The Bone Sparrow: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

When Subhi was little, he had nightmares. He had a recurring one about Beaver “coming and catching” him. According to Eli, Beaver is so mean and hateful because once, a man in here “turned crazy” and attacked people with a hammer. Beaver lost his eye. However, Eli thinks Beaver has always been mean—and besides, Harvey is nice, and he was almost killed by the man with the hammer. The man was going to get Harvey from behind, and Beaver saved Harvey. So Beaver must just choose when to be mean. Or maybe he just chooses who to be mean to. Eli thinks that this is why Harvey never says anything bad about Beaver, even when Beaver does terrible things to the refugees. Eli thinks Harvey is “spineless,” but Subhi thinks he gets it.

Eli never lets Subhi run packages when Beaver is working, since Beaver caught Eli once—Eli came out of the office bloody and warned Subhi to never be alone with Beaver. Now, everyone watches as Beaver stares Subhi down. Hopefully this is an “Inside” package, or one with stuff in it that they all get. Subhi has no idea what’s in the “Outside” packages, or how those packages even get in. Subhi tries to act unafraid as Beaver grabs his shirt. But Subhi is terrified, and his brain is buzzing. Then, Beaver throws Subhi back, and Subhi’s head cracks against the bricks. Beaver opens the package just as Queeny swoops in. The package just has washing powder in it, which Beaver pours out and stomps into the dirt. Queeny pretends to scold Subhi for playing instead of doing laundry, and eventually, Beaver walks away. Subhi feels safe in his big sister’s arms—a feeling he hasn’t experienced in a while.

Queeny tucks Subhi into bed, and Subhi feels his “brain closing.” He thinks of his ba’s stories, which his ba told Subhi when Maá was still pregnant—ba would tell the stories through her belly. When Subhi was little, he’d often ask Maá to tell him Ba’s stories. She refused, though, saying that Ba was a poet and she couldn’t tell them right. Instead, she told stories that Subhi and Queeny called her “Listen Now” stories. The stories were happy about their home in Burma, or they were Rohingya stories that weren’t happy. Those unhappy stories were  about Ba being arrested for writing poems and about Maá and Queeny being put on a boat and told not to come back.

One day, though, Maá stopped telling the stories and stopped speaking in Rohingya, too. She believes that if Subhi speaks English, people will treat him better. Someday, people will believe they belong. Subhi tries to tell himself Maá’s stories, but he can’t tell them right. Someday, Maá will tell her stories again and Subhi will learn Rohingya. Someday, Maá will see the value in looking backward and forward. Someday, Ba will come and tell Subhi stories. Until then, Subhi will keep asking for stories every night. Except on this night, after the run-in with Beaver, Subhi is tired and just wants to escape it all. So he curls up and sleeps from afternoon until the middle of the night, when a Jacket wakes Subhi up and asks for Subhi’s number. Subhi suddenly realizes he didn’t ask for a story—and everything changes.