Omar/The Boy Character Analysis

Omar is a young boy that Jamal meets at the refugee camp outside Afghanistan. While his thievery initially offends Jamal, Omar slowly endears himself to Jamal, proving himself to be a loyal and reliable friend over the course of their journey. This begins when Bibi accidentally kicks Jamal’s football into the water and Omar runs to retrieve it, risking his life to do so. Though he is motivated in part by his selfish desire for the ball, he is also clearly acting out of kindness. Later, Jamal and Omar bond over being separated from their parents, a bond which allows them to form a tentative, if begrudging, friendship. It is not until the pirates board the smuggler’s boat, however, that Omar truly proves his worth. By stopping Bibi from attacking the pirate assaulting Jamal, Omar prevents Bibi from attracting attention to the fact that she and Rashida are girls. This likely saves both their lives, and at the end of the novel, when Omar reveals shamefully that his ancestors were thieves, it is this memory that makes Jamal realize Omar’s inherent value. Though Omar clearly thinks he is just another thief like his ancestors, Jamal realizes this is not the case: a person is more than who their ancestors were. As such, Omar teaches Jamal an important lesson about the complexity of people, allowing Jamal to better understand himself and his relationship to his past.