The Bone Sparrow Characters

The protagonist of the novel, Subhi is a young Rohingya boy who was born and has grown up in an Australian refugee camp. He’s kind, compassionate, and imaginative, which are difficult qualities to maintain in… read analysis of Subhi

Queeny is Subhi’s teenage sister. She spent her younger years in Burma (Myanmar), where she enjoyed eating delicious food and climbing trees, and so she finds camp life particularly awful and offensive. While she… read analysis of Queeny

Maá is Subhi and Queeny’s mother. While pregnant with Subhi, she fled Burma (Myanmar) with Queeny, leaving Ba, her husband, behind. While she used to be happy, sing songs, and tell wonderful stories… read analysis of Maá

Eli is Subhi’s best friend. He’s a few years older than Subhi, and while his exact age is never given, he isn’t older than 12 or 13. Eli left his (unspecified) home country several… read analysis of Eli

Harvey is a kind Jacket who works at the detention center. Though all refugees there have identification numbers, and though the Jackets are ostensibly supposed to refer to and address refugees by those numbers, Harvey… read analysis of Harvey

The primary antagonist of the novel, Beaver is a Jacket who’s known for being cruel to the refugees at the detention center. Some suggest that he’s mean to refugees because several years ago, a man… read analysis of Beaver

Jimmie is a girl who lives up the hill from the detention center with her dad and her older brother, Jonah. Her mum died three years before the novel begins. At the beginning of… read analysis of Jimmie

Jimmie’s mum died three years before the novel begins, leaving Jimmie’s dad, Jimmie, and Jonah mired in grief. She was a lively, expressive woman who loved gardening and stories. She had a book… read analysis of Jimmie’s Mum

Jimmie’s dad is a kind and loving father to Jimmie and Jonah, though Jimmie notes that he’s become a depressed shell of his former self since his wife, Jimmie’s mum, died. He’s… read analysis of Jimmie’s Dad

Jonah is Jimmie’s older brother. Though he’s often immature—he makes cruel jokes sometimes and thinks it’s funny to purposefully shoot milk out of his nose—he loves Jimmie and does his best to take care… read analysis of Jonah

Nasir is an elderly man who lives at the detention center with a few younger family members. He and Subhi are good friends, as Nasir tells good stories and has taught Subhi how to create… read analysis of Nasir

Oto was Jimmie’s great-great-great-grandfather; he’s one of the main characters in the story in Jimmie’s mum’s book. He meets his future wife, Anka, when she’s a baby, and they marry when… read analysis of Oto

Anka was Jimmie’s great-great-great-grandmother and one of the main characters in the story in Jimmie’s mum’s book. As a baby, villagers find her at the bottom of a well, having just hatched from… read analysis of Anka

In the story in Jimmie’s mum’s book, Mirka is the oldest woman who lives in Oto’s village. She and her brother, Guntis, act as wise authority figures in the village, and… read analysis of Mirka

In the story in Jimmie’s mum’s book, Iliya is a healer who lives in the mountains. He travels with Oto to find Anka, and Oto brings him the Bone Sparrow necklace from… read analysis of Iliya

In the story in Jimmie’s mum’s book, Guntis is the oldest man in Oto’s village. He and his sister, Mirka, act as wise authority figures, though the story suggests he’s not… read analysis of Guntis