Bud

Bud is a complex and elusive protagonist, defined as much by what he withholds as by what he reveals. A Black man living in post-war America, he is shaped by the constraints of racism and segregation, yet he is also afforded certain freedoms: he is unattached, mobile, and able to leave relationships behind without much consequence. However, the tension between these external conditions and his internal world is central to his character. Bud is constantly in motion: driving, searching, remembering. However, this restlessness conceals a deeper emotional inertia. He is a man more comfortable with fantasy than with intimacy, more inclined to observe than to participate.

Bud's obsession with the Unicorn Woman is emblematic of his preference for projection over connection. She is not someone he knows but someone he imagines, an idealized figure who offers mystery without risk. His pursuit of her is not so much about...