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Doctor Katharine Finch
Doctor Bud Calhoun is the manager of the “petroleum terminal” at the Ilium Works. Bud only has to work whenever shipments come in or go out, so he spends most of his time flirting with Katharine, wooing her with his smooth Georgia accent. Even though Bud is always lounging outside his office and talking to Katharine, Paul is clearly fond of him, especially since Bud is so skilled and intelligent. He can, Paul knows, design and build nearly any machine. Simply put, Bud loves to tinker and can’t keep himself from getting excited about the mere idea of an interesting new project. But this works to his disadvantage when he’s ordered to design a machine that will more efficiently do his own job. Unsurprisingly, Bud comes up with a perfect design, creating a machine that puts him and 71 other employees out of work. And though Bud is a brilliant designer, he can’t get a new job because the central machines have concluded that the company has no use for him anymore. Consequently, he joins the Ghost Shirt Society, where he helps the revolutionaries come up with boobytraps to take down the country’s infrastructure. After the Ghost Shirts successfully destroy all the machines in Ilium, though, Bud enthusiastically begins to rebuild them in front of an eager crowd, unable to stop himself from salvaging the debris littered all over town.
Doctor Bud Calhoun Quotes in Player Piano
The Player Piano quotes below are all either spoken by Doctor Bud Calhoun or refer to Doctor Bud Calhoun. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Paul sometimes wondered if he wouldn’t have been more content in another period of history, but the rightness of Bud’s being alive now was beyond question. Bud’s mentality was one that had been remarked upon as being peculiarly American since the nation had been born—the restless, erratic insight and imagination of a gadgeteer. This was the climax, or close to it, of generations of Bud Calhouns, with almost all of American industry integrated into one stupendous Rube Goldberg machine.
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Chapter 8
Quotes
“Ah haven’t got a job any more,” said Bud. “Canned.”
Paul was amazed. “Really? What on earth for? Moral turpitude? What about the gadget you invented for—"
“Thet’s it,” said Bud with an eerie mixture of pride and remorse. “Works. Does a fine job.” He smiled sheepishly. “Does it a whole lot better than Ah did it.”
“It runs the whole operation?”
“Yup. Some gadget.”
“And so you’re out of a job.”
“Seventy-two of us are out of jobs,” said Bud.
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Doctor Bud Calhoun Quotes in Player Piano
The Player Piano quotes below are all either spoken by Doctor Bud Calhoun or refer to Doctor Bud Calhoun. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Paul sometimes wondered if he wouldn’t have been more content in another period of history, but the rightness of Bud’s being alive now was beyond question. Bud’s mentality was one that had been remarked upon as being peculiarly American since the nation had been born—the restless, erratic insight and imagination of a gadgeteer. This was the climax, or close to it, of generations of Bud Calhouns, with almost all of American industry integrated into one stupendous Rube Goldberg machine.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8
Quotes
“Ah haven’t got a job any more,” said Bud. “Canned.”
Paul was amazed. “Really? What on earth for? Moral turpitude? What about the gadget you invented for—"
“Thet’s it,” said Bud with an eerie mixture of pride and remorse. “Works. Does a fine job.” He smiled sheepishly. “Does it a whole lot better than Ah did it.”
“It runs the whole operation?”
“Yup. Some gadget.”
“And so you’re out of a job.”
“Seventy-two of us are out of jobs,” said Bud.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
