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Chapter 11
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 and Bibi arrive at the football stadium. There are lots of people around and Jamal tells Bibi there must be a match taking place. He believes national selectors will also be there and imagines how happy they will be to meet him and Bibi. They cannot find their parents, however, and they push further into the stadium. Bibi calls out for their parents, and Jamal reminds her that they don’t want to attract attention; they are on a death list after all. Jamal is amazed to find that the stadium doors are open. They go inside to look for their parents.
Jamal follows his father to the stadium, still believing he’ll be auditioning for the national selectors. Though there are signs that something is amiss—like the open stadium doors and the absence of their parents—Jamal’s optimism overpowers his doubts. This displays a considerable degree of cognitive dissonance; though he recognizes that his family is on a government death list, he still maintains his belief that the government will be impressed enough by his and Bibi’s soccer skills to let them stay in the country.
Themes
Jamal and Bibi climb to the top of the stadium seats. An army truck drives into the stadium and soldiers drag several women—they know because they’re clothed from head to toe—out from the back of the truck. Jamal and Bibi believe it is a warning from the government about letting women play football, and that the guns are fake. Still, they are scared. A woman breaks away from the soldiers and Jamal and Bibi recognize her as their mom. The soldiers grab their mother and point rifles at her head, and Jamal realizes that these women must all be illegal teachers.
Slowly, Jamal and Bibi realize that the football stadium is not being used for tryouts, but rather for a public execution. As such, Jamal’s hope turns to dread, especially after recognizing his mother among the to-be-executed. This is a harsh wake-up call that the world is neither as friendly nor as simple as Jamal had previously imagined. As the tape-trees from the previous chapter hinted at, the government does not tolerate disobedience from its people, and their mother’s illegal school is no exception.
Themes
The soldiers point their guns at the teachers’ heads, and Jamal begins to run down toward his mom to save her. Bibi joins him and the rest of the crowd follows suit, though Jamal realizes they are not running to rescue the women; they don’t want to see an execution. Suddenly a taxi drives into the stadium throwing cans of burning oil at the soldiers. The taxi knocks down the soldiers holding their mom and opens the passenger door. She climbs in and the taxi takes off. Jamal and Bibi realize that the taxi driver was their dad.
Here, Jamal shows incredible bravery and loyalty. Though there is realistically nothing he can do to save his mother, he still runs down the stadium to try and stop the execution. His reaction is immediate and instinctual, suggesting that he may be more of a desert warrior than he realizes. Even against impossible odds, Jamal tries to protect those he loves.
Themes
