Consider how Bubba Offenhaus is presented at the beginning
of Chapter Nine. Although he is supposedly Director of Civil Defense, the book makes it
clear that it is Randy who is running around trying to act for the good of the
community. Bubba Offenhaus seems to have hidden himself away in his house and to be
remarkably indifferent about the fate of the community of which he is supposedly in
charge of. Note how he is described in the following
quote:
Bubba's funeral parlour was locked and empty and
he was no longer seen in town. Since he was Deputy Director of Civil Defense as well as
undertaker, a public appearance exposed him to all sorts of requests and problems which
frightened him and about which he could do nothing. So Bubba and Kitty Offenhaus could
only be found in their big new house, a rare combination of modern and classic,
constructed largely of tinted glass between antebellum Greek
columns.
Not only has Bubba
secluded himself away from his community, but also, when Randy comes to him with the
very pressing case of needing to dispose of a radioactive body and radioactive jewellry,
Bubba at first looks as if he is not going to help by supplying them with a lead coffin
as he wants to be reimbursed for it. His failure to act in the way that his position
requires him to act and his selfishness and lack of courage clearly shows he is
inadequate to hold the position that he has.
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