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If you were Bud, how would you go about proving that Mr. Calloway was your father?

This is a tough question, because ultimately Herman Calloway is not Bud's father.  Bud will never be able to prove that Mr. Calloway is his father.  


I'd like to suggest something like a DNA test, but that technology was not around during the Great Depression.  Bud could hope for a blood typing match, since that was invented in 1900 by Karl Landsteiner.  The problem with blood typing though is that it doesn't always prove a family relationship.  It's genetically possible to have a completely different blood type than your parents.  


I think Bud's main mistake was that he boldly claimed that Herman Calloway was his father without offering up any reasons why he thought so.  Bud just assumed that Mr. Calloway knew it to be the truth.  



I pointed right at Herman E. Calloway's big belly. "You know it's you."



Of course Mr. Calloway knows that he is not Bud's father. But Mr. Calloway also never explains why it can't be him.  Bud also doesn't explain why he thinks what he thinks.  Bud knows that he has some evidence that points toward Mr. Calloway.  He has all of those pamphlets from his mother, but Bud doesn't use that evidence right away.  If I was Bud, I would have made my accusation and immediately followed it up with supporting evidence.  

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