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Boy Bites Spider
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 is ready to give up. Dad is currently asleep by the toilet bowl after vomiting, and Eli wants to be just like Dad. August doesn’t agree with Eli that they should use Lyle’s drug money to splurge on food and rum, so Eli drinks alone on the pier with $400 in his pocket. He passes out and wakes up in the morning. After a quick swim, Eli heads home and finds August sitting on the couch. Just as Eli sits and puts his head back to nap, August snaps his fingers—it’s a midday news bulletin. The newscaster says that “Christmas has come early” for Shelly Huffman’s family because someone left a box with $49,500 in cash on their porch. August is beaming while, on the TV, Shelly says she loves whoever gave the money.
Eli is starting to accept that life isn’t going to work out how he’d like it to. Mum isn’t going to leave Teddy, so as far as he’s concerned, he and August should use Lyle’s money and live it up while they have the chance. The fact that Eli decides to turn to alcohol (and that he wants to be like Dad, even in jest) shows how much Eli has come to love and appreciate his father. Dad isn’t an evil villain in his mind anymore. August, meanwhile, has decided to take the initiative and give away Lyle’s money to someone he and Eli like and want to help, a sign of his growing maturity.
Themes
Eli tackles August, who in turn throws Eli into the TV. Just then, Dad walks in and tells Eli to stop. August writes calming things to Eli in the air, but Eli screeches for August to talk. The phone rings, but everyone ignores it as Eli insists that Mrs. Birkbeck was right—August made up the stuff about voices on the red telephone because he’s so damaged. August writes that Eli heard the voices too, but Eli snaps that he was playing along because he felt sorry for August. Eli is sorry for saying this, but he can’t verbally apologize. Then, he turns to Dad and says maybe they’re all as “crazy” as Dad—and he asks if Dad meant to drive them into the dam. According to Teddy, Dad tried to kill his sons.
Learning that August donated the money is so difficult for Eli in part because it means he has to give up on his dream of being able to provide for Mum. The money that could buy a nice house in The Gap is gone—now, Eli has to confront life as it is. In his anger, he lashes out at August and says the most hurtful things he can come up with. He confirms in this passage that whether or not the voice on the phone is real, he did hear it. And suddenly, it’s essential that Eli learn whether Dad wanted to harm him or not.
Themes
Dad is furious, but he tells Eli to answer the phone—he knows it’s Mum since she called earlier. Eli picks up the phone, lies that he’s okay, and refuses Mum’s request that he and August stop by so Teddy can apologize. Eli insists that men like Teddy don’t change and asks Mum to share exactly what Teddy said when he apologized—Eli is tired of his parents never telling him a complete story about anything. Mum apologizes, but then Eli asks if Iwan Krol killed and cut up Lyle. Mum says she has something to share: she’s started a social work program, and a classmate told her that The Courier-Mail is always looking for young people for cadetships. Eli should go ask the editor, Brian Robertson, for one. Eli says he doesn’t feel well and passes the phone to August.
Dad is slowly but surely becoming a more understanding parent; he ignores Eli’s cruel questions and insists that Eli speak to Mum. But Eli isn’t done with the difficult questions, since he demands to know what Teddy said and wants to know what happened to Lyle. The fact that Mum won’t answer suggests that she’s maybe trying to protect Eli, if she knows at all. It seems more likely she’s trying to protect him, since she mentions the cadetship. She’s trying to show him that she’s still here for him, even if it doesn’t always seem like it.
Themes
Eli goes to the bedroom and grabs a piece of paper. Then, he starts to write a story called “A Noose of Eli Bells.” He writes that if he dies, he wants to share what happened to Lyle. Teddy had Lyle killed because he was in love with Mum. Lyle was decent, even if he was a drug dealer, and Eli is certain Iwan Krol cut Lyle’s body up. Iwan is the “psychopathic muscle” for Tytus Broz, whose artificial limb factory hides that he’s trafficking heroin. If Eli dies, any questions as to why should go to Teddy, as should any bills. And for the record, Eli and August aren’t special—they’re “crazy,” like Teddy said.
Because he’s so upset, Eli is done thinking that he and August are special. What matters now is to get the truth on paper; this is the first time that Eli seems to be able to put into words what happened. This suggests that Eli is starting to heal, and also to finally do what Slim told him to do and write his own story. Eli is growing up, even if the process is difficult.
Themes
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August knocks on the door, and when Eli tells him to go away, he slides an open copy of The Courier-Mail under the door. It’s open to an investigation of the gang warfare between the 5T and BTK gangs, and it details how upstanding members of suburban communities are profiting from widespread drug trade. When Eli sees who wrote the piece, he lies back and writes Caitlyn Spies’s name in the air with his middle finger, thinking of the lucky pointer finger he lost to one of those upstanding community members.
Caitlyn’s article shows that what Eli had started to suspect years ago is correct: the Brisbane suburbs are in no way perfect. Rather, the people in charge—like Tytus Broz and Bich Dang—have created a system where they profit. People lower down the ladder, like Lyle, can profit too, but it’s far more dangerous for them. And with Caitlyn’s help, this is becoming a better-known issue.
Themes
