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Boy Takes Flight
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Boy Swallows Universe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Goodness, Masculinity, and Coming of Age
Trauma, Coping, and Healing
Family, Love, and Mentorship
Storytelling and Justice
Money, Suburbia, and Criminality
Summary
Analysis
Eli asks if Slim can see August and Mum smiling as they read August’s invitation to receive an award for his work raising money for muscular dystrophy. Eli acknowledges that he hasn’t asked Dad about the moon pool, but maybe everyone’s happiness depends on forgetting the bad parts of the past. Who knows if he meant to drive them into the dam, and who knows if Slim killed the taxi driver. But Slim did his time, and maybe Dad did too. And Slim was right about August: August does have all the answers. August keeps saying both he and Eli came back from the moon pool, and he’s right.
Things are starting to look up for Eli’s family, and this makes it easier for him to decide that past events don’t matter quite as much as they did before. What matters is that Dad is now involved and doing his best to make up for the past. And similarly, Eli has decided that Slim was a fantastic mentor, and the possibility that he killed someone doesn’t actually change that fact. Saying that August was right that they came back from the moon pool shows how far Eli has come. He seems to imply not that he and August literally died and came back, but that they’ve recovered from past trauma.
Themes
Stepping back, Eli says Alex Bermudez spent four hours with Eli, giving the interview. He then turned to August and asked if August needed any help. In that moment, August came up with the idea for Criminal Enterprises, which would allow wealthy criminals like Alex to give back to their communities. It’d be like Robin Hood. A week later, a box arrived addressed to August, filled with $10,000 in random bills. Back in the present, Mum insists they’re all going to go to the award ceremony, even Dad.
Criminal Enterprises allows August to put Slim’s advice about what makes a good man (making good choices, rather than goodness being innate) into practice. Criminals, or former criminals, can give to August’s charity, and this will help push them further toward being good people.
Themes
Eli asks Slim if he can see Eli working. Eli is now the back-up to the back-up horseracing writer at The Courier-Mail. He basically does whatever Brian Robertson tells him to. He works in the same room as Caitlyn Spies, though she sits at the front and he sits in the back by the crossword editor, Amos Webster. Eli thanks Slim for the job—as Eli explained to Brian after he sent in his article about Alex Bermudez, Slim encouraged Eli to write to Alex. Brian agreed to run Eli’s article, but he changed most of it. He refused to open it with Alex’s favorite poem, the one Eli sent Alex in a letter; and he insisted Eli wasn’t a crime writer because Eli writes about details, not “the scoop.” Whenever he can, Eli notices details about Caitlyn.
The details Eli gives about his job at The Courier-Mail make it clear that his role is very low-level. Eli also highlights that he has a lot to learn about journalism—he’s passionate, but at least in Brian’s opinion, Eli doesn’t understand how to write in the style that’s appropriate for the newspaper. With this advice, Brian starts to step into a mentoring role to Eli. Finally, thanking Slim’s memory, and asking if Slim can see all of these good things happening, shows how much Eli still relies on his former mentor. Slim is still the most important person in Eli’s mind.
Themes
One afternoon, in a scream, Brian asks where the pens are. Eli stands up to see what’s going on, but Amos tells him to sit down so he doesn’t get hurt. Amos then explains that Brian isn’t looking for writing utensils; he’s looking for the Penn family, who disappeared in Oxley, a suburb near Darra. He’s mostly upset because Veronica Holt, a ruthless reporter at the Sunday Mail, got the story first. Eli snags a copy of the Sunday Mail from the stationery cabinet. The story implies that husband and wife Glenn Penn and Regina Penn were likely involved in the local drug trade. The photo, though, includes their eight-year-old son, Bevan. All three have vanished.
Noting that Brian is upset mostly because a different paper broke the story highlights the differences between Eli and his boss. Eli cares about people: he wants to tell relatable stories and humanize people who are supposedly unsympathetic. Brian, on the other hand, seems to just want to be able to say that he reported the Penn family’s disappearance first. The fact that it’s only implied that Glenn and Regina are involved in the drug trade speaks to how little outsiders know about the suburban drug trade—nobody knows for sure what’s going on if they don’t live in the area.
Themes
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Eli studies Bevan’s photo. Does Bevan have a nonspeaking older brother? Is the gardener a prison escapee? Is the family actually hiding in a secret room, where Bevan takes calls from a mysterious man on a red telephone? Addressing Slim, Eli says things keep changing, but the cycles keep repeating. Ignoring Brian Robertson’s rule that Eli can’t hang out at the crime desk, Eli approaches Caitlyn Spies. She’s on the phone, but her colleague, Dave Cullen, tells Eli to go away. Eli says he’s familiar with the Penns’ suburb. Dave mocks Eli, but Eli ignores him and studies Dave’s notes. He sees words like Golden Triangle and heroin, and then one phrase that makes him shiver: “llama hair?”
Eli sees himself in Bevan, which is why he wonders if Bevan has a brother like August or a mentor like Slim. Mentioning the repeating cycles suggests that Eli fears that the drug trade in the suburbs will hurt Bevan, just like Eli was hurt when he lost Lyle, Mum went to jail, and Iwan cut his finger off. So, it may seem like Eli is approaching the crime desk out of curiosity and because he’s obsessed with crime writing, especially given Dave’s response. But Eli is really stepping up because he feels responsible to Bevan.
Themes
Eli blurts “Iwan Krol” so loud that Caitlyn spins around and stares. Just then, Brian opens his door and shouts at Eli to leave the crime desk alone. Brian then calls Eli into his office. He needs Eli to write about the Queensland Day awards. Eli says August is getting an award, and then Brian gives Eli a list of others who are getting awards. Eli should write about each person on the list, and he can be “flowery.” Eli is thrilled to have a real assignment. He studies the list and stops at the last name. It’s Tytus Broz. Brian calls to Eli—Eli went all white and clenched his fist. Eli says he’s fine, and Brian realizes Eli is missing a finger. He asks how he lost it. Eli doesn’t answer. A ghost took it.
The note about mysterious llama hair helps things click into place for Eli: Iwan Krol (who runs a llama farm by day) has abducted the Penns. Because everyone underestimates Eli, though, he can’t tell Brian or Dave what he knows. So, getting this assignment to write about the Queensland Day award recipients is a huge boon for Eli. It’s an important writing assignment on its own, but he’ll also get the opportunity to interview Tytus Broz—and, perhaps, get revenge.
Themes
