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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Bone Sparrow, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Dehumanization, Invisibility, and Refugee Camps
Childhood
Family and Friendship
Storytelling, Escapism, and Hope
Summary
Analysis
Jimmie knows what today is, and she doesn’t want to wake up and acknowledge it. Instead, she burrows deeper under the yellow blanket with monkeys on it that her mum gave her when she was six, four years ago. Maybe if she curls up in the dark, tomorrow will come faster—and then they won’t have to deal with today for another year. While Jimmie can hear people getting on with their days outside, she hears nothing in her own house.
Jimmie’s house seems frozen in time, much like the world in Subhi’s imagination when he stuck his head in the pool. But while Subhi found some peace when his world stopped, Jimmie wants to escape her frozen house. This establishes Subhi and Jimmie’s differences, as does the simple detail that Jimmie lives in a house, not the detention center.
Themes
The first and second years were the hardest, but Jimmie’s dad was right: it is getting easier. Today marks the beginning of the fourth year. It’s now been three years since Jimmie’s mum gave her the Bone Sparrow necklace and died the next day. Jimmie held the necklace at the funeral so hard that it hurt her hand and the back of her neck where the cord cut into her. She kept expecting to see her mum sweep in and say it was all a mistake. But in the weeks after, Jimmie and her dad packed up all of her mum’s things and put them in the attic. Jimmie kept the Bone Sparrow and a notebook full of words that Jimmie can’t read. Jimmie still can’t read them, but one day, she’ll be able to, and then she’ll hear her mum’s voice. Now, Jimmie hears her dad sob outside. She inspects the Bone Sparrow, which once held a green coin. Mum used to say that it protected the family and carried every family member’s soul. Jimmie, though, doesn’t feel protected.
Finally, the narrative reveals that Jimmie is still grieving her mum’s death and that today is the anniversary of her death. Interestingly, while Queeny suggested sparrows herald death, Jimmie’s mum believed that sparrows—or at least, the Bone Sparrow necklace—was a protective and positive force. It remains to be seen which interpretation is correct, but for now, Jimmie seems to agree more with Queeny than with her mum. Note that the Bone Sparrow once held a green coin—and that one of the treasures the Night Sea brought Subhi was a green coin. This detail suggests the two characters may be connected, though the specifics of this connection remain unclear at this early point in the story.
Themes
