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Summary
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
The narrator asks Slim if he saw “that”: “Your end is a dead blue wren.” Slim didn’t.
This cryptic opening introduces the idea that the narrator is perhaps more observant than other people, such as Slim.
Themes
There’s a crack in Slim’s windshield that looks like a stick man, and even a bit like Slim himself. Slim encourages the narrator to remember things this way: by mentally linking memories to everyday objects. This method helped Slim survive two weeks in “Black Peter,” Boggo Road Prison’s underground isolation cell. For instance, Slim’s knuckles reminded him of the hills of the Gold Coast, and his legs curled against his chest became Irene’s naked body—he “held” her for days. Since Slim believes the narrator has an “adult mind” despite being only 12 years old, he tells the narrator all sorts of prison stories. It’s essential, Slim suggests, to hear both good and bad stories.
It’s significant that the narrator opens his story not by introducing themselves, but by talking about Slim. The narrator seems to idolize Slim and adore Slim’s stories of finding ways to mentally survive his incarceration. These stories are, perhaps, more interesting or important to the narrator than their own life and experiences. Hearing these stories and learning the techniques makes the narrator feel mature and competent.
Themes
The narrator, Eli Bell, is going to remember learning to drive Slim’s car by linking the memory to his left thumbnail. Slim, or Arthur Halliday, who’s known as the Houdini of Boggo Road, was sentenced to life for killing a taxi driver. As Slim walks Eli through putting in the clutch, Eli’s mind wanders. Eli’s brother, August, is sitting on the fence, writing in the air with his finger. When Slim snaps and asks if Eli is listening, Eli lies that he is—but he’s too busy thinking about August, Mum, Mum’s boyfriend Lyle, and Slim. Slim is the only person who took Eli seriously when he told Slim about the lucky freckle on his right forefinger years ago. Slim nodded and said the freckle was “home.”
Eli’s narration is scattered, shifting quickly from talking about his present experiences in the car with Slim to talking about the past. This suggests Eli is struggling to stay in the present and not get so caught up in the past—a sign that for now, the past and Slim’s stories are more important to Eli. But relating this anecdote about his lucky freckle shows readers how Eli grounds himself. His freckle makes him feel real, and Slim’s analysis (that the freckle is “home”) shows that it’s through the freckle that Eli feels like he belongs.
Themes
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Slim snaps at Eli again and accuses him of not listening, and he’s right—Eli is thinking about August instead of listening. August doesn’t talk. He communicates through body language and has since Mum ran away from Dad when August was six. Since then, August has also been obsessed with reflective surfaces and staring at the moon. At night sometimes, he slips outside, creates a puddle in the street with the hose, and stares at the moon’s reflection in it. Eli once called it “the moon pool,” which made August smile. Then, August wrote “boy swallows universe” in the air.
Again, Eli shows that he’s much more interested in telling readers everything about the people he lives with than he is in telling them about what he’s doing in the present with Slim (presumably, learning to drive a manual transmission). This passage establishes August as difficult, if not impossible, to figure out. He seems to do things that make little or no sense, but he and Eli are still close. Eli also confirms that his parents aren’t together (Mum currently has a boyfriend named Lyle).
Themes
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Back in the present, Slim and Eli watch August writing some more. Eli translates: August is writing “Your end is a dead blue wren” over and over again. Slim says that August has the answer to everything and says that Mum and Lyle will be back soon. He insists they’re seeing a movie, but Eli knows better: they’re dealing drugs. Slim and Eli trade spots and Slim coaches Eli through driving around the block. When they get back to where they started, Eli asks August if he saw Eli drive in a screech, but August is busy writing the same name again and again: Caitlyn Spies. Eli doesn’t know anyone by that name, but he knows August’s phrases—“Your end is a dead blue wren,” “Boy swallows universe,” and “Caitlyn Spies”—are the answers to all the questions.
Slim and Eli might have no idea what exactly August is up to, but Slim encourages Eli to take August seriously. It’s not clear if Slim actually thinks August is particularly wise, or if his goal is to make sure that August always feels like his family members love him and take him seriously. But whatever Slim’s goal, Eli still shows that he takes everything that August says very seriously. These phrases will haunt Eli throughout the novel, which in and of itself shows how important paying attention to his brother is to Eli.
Themes
