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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Boy Overboard, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Immigration, Family, and Home
Identity and Ancestry
Hope
Gender and Discrimination
Summary
Analysis
Jamal plays football (soccer) with his friends. His team pretends to be Manchester United, and the other team pretends to be Newcastle United. Jamal has the ball, and he happily notes that there is no smoke or nerve gas or sound of explosions. He explains that bomb wind can be distracting while playing football. Jamal is known primarily as a good dribbler and passer, but he wants to shoot. His friend Zoltan calls to him to pass, but Jamal ignores him. He shoots, but the shot goes awry and the ball rolls toward Yusuf, the goalie, who recovers it easily. Jamal’s friend Aziz calls the shot “weak,” while Zoltan looks at him in disbelief. Jamal apologizes, but realizes his friends aren’t listening; they’re distracted by something behind him.
The opening lines of the story establish how normalized the effects of war are in Jamal’s country. Though Jamal is not dissimilar from many kids his age around the world, he must worry about things that most kids don’t, like smoke, nerve gas, or landmines. For him, however, such dangers are so commonplace that they register more as annoyances than serious threats. He just wants to play football with his friends and dislikes it when war interrupts their game. This illustrates the incredible adaptability of children to their environment, as well as Jamal’s deep love of football.
Themes
Jamal is worried that they are in trouble with an Afghan official for playing football. When he looks behind him, however, he sees his sister, Bibi. Wanting to join the game, she starts dribbling the ball, but the boys back away. Jamal realizes he must do something: Bibi has forgotten that, as a girl, she is forbidden to leave the house alone, have her face uncovered, or play football. If officials see her with the ball, Jamal worries that their parents will be dragged off by the government. He tells his friends to tackle her and take the ball away, but they are unable to. She is too good at football, which Jamal taught her to play inside their house.
This passage illustrates the control that the Afghanistan government exercises over the day to day lives of the Afghanistan people, and the psychological harm that such control can inflict. Children must worry about retribution for something as simple as playing football, and female citizens like Bibi are denied simple joys and freedoms, like playing sports or leaving their house alone. Here, Jamal is faced with the difficult choice of enforcing the government’s unfair laws, or endangering him, his friends, and his family by allowing his sister to play football with them. Though he is proud of his sister’s football skills—he taught her himself—he does not want his parents or friends to get into trouble.
Themes
Bibi dribbles toward the goal and takes a shot. Yusuf dives for the ball, but it goes in the goal anyway. Bibi and Jamal grin proudly one another, but then Jamal remembers he needs to be sterner with her when she breaks the rules. Everyone except Yusuf leaves, however, because the ball has rolled into the rocket crater in the desert. Before Jamal can stop her, Bibi runs to retrieve the ball. Yusuf tells Jamal to follow her, and Jamal sprints after Bibi. He realizes that she has forgotten why people don’t go into the rocket crater.
Bibi scores on Jamal and his friends, highlighting her natural talent and underscoring the unfairness of the government’s restrictions. She is just as good, if not better, than Jamal and his friends. This moment also illustrates her willful, rebellious personality. Though the government forbids her from playing football, she does anyway.
Themes
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