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Eli
Ba is Subhi’s father. Subhi has grown up believing that Ba is going to join Maá, Queeny, and Subhi at the refugee camp, which was the original plan. However, unbeknownst to Subhi, Ba is actually dead. A poet, Ba would write poems and regularly recited them to Maá’s belly while she was pregnant with Subhi. Thus, Subhi feels like he’s heard his father’s poems and stories, even though he was born at the camp and never met his father. When Queeny finally reveals that she’s been giving Subhi treasures that used to belong to Ba and letting Subhi believe that Ba was sending them to Subhi on the Night Sea, Subhi “sees” his father in front of him. Following this, Subhi accepts that his father isn’t coming and finds closure.
Ba Quotes in The Bone Sparrow
The The Bone Sparrow quotes below are all either spoken by Ba or refer to Ba. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 14
Quotes
‘Subhi. I don’t want it to end. I want this to last.’
I hand back that book without another word. I get it. I don’t want my ba’s stories to ever end either. ‘Good thing you don’t know them then,’ the duck says quietly. ‘They can’t end if they never start.’ He thinks he’s being funny.
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Chapter 33
Quotes
I look at Harvey. I think of Oto and Anka and Iliya and Ba and Maá and Queeny and Eli and all of us. All of them all that time ago, and all of us now. Just trying to find somewhere to be safe. Just walking our journey to peace. I can hear Queeny’s words in my head and now they make sense. I get it now.
‘We’re the dead rats, Harvey. Just like Queeny said. Left out to rot so no one else bothers to try. There’s no keeping safe for us.’
Harvey looks at me like he’s never seen me before. But he doesn’t say I’m wrong.
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Chapter 34
Quotes
‘It’s Ba’s,’ she says. ‘It’s his poems. It’s the last treasure.’ She touches the cover of the book with the very tips of her fingers. The way she says it makes me understand.
My treasures didn’t come from the Night Sea at all. Or from my ba. My treasures came from Queeny. Somehow that makes them even more special.
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Ba Quotes in The Bone Sparrow
The The Bone Sparrow quotes below are all either spoken by Ba or refer to Ba. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 14
Quotes
‘Subhi. I don’t want it to end. I want this to last.’
I hand back that book without another word. I get it. I don’t want my ba’s stories to ever end either. ‘Good thing you don’t know them then,’ the duck says quietly. ‘They can’t end if they never start.’ He thinks he’s being funny.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33
Quotes
I look at Harvey. I think of Oto and Anka and Iliya and Ba and Maá and Queeny and Eli and all of us. All of them all that time ago, and all of us now. Just trying to find somewhere to be safe. Just walking our journey to peace. I can hear Queeny’s words in my head and now they make sense. I get it now.
‘We’re the dead rats, Harvey. Just like Queeny said. Left out to rot so no one else bothers to try. There’s no keeping safe for us.’
Harvey looks at me like he’s never seen me before. But he doesn’t say I’m wrong.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34
Quotes
‘It’s Ba’s,’ she says. ‘It’s his poems. It’s the last treasure.’ She touches the cover of the book with the very tips of her fingers. The way she says it makes me understand.
My treasures didn’t come from the Night Sea at all. Or from my ba. My treasures came from Queeny. Somehow that makes them even more special.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
