Unlike the heroes of school stories like Tom Brown, Billy Bunter's school career is a long series of stolen cakes, cunning plans, and being booted for his misdemeanours.
Billy Bunter is the central character of a long series of school stories by the author Frank Richards. He attends Greyfriars School, which has most of the trappings of the timeless fictional British boarding school – a quadrangle, a football team, schoolmasters in academic gowns, surrounding countryside with a village nearby, Latin lessons, canings, etc. Bunter is far from being the typical schoolboy hero, however. In fact he could be said to take his place amongst Flashman, Molesworth and Stalky in the far more interesting class of schoolboy antiheroes.
Harry Wharton and Co.
There are hearty, healthy, cheery schoolboys at Greyfriars – a small group referred to variously as Study No.4, the Famous Five, or Harry Wharton & Co. (after their leader.) Their habits of playing the game, pitching in to help a fellow out, and keeping a straight bat do not appeal to Bunter, however. His interests lie more in the direction of the tuck shop, in fact his life at school seems to be a continual quest for “comestibles” and “sticky things” to devour. Other characters all appear with one ruling obsession – William Whibley’s is staging amateur dramatics, Snoop and Skinner are continually trying to smoke and place bets, and the noble schoolboy Lord Mauleverer just wants to be allowed to have a quiet nap.
The Fat Owl of the Remove
He is generally referred to by other characters as “the fat Owl”, “that fat scoundrel”, “that fat fraud”, or something similar. Bunter’s adventures usually involve an underhand plot which brings a “cunning gleam” into his eyes, and generally end up with him being chased by someone who is trying to kick him for his crimes.
A Schoolboy Antihero
As an antihero, Bunter is somewhat ineffectual. He is not particularly bright, continually broke and trying to borrow money on the strength of a “postal order” which never arrives, and his transparent pretensions to noble parentage fool no-one. He is always behind in his work for the schoolmaster Mr. Quelch, and frequently ends up being caned – the punishment being treated by Richards in the same harmless slapstick manner as the repeated “bootings” from his fellow pupils which Bunter’s thefts of tuck bring upon him.
The Bunter stories are sheer escapist comedy – their plots hinge on the same predictable actions by two-dimensional characters. To some modern readers it may seem a but unfair to base a whole series of books around a fat kid getting into trouble, but that requires an analytical step backwards from the spirit of the stories, which is cheerfully boneheaded and thoughtless. For some the Bunter stories will have an unpleasant taste of prejudice, but for others they are just a series of energetic comic episodes.
