Previous
Chapter 36
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
Queeny kicks Subhi to wake up. Maá is already at the tent flap waiting. They tiptoe outside and climb on top of a container in the camp. From the top, they can see the sea. Eli was wrong: they can see it. And the sky is flickering pink, orange, blue, and purple. Subhi’s heart hurts, and he says that Eli said, “not ever.” Maá says that “Not ever can always change.” She’s holding a letter that Sarah gave her five days ago, but Maá won’t tell him what’s in it. It makes her smile when she reads it. Still, Eli was right the lights are beautiful. Jimmie will be watching too, and in Subhi’s head, they’re all watching. Hopefully Harvey is, too.
Subhi trusted Eli, but Eli was just a kid—he didn’t know everything. Maá, importantly, is speaking here, and the way she talks suggests she’s found a reason to hope. That reason seems to be the letter, which possibly outlines a way out of the camp for Subhi and his family.
Themes
The Bone Sparrow burns in Subhi’s hand. Everything will change tomorrow (the duck, which Subhi rescued from the dirt, insists that Subhi is out of luck if he isn’t ready for this change). Sarah told Subhi what’s going to happen: he’s going to tell exactly what he saw. It’ll be easy. Subhi asked her to tell Harvey he’s sorry. Maá smiled when Subhi told her his choice, and she said that Subhi is brave like Ba. Though Sarah warned Subhi not to tell anyone else what he’s going to do (since all the same Jackets, including Beaver and Harvey, are still working), word must’ve gotten around. Subhi found broken rat traps on his bed along with his shoes. The shoes fit perfectly now.
When Maá says Subhi is brave like Ba (who was a poet), she suggests that bravery and maturity actually have little to do with embracing violence. Instead, being brave and mature means telling true stories about injustices and staying true to one’s beliefs. Finding the rat traps on Subhi’s bed suggests that either the bullies themselves or others in Family now respect Subhi’s compassionate view of the rats, while the well-fitting shoes indicate that Subhi has come of age in the last few weeks.
Themes
Subhi hears a faraway sound getting louder. Maá leans over and asks Subhi if he hears it. The song seems to go right to Subhi’s bones, and Maá points to the sea. There, Eli’s whale is singing his song.
While Subhi is happy to see the whale—which he perhaps sees as a representation of Eli—he also now has Maá, awake and happy, to support him. Despite the immense trauma he’s experienced, he seems ready to embrace the future—while also holding tightly to his stories of the past and keeping his memories of loved ones like Eli alive.
Themes
