quigonejinn

Facts

- blue eyes to Hornblower's brown. <3
- date of commission: July '96. Hornblower is August of '97. Therefore, at time of Lieutenant Hornblower, Bush had been in commission for four years, and Hornblower for three.
- eats his mutton with mustard in the style of a sailor. Excellent appetite generally.
- four sisters, mother in Chichester, where they live in a cottage. Bush lives with them between when he has to put out to sea; they dote on him, and he spends a lot of time weeding the garden.
- neverever ever seasick, not at the start of a voyage or during a storm. (see start of chapter II where the ship is doing its verson of the humpty dance on a storming sea and Bush is like :D It's purdy! :D and then, later in the book, when Horatio is hanging onto a structural element to keep from sliding on the deck and Bush is like o_o er, yes, I suppose some people do get seasick)
- tough as nails. "Iron constitution" gets brought up quickly, and look how well he recovers from the fifty-three stitches (and somehow, I assume that these aren't ickle little fine stitches like we get now).
- vocal man -- he curses, he bellows, he sings. Has, in fact, a bellow that Hornblower notes a lot and works with -- in Hotspur, Horatio makes that tour of the ship, and he comes up to the young gunner, lets Bush bellow at him, and then speaks to the kid kindly and cracks a joke. <3 <3 <3 <3
- Given chance, tends to be more of a sail man -- when working with Gerard under Hornblower, Bush takes responsibility for exercising the hands up the sails and Gerard enjoys working them men on the guns.
- dislikes undisciplined noise -- "It was the sort of undisciplined noise that most easily roused Bush's wrath." Lt. Hornblower
- uses "d'ye think" and "'em". Horatio tends not to (only instance I can recall so far -- one lapse in Lord Hornblower). Also curses creatively -- "black as the Earl of Hell's boots," etc.
- likes his women "pretty and saucy." Checks them out all
- love of ship -- when he starts his suicide charge, he does have fear of "what England will say?" but his last coherent thought for a looonng while he's actually IN the charge is his "magnificent ship" has been taken over by blackguards and how it makes him want to die. It runs so deep that it lies underneath even his fear of disgracing the Navy/England. Lt. Hornblower. Says each word like it causes him pain when he has to admit that the French ship Loire is weathering better than the Hotspur.

Emotional Makeup

- deeply conscientious: "not merely his professional reputation but his self-respect depended on his having omitted nothing." and "Bush had had no sleep and no breakfast, and even though perhaps only ten minutes had elapsed since the fort had been captured, his conscience nagged at him regarding those ten minutes; there were many things he ought to have done in that time."
- "stoical training and phlegmatic temperament"
- caution is the byword.
- "Bush was at his best doing work which called for single-minded attention to a single duty." Lt. Hornblower.
- "Bush had the lowest opinion of the ordinary man and the sub-ordinary man who constituted the great bulk of his command."
- Physical discomfort is something to be born: "It would have been the simplest matter in the world to take off his heavy uniform coat and unhook his stock, but it never crossed his mind that he should do so. Bodily discomfort was something that one bore without complaint in a hard world; habit and pride both helped."
- "Bush was a sturdy soul; it went against his grain to yield in face of difficulties, and he was irritated at the thought of a tame retreat after a single repulse."
- "It was as natural for Bush to argue down opposition once he had committed himself as it might be for a fish to snap at a lure."
- physically unafraid -- A rat squeaked and scurried past him, but rats were only to be expected down here in the hold, and Bush went on feeling his way aft unshaken, the fifty-three stitches after storming the battery, losing the foot in Ship of the Line
- feels his own tension and fear as dissatisfaction and worry. No direct connection between his emotions and what he knows to be his emotions.
- loves the crazy, violent sea and the beauty of a tightly run ship -- Bush is a sailor down to the marrow in his bones. The closest he comes to really thinking about beauty or losing himself in reflection is on the deck of a ship in a storm.
- feels his limitations keenly:

Bush had the feeling that if he were a man of instant quickness of thought and readiness of tongue he would take advantage of this new attitude of the captain's to free Wellard from his peril; by posing as the captain's devoted companion in trouble and at the same time laughing off the thought of danger from any conspiracy, he might modify the captain's fears. So he felt, but he had no confidence in himself.

"He knows nothing, sir," he said, and he forced himself to grin. "He doesn't know the bobstay from the spankerboom."

- work as solace, work as something that takes your mind away from pain and bad moods. Bush is also fundamentally a kind, sympathetic man -- practical as anything, views the world powerfully through the lens of his own experience, but kind underneath.

He remembered those knots on Booth's cane. He had known injustice often enough. Not only boys but grown men were beaten without cause on occasions, and Bush had nodded sagely when it happened, thinking that contact with injustice in a world that was essentially unjust was part of everyone's education. And grown men smiled to each other when boys were beaten, agreeing that it did all parties good; boys had been beaten since history began, and it would be a bad day for the world if ever, inconceivably, boys should cease to be beaten. This was all very true, and yet in spite of it Bush felt sorry for Wellard. Fortunately there was something waiting to be done which might suit Wellard's mood and condition.

"Those sandglasses need to be run against each other, Mr Wellard," said Bush, nodding over to the binnacle.

"Run the minute glass against the half-hour glass as soon as they turn it at seven bells."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Mark off each minute on the slate unless you want to lose your reckoning," added Bush.

"Aye aye, sir."

It would be something to keep Wellard's mind off his troubles without calling for physical effort, watching the sand run out of the minute glass and turning it quickly, marking the slate and watching again. Bush had his doubts about that half-hour glass and it would be convenient to have both checked.

- not all that self-aware -- does not sense his enjoyment of the finer, lovelier elements of his personality/his enjoyment of aesthetic things, but he has them none the less:

[T]here was no pleasure now in standing on the heaving deck watching the corkscrew roll of the ship and the hurrying Atlantic waves, the trim of the sails and the handling of the wheel -- Bush still was unaware that there was any pleasure to be found in these everyday matters, but he was vaguely aware that something had gone out of his life. -- Lt. Hornblower

- thinks of himself as being deeply unimaginative and is quick to reproach himself for being mso.

The men came trooping along the waist; it may have been merely Bush's overwrought imagination that made him think their manner slack and careless.

- Thus, not inclined to speculation or "sensitivity." Does not think that he's the kind who needs "meditation," but does have "mintues of grace left in him." Typically occur when he's balancing on deck and letting his mind run free. (see: text in first paragraphs of Chapter II of Lieutenant Hornblower)
-

Bush was not of the mental type that takes pleasure in theoretical exercises. To plan a campaign; to put himself mentally in the position of the enemy and think along alien lines; to devise unexpected expedients; all this was beyond his capacity. But to deal with a definite concrete problem, a simple matter of ropes and tackles and breaking strains, pure seamanship — he had a lifetime of experience to reinforce his natural bent in that direction.

- however, can be provoked to being imaginative.

So tense and desperate was he at that moment that his normally quiescent imagination was hard at work. He could imagine the prosecutor in the deceptive calm of a court-martial saying to Whiting, "Did Mr Bush appear to be his usual self?" and it was frightfully necessary that Whiting should be able to answer, "Yes." Bush could even imagine the hairy touch of a rope round his neck. But next moment there was no more need for him to simulate surprise or ignorance. His reactions were genuine.

- Not well read or much full of general knowledge.

Bush wondered vaguely what it was that had happened in Dominica. History -- even contemporary history -- was not one of his strong points.

Hotspur book, he desparatley wants the French to think well of the British boath/to think that the British ship is manned "entirely by stoics"
- He tries to be cautious and politic, but he isn't so by nature or by temperament:

With that he turned away and went below, and Bush, relaxing from his attitude of attention, turned to express his surprise to Hornblower. He was eager to ask questions about this extraordinary behaviour, but they died away on his lips when he saw that Hornblower's face was set in a wooden unresponsiveness. Puzzled and a little hurt, Bush was about to note Hornblower down as one of the captain's toadies -- or as a madman as well -- when he caught sight out of the tail of his eye of the captain's head reappearing above the deck. Sawyer must have swung round when at the foot of the companion and come up again simply for the purpose of catching his officers off their guard discussing him — and Hornblower knew more about his captain's habits than Bush did. Bush made an enormous effort to appear natural.

"Can I have a couple of hands to carry my sea-chest down?" he asked, hoping that the words did not sound nearly as stilted to the captain as they did to his own ears

- way of dealing with people: meet them, size them up through "deductions" but is aware when he doesn't really have enough information to make a proper judgment, and then deal with them accordingly.
-

Brought up in a hard school, Bush had learned to utter no unnecessary words when dealing with a superior officer indulging in the touchiness superior officers might be expected to indulge in. Yet this particular touchiness seemed more unwarranted even than usual.

- Violence on both a national and a personal level

"Repay 'em in their own coin," said Bush, with a grin of satisfaction. Yesterday the Renown had endured the hellish fire of red-hot shot. To Bush the thought of roasting a few Dagoes was quite charming.

Relationship with Horatio
- originally htinks of himslef as being the same age as Hornblower -- look at the phrasing of "the young men" together in Chapter II -- but towards the end of thatbook, has started to think of Hornblower as being younger than him but also superior to him in most ways.
- thinks of Hornblower as being like Nelson. *_____*
- feels sympathy with Hornblower from the start, but starts following Hornblower's lead almost immediately after the mutiny thing starts -- he follows Horatio easily.

"Red-hot shot might make all the difference, sir," said Hornblower.

and

He was fatalistic now about Hornblower. Exasperation over his activity and ingenuity had of surfeit. There was something of resignation about Bush's attitude, but there was something admiration too. Bush was a generous soul, and there was not a mean motive in him. Hornblower's careful handling of his superior had not been lost on him, and Bush was decently envious of that had been necessary. Bush realistically admitted to himself that even though he had fretted prospect of agreeing to Ortega's terms he had not been able to think of a way to modify them, Hornblower had. Hornblower was a very brilliant young officer, Bush decided; he himself made presence at brilliance, and now he had taken the last step and had overcome his suspicions brilliance. He made himself abandon his caution and commit himself to a definite opinion.