A Kestrel For A Knave

Billy is the protagonist of A Kestrel for a Knave. He is a schoolboy rapidly approaching the age at which he is expected to leave school and work in the “pit,” or the local coalmines. As the narrative opens, he is working a newspaper route to pay off a fine for “delinquent behavior.” He struggles at school and has difficult relationships with his mother and older brother. He is very socially isolated, often being dismissed or picked on.

Billy is at a transitional age: Though he is about to leave school and expected to start working, he is still very much a child. He dreams of possibilities beyond the coal-mining life expected of him, but he has few models on which to base such dreams. His experience illustrates the restricted prospects that come with social inequality. His entire life is planned out to serve the interests of the mine’s owners, with his brief education designed more to instill obedience than to teach critical thinking. The only glimpse he gets of opportunities beyond the limited world he lives in is a pamphlet handed to him in a career guidance meeting that shows a middle-class youth shaking hands with an older professional man.