity in the area where Billy lives. Billy is not expected to achieve anything in life and nobody seems to put any effort into trying to help him break-free of these expectations (except, perhaps, Mr. Farthing).
MR PORTER: ‘They’ll take your breath if you’re not careful……cos they’re all alike off that estate.’ – Billy is stigmatised because of his background. The deprivation of his upbringing and the stigma attached to where he comes from will be a limiting factor to any ambition he has to get on in life.
LIBRARIAN: ‘You can’t. You’re not a member’ – Billy is culturally deprived. He has never been to a library before and does not understand the system. The librarian seems to pigeon-hole Billy early on and is not sympathetic to his plight.
BILLY: ‘I’ve not kit sir….My mother won’t buy me any. She says it’s a waste of money’ – Billy’s deprived background leads to mocking at school from teachers and pupils alike. Also, his mother, as we have seen previously, does not seem to prioritise Billy over her own wants and needs.
Education:
Education in the 1960s seemed to be more focused on discipline than learning.
JUD to Billy: ‘You’ve to be able to read and write before they’d let you down the pit.’ - This shows that Billy hasn’t gained anything from education because he has very low levels of literacy.Billy doesn’t enjoy school and education seems to have failed him.
MR FARTHING: ‘Right, that was very good. I enjoyed that and I’m sure the class did too’. – This shows that Mr Farthing is one of the good guys. He invests time in his pupils and praises them when they do well. He takes a particular interest in Billy and goes with him to watch Kes fly.
MR SUGDEN: ‘You make me feel sick!’ – Mr Sugden represents the bad side of the coin: he enjoys ridiculing and belittling his pupils. At one point he taunts Billy for not being educated. This shows us that teachers in the 1960s could get away with treating children like this and nobody really cared
SYMBOLISM
Billy’s kestrel, Kes, is central to the story and acts as a symbol for Billy’s hopes, self-worth and the validation of his existence.
Kes represents a reason for Billy to live and proves to all those that see his existence as futile that he has just as much right to live as they do.
Kes is a symbol of hope for Billy. Kes stands for purity and honesty. Like Billy, he’s not selfish. Kes gives Billy what he needs most: a straightforward relationship, hope and love.
Thanks to Kes, Billy is able to respect himself. Billy can feel proud of himself because he has succeeded in training Kes. Nobody trusts Billy … except for Kes!
BILLY talking about Kes: ‘It’s not tame, it’s trained that’s all. It’s fierce and wild and it’s not bothered about anybody’–In his description of Kes, it is almost as though Billy could be talking about himself. He does not want to be tamed by society and made to follow the path they have set out for him. He wants to be free to make his own choices.
STRUCTURE TURNING POINT
The turning point in the play is when Billy fails to put on the bet for Jud.
This sets in motion a series of events which eventually ends with Kes being killed and Billy’s hopes and dreams being destroyed.
It creates a ‘ticking clock scenario’ as we know that Jud is going to be furious and that he will try to take his revenge on Billy somehow.