The Bone Sparrow: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

There are three boys in Family Tent One who are nearly men. Queeny thinks they’ve been here too long, while Harvey thinks they’re just bored. But Subhi doesn’t get mean like they do when he’s bored. Eli was the only one who could get them to quiet down and be reasonable. Before Eli was in Family, when Subhi was little, these boys would trap rats. The rats are pretty harmless—sure, they nibble on toes at night, but they run if you move. Queeny said the rats deserved to die, while Harvey agreed that getting rid of disease-carrying rats was a good thing. He made Subhi promise to stop giving the rats rice in exchange for leaving his fingers and toes alone. Eli was the one who got the boys to stop when he saw how much Subhi hated it. The boys beat Eli up, but they didn’t trap rats again.

Now, Subhi waits for Eli by the fence. Eli hasn’t come the last few days like he promised he would—but when Eli comes into view, Subhi says that Harvey is right and Eli is doing fine. Eli asks where Subhi’s shoes are. Holding back tears, Subhi said he couldn’t stop them. They took his shoes, his pants, and the package delivery business. Eli says it’s okay, and though Subhi knows he’s lying, he feels better. They chat for a bit before Eli walks back to his tent. Subhi didn’t tell Eli that the boys are making traps again. He didn’t say that the boys took him to a trap with a newborn rat in it and told Subhi to kill it. Instead of telling the boys off, Subhi killed the baby rat. From the shadows, the other rats shook their heads.

It’s now been eight nights since the girl came, and Subhi has spent each of them outside with the Shakespeare duck, waiting for the girl or the Night Sea. Subhi isn’t sure if he’s going crazy. Just as the duck tells him that talking to a rubber duck is crazy, the girl appears and sits down next to Subhi. She asks if the duck is Subhi’s, she nods, and then she asks how long Subhi has been here. Subhi explains that he was born here and tells the girl about his family as she twirls a beautiful feather. The girl says her mum died after she got a fever and “something in her brain just popped.” She tells Subhi about Jonah and her dad and finally introduces herself as Jimmie.

Jimmie pulls out a small flashlight and turns it on, but Subhi shoves it down and hisses that the Jackets will see it. She asks where they can go to read. Subhi has read everything there is to read in Family, including the instruction manual for new stuff in the Rec Room. It was so boring, but he still learned how the Outside men who installed the new stuff did it wrong (the people in here want to help, but they’re not allowed to use tools). Suspiciously, Jimmie says Subhi’s going to read her mum’s stories and confirms he can indeed read. Subhi dutifully takes her to the blind spot by Alpha, where Beaver found him. The duck shouts that this isn’t sensible. But Subhi is desperate to read a new book.

They settle down behind the bushes. Jimmie holds the book and says again that it’s her mum’s. Subhi wonders what it’d be like to have a book of Ba’s stories—but no Ba to read them. Then, Jimmie pulls a necklace from under her shirt, which was also her mum’s. Subhi can only see the bird sitting on his pillow as Jimmie says it’s a sparrow carved from bone. Subhi reels backwards, hitting his head on the brick. He feels clammy and tingly—and he shouldn’t be here with a girl wearing a symbol of death. But when Subhi says this, Jimmie laughs. She explains that her mum said it was for protection, though clearly it’s not great protection since her mum still died. But maybe her mum would’ve died sooner had she not been wearing it. After a minute, Subhi asks if they can read now.