Previous
Chapter 32
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 sleeps. When he wakes, he can hear Queeny, Harvey, and Maá—but Maá hasn’t spoken for real in a long time, so that might not be real. The fences are up now, and Jackets are collecting people whose photos they have in a book. Those people are “the troublemakers.” They took a woman from Family Three, and Subhi recognizes the blurry picture of Eli. His brother’s red glove stands out. Subhi sleeps again, and he remembers walking around the camp with Maá. Maá would listen to the birds and tell Subhi what they said. She’d sing, and once, a Jacket got his guitar to play along. When Subhi opens his eyes, Maá is singing for real. She pulls Subhi in and speaks to him in English and Rohingya. He can hear the apologies and the promises, though he doesn’t understand everything.
Subhi offers no insights into what will happen to the “troublemakers,” which is, in and of itself, ominous—particularly after the Jackets’ violence during the riot. To escape the nightmare that is his real life, Subhi escapes into his happier memories through his dreams. When he wakes, it seems as though Maá seems to have recovered enough to be present for Subhi and offer him support. It’s also notable that she’s speaking Rohingya to him, a language she’s explicitly chosen not to teach him, believing that he’ll be better prepared for life in Australia speaking English exclusively. She’s beginning, it seems, to accept the past as well as the future.
Themes
The Jackets are saying it was Eli’s fault—he was on the roof, went for Beaver, and that Beaver tried to save him. Harvey doesn’t contradict this story, which makes Subhi feel like his heart is bleeding. Harvey asks Subhi what he saw, but Subhi can’t say anything. Still, Subhi looks into Harvey’s eyes, and he can tell Harvey knows he knows because Harvey pulls him into a hug. Harvey says he tried, but Subhi can’t nod or say he gets it. In his head, Subhi hears Eli saying the Jackets aren’t “worth spit.” Subhi desperately wants to see Jimmie and tell her that he’s the only one who knows the truth.
The Jackets try to essentially cover up the fact that Beaver murdered Eli by suggesting Beaver was acting out of self-defense. However, this also suggests that the Jackets more generally see the refugees in the camp as naturally violent and adversarial, which isn’t how Subhi, at least, has just described them. Going on a hunger strike, for one, is a well-accepted form of nonviolent protest. Knowing this, Subhi begins to question Harvey’s goodness.
Themes
Subhi looks at Harvey, thinking of Oto, Anka, Iliya, Ba, Maá, Queeny, Eli, and everyone else in here. They’re all just trying to be safe—and suddenly, Queeny’s words make sense. Subhi tells Harvey that they’re all dead rats in here, and none of them will ever be safe. Harvey looks stunned, but he doesn’t try to correct Subhi. When Harvey leaves Subhi alone, the duck says Subhi has a choice: do nothing or tell someone the truth. Ignoring Subhi’s snarls, the duck says that telling the truth will mean Harvey’s “done for.” Harvey will be called as guilty as Beaver. But maybe, the duck suggests, Queeny is right: nobody cares and Subhi doesn’t exist. Subhi hurls the duck.
Having seen the violent lengths the Jackets are willing to go to, Subhi realizes that the Jackets (many, at least) don’t see the refugees as human: they see the refugees more like rats in the sense that they’re nuisances that can be tormented and killed without recourse. Assuming the truth never gets out about Eli’s murder, this is, perhaps, what will happen. As Subhi has this “conversation” with the duck, he shows he’s mature enough to realize that telling the truth will put Harvey’s job in danger. Subhi loves Harvey despite everything—but propping Harvey up may, Subhi understands, contribute to Subhi’s own oppression.
Themes
Subhi wakes up in the middle of the night. Everyone else is asleep—and Subhi can hear the Night Sea coming. There’s thunder outside and a sucking wave, and then puddles appear on the floor of the tent. The puddles grow together, and Subhi can feel his cot floating on the water. Everyone is floating now. Subhi jumps into the water and swims out of the tent. The stars illuminate all the Night Sea’s creatures, which look at Subhi like they want him to do something. Subhi can barely breathe—what can a kid like him do? Then, the whale appears. He’s just like Eli said he’d be— “as big as a country and as beautiful as anything.”
Subhi is desperate for clarity and guidance, and so this Night Sea is different from the other Night Seas he has experienced. Its violence mirrors the violence Subhi has witnessed, while the Night Sea’s creatures, including the whale, allow Subhi to grapple with the guilt and responsibility he feels for Eli’s death.
Themes
Get the entire The Bone Sparrow LitChart as a printable PDF.
The whale watches Subhi and seems to see right into Subhi’s memories. A blood-red tear falls from the whale’s eye, and Subhi says he’s sorry again and again. Subhi cries bloody tears, too, and he watches all his memories with Eli play back in the whale’s eyes. Subhi feels an ache inside that he never wants to disappear, so he never forgets. And suddenly, as Subhi looks into the whale’s eyes, he knows what he has to do. He has to make it so everyone feels the same ache and never forgets. He has to tell people that Eli existed and that now he’s gone. Subhi screams and cries, and the Night Creatures scream and die. The whale bellows and disappears. When Subhi wakes up, the Night Sea is gone. But there are dead fish all over the ground.
This fantastical experience with the whale helps Subhi understand what he must do in order to properly memorialize Eli: he needs to tell the truth about seeing Beaver murder Eli. First, though, Subhi gets the opportunity to express some of his grief as he screams and cries with the Night Sea’s creatures. As the creatures die, it suggests Subhi may be growing up and that he may be ready to leave coping mechanisms like his imaginings behind. However, the real dead fish left behind also suggest, again, that Subhi’s imaginings aren’t as unreal as readers might suspect.
Themes
