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Chapter 29
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
Subhi can only think of Maá, Queeny, and Eli. He races toward the fences, but he stops when he hears screaming. Frozen, Subhi just watches. But when he realizes that he’d be okay “sizzling right up like a sausage” as long as he’s with his friends and family, he slips through the wire and into the camp. Nobody shoots at him, and there are no rats in sight. The downed fences mean the different sections are no longer separate. The fire reaches a gas canister by the kitchen, and the explosion throws Subhi to the ground. His head is bleeding. Hearing feet and boots running, Subhi hides in a tent’s shadow. He realizes he’s looking at his and Jimmie’s corner, which isn’t a corner anymore since the fence is down. Ahead, Subhi sees Eli running. Eli can escape.
Again, Subhi knows and accepts that what matters most to him are his friends and family. And so, he’s willing to accept a frightening, painful death if it means he dies with those he loves. In noting that the rats are gone, Subhi points to the fact that while the rats might in some ways be the most powerless beings in the camp, they also have the power to leave and escape danger. The people inside have no such privilege.
Themes
With a crash, the perimeter fences come down and people begin charging over the fences. Eli runs with the crowd, but he suddenly stops and turns back. Subhi thinks Eli is running for him, but then he realizes Eli isn’t looking at him—Eli is running away from Beaver. Beaver drags Eli back as Eli tries to shimmy under the fence. Subhi notices that Eli is digging in the soft dirt by the bushes, but Eli won’t find what he’s looking for. If he could find the knife, he might be able to save himself. But instead, Eli’s eyes briefly meet Subhi’s as Beaver hits Eli with his stick again and again, until Eli stops screaming and moving. Later, Subhi will tell himself that he was about to get up, fight Beaver, and save Eli. He’ll tell himself he did nothing because Harvey showed up.
In this sickening, traumatizing passage, Subhi has no choice but to confront the Jackets’ bigotry and cruelty. Beaver chases Eli down and beats him, seemingly to death, just because he can, and because he seems to genuinely despise the refugees in the camp. That Subhi witnesses this is, of course, traumatizing for him, not least because he realizes Eli planned to be able to fight back with the knife that Subhi moved. With Harvey’s arrival, Subhi hopes that Harvey will stop Beaver and finally stand up to his colleague—though Harvey’s track record suggests this might not happen.
Themes
Harvey is angrier than Subhi has ever seen him. He feels Eli’s neck for a pulse, shouts at Beaver, and shakes Eli. When Eli doesn’t move, Harvey gets up and pushes at Beaver to go. Subhi is certain Harvey is going to get a doctor. Harvey calls back for Beaver to follow him—but then, both Subhi and Beaver see Eli’s hand move a tiny bit. It’s like he’s waving or asking for help. Harvey sees it too, but Beaver sees a rock. Subhi realizes what’s going to happen and tells himself to close his eyes and ears, but his body won’t listen. When Beaver is finished, he walks away. Harvey follows Beaver.
Beaver murders Eli in cold blood, seemingly because he finally has the chance to take out his anger and his prejudice on a refugee. Subhi is so traumatized already that he’s physically unable to do the one thing he could do to protect himself: close his eyes. Harvey, meanwhile, lets Subhi (and Eli) down as he fails to stop Beaver and then just walks away. In doing this, he shows that he sides with Beaver, calling his true loyalties into question.
Themes
