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Chapter 34
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 wakes up to Jimmie looking down at him. They quietly tell each other jokes for a minute, holding in their giggles. Then, Jimmie gives the Bone Sparrow necklace to Subhi. She says it’s his turn, since she doesn’t need its protection anymore: her dad is back for good. And he shared with her that he knows Oto and Anka’s stories and others, too, and he’s going to tell them to her. As she thanks Subhi for saving her, Subhi thinks of all the things he wants to tell her. He starts to say that Queeny was right about the sparrow meaning death, since Eli died. But Jimmie says sparrows in the house mean change, as sparrows are symbols of hope. Subhi closes his eyes. It’s all a dream in the morning, except Subhi has the Bone Sparrow in his hand and a Thermos of hot chocolate next to his bed.
Now that Jimmie has her living family members around to take care of her, she no longer needs the Bone Sparrow’s more symbolic protection—while Subhi seemingly needs the necklace because he lives in a dangerous environment from which his family cannot protect him. Jimmie also helps Subhi understand that sparrows don’t have to symbolize only negative things. Perhaps it did foretell Eli’s death—but it may also have been letting Subhi know that things might change for the better.
Themes
Subhi finds his notebook and pencil and starts to write. His head fills with stories that haven’t happened yet and memories, but he tells them to wait. First, he has to tell a hard story, one that’s more important than all the others.
The hard, important story is presumably that of Eli’s murder. Telling this truthful story will allow Subhi to memorialize and honor Eli.
Themes
