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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 looks for Andrew, but then he remembers Andrew is on the warship. Instead, he runs over to a group of Australian soldiers. He explains that they need to send a rescue boat out, but the Australians don’t speak his language and don’t know what he’s saying. Jamal draws in the dust to explain, but the men just stare. Jamal screams at them, saying he cannot believe people are like this in Australia. The man repeats the word “Australia” back to him questioningly, and then he draws in the dust. The man draws a big island and a smaller island. He points to the big island and says “Australia,” and then points to the other island, saying: “Here, not Australia.”
Like when he and Bibi were first separated from his parents, Jamal takes immediate action after hearing his parents’ boat sank, begging soldiers to send out a rescue boat. This underscores Jamal’s unwavering optimism and initiative; instead of assuming his parents are dead or that someone else will deal with the problem, Jamal attempts to solve the problem himself. However, none of the soldiers seem able to help, and Jamal is told that the island they are on is not actually Australia.
Themes
