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Chapter 33
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 sees an Australian serviceman looking into his cabin on the Australian warship. He recognizes him as Andrew, the kind Australian man who carried him and Bibi onto the warship earlier. Andrew asks if Jamal is awake, and then he checks to see that Bibi’s fever is gone; it is. He has food with him because he thought they might still be hungry—they ate their last meal so quickly, he thought they were starved. Andrew apologizes to Jamal, and Jamal asks if something has happened to their parents. Andrew says no, explaining that their parents’ boat likely took a different route and that a plane is out looking for it.
After their harrowing experience on the smuggler’s boat, Jamal and Bibi finally find relief on the Australian warship. Though they are not in Australia yet and have not reunited with their parents, they have enough food to eat and a comfortable place to sleep. In Andrew, they also find an adult who cares for them and who they can trust; for the first time since leaving Afghanistan, they believe they can relax.
Themes
Andrew explains that he is sorry because it took so long to get everyone off the boat, saying there was “paperwork.” Andrew then asks after Jamal’s hip, saying it should be X-rayed, but they don’t have one on the ship. Jamal doesn’t know what an X-ray is, imagining it to be a traditional Australian method of curing bruises. Andrews turns to leave, but Jamal does not want him to go. He asks where Andrew learned his language and Andrew tells him he attended night school. Jamal has lots of questions but decides to prioritize asking about Rashida. Andrew says she is fine, she’s just dehydrated.
Andrew proves himself to be a kind and compassionate caretaker of Jamal and Bibi. Having fended for themselves for so long on the smuggler’s boat, Andrew is a welcome figure in their lives, providing much-needed solace. While he cannot replace their parents, he is able to provide them with a degree of comfort and safety that they had been unable to provide themselves. In this way, Andrew is a stark contrast to smugglers and pirates from before, emphasizing the good side of humanity.
Themes
Jamal is scared to ask whether Omar has been found yet. Andrew says he has not, but that he will show up, along with his ball. Andrew starts to leave, and Jamal says he hopes that Australian government brings him a big cake when it’s his birthday. Andrew looks confused and Jamal suspects he does not fully understand how birthdays work in Australia. As Jamal eats, a voice speaks to him from the doorway. He hears a football bouncing and realizes it’s Omar. Omar asks if the food for Bibi is for him.
Jamal continues to show how much he cares for his new chosen family when he works up the courage to ask about Omar. His family, interestingly, also seems to have taken precedence over soccer—Andrew is the one to bring up Jamal’s missing football, rather than Jamal. Jamal’s misunderstanding about Australian birthdays also emphasizes the potential humor in cross-cultural interactions.
Themes
