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Chapter 27
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 wakes up no longer feeling seasick. He is the first to rise and notices that the boat is no longer running. He thinks it’s because they’re giving out more noodle soup, but he is wrong. The smugglers ask everyone for an extra hundred dollars, claiming that there was a mistake in the pricing of the tickets, and they need more money to complete the trip. Everyone on the boat starts yelling and crying. The smugglers hold clubs and the sailor in yellow overalls walks around collecting the additional money in a bucket. Those who refuse are threatened and their supplies ransacked.
The smugglers take advantage of their power over the passengers, demanding more money to continue the trip. This highlights the extreme vulnerability of the refugees on the boat: though the smugglers’ request is cruel and unjust, the refugees have no choice but to comply. They are entirely dependent on the smugglers to get them to Australia, making resistance futile.
Themes
Omar says he has no money, and Jamal realizes that neither do he and Bibi. Jamal tries to offer his remaining loaves of bread to the sailor in the yellow overalls, but the sailor throws them overboard. Rashida pulls out a watch, however, and says it’s for four people. Jamal is nervous the sailor will reject it, but he doesn’t. Rashida explains that her dad bought it in addition to the ticket, suspecting that something like this might happen. The boat engine starts again, and they resume the journey to Australia. Jamal hopes that if the same thing happens on the other boat, his mom will give up her wedding ring.
As children without parents to pay for their passage, Jamal, Bibi, Rashida, and Omar are particularly vulnerable to the smuggler’s scam. Fortunately, Rashida offers to buy off the smugglers for them, using an expensive watch to do so. This underscores not only Rashida’s generosity, but also the system of mutual dependence the four children have created. In the absence of their parents, they are forced to rely on one another, creating their own kind of family unit.
Themes
