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The Night Sea
Jimmie’s mum’s notebook represents connection. Immediately after Jimmie’s mum’s death three years before the novel begins, Jimmie saved and hid the book because it contains a beloved story that she loved to hear her mum read to her. It was an important way that Jimmie and her mum connected, and after Jimmie’s mum dies, Jimmie vows to learn to read it herself so that she can feel close to her mum (Jimmie isn’t able to read).
Ultimately, Jimmie ends up doing this, but she also forms a new connection when she meets Subhi and asks him to read the story to her. The book and the story within it become something that Subhi and Jimmie can share—they’re both invested in the story and in reading, and this ultimately helps them form a close, supportive friendship. Additionally, Subhi shows that he also sees the book and the story as a symbol for connection and healing when Jimmie is seriously ill after a cut gets infected, and he reads her the end of the story believing it will help her stay alive. He recognizes the importance of the story and of helping Jimmie connect to her mum—and ultimately, Jimmie does indeed survive.
Further, within Jimmie’s mum’s story itself, the novel implies that Jimmie and Subhi are more connected than they ever realize. The story describes the Bone Sparrow as having a greenish coin in it until the healer Iliya steps on a land mine. While Oto hangs onto the Bone Sparrow necklace and assumes Iliya is dead, Iliya is, in fact, alive—and he has the coin from the Bone Sparrow necklace. Both men pass the items down to their children, who in turn pass the coin and the necklace to their children, until Subhi has the coin and Jimmie has the necklace. This helps develop the novel’s insistence that people around the world aren’t so different from one another. In The Bone Sparrow, Subhi isn’t fundamentally different because he’s Rohingya and lives in a refugee camp. In fact, all that separates him and Jimmie’s family is that Jimmie’s ancestors left Burma (Myanmar) for Australia generations before Subhi’s did.
The Book Quotes in The Bone Sparrow
The The Bone Sparrow quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Book. 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:
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Chapter 3
Quotes
Her mum had written down each and every word in that book, and one day Jimmie would read them and hear her mum’s voice again. So she didn’t pack the book into the boxes with the other things.
That was three years ago. She still can’t read the words. Still can’t hear her mum’s voice.
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Chapter 14
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‘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 23
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Queeny says they only do it so that I shut up for a bit and stop pestering them for more stories. She reckons the only time I’m ever quiet is when I’m being told a story. But Queeny doesn’t get it. I need these stories. Everyone else in here has memories to hold on to. Everyone else has things to think on to stop them getting squashed down to nothing. But I don’t have memories of anywhere else, and all these days just squish into the same. I need their stories. I need them to make my memories.
Harvey says that drawing down the stories for the oldies is important. He says it’s like I’m making the oldies their very own blanket to wrap themselves up in and keep them warm and safe.
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Chapter 33
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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
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‘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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Chapter 35
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‘The sparrow in the house. Queeny was right after all. It did mean death. Eli...’ But Jimmie hears me. She hears and her eyes go soft and she shakes her head and brings my hand up to her cheek.
‘No, Subhi, you’re wrong. A sparrow in the house doesn’t mean death. It means change. Waking up new and starting again. Subhi, a sparrow in the house is a sign of hope.’
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Get the entire The Bone Sparrow LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Book Symbol Timeline in The Bone Sparrow
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Book appears in The Bone Sparrow. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
...mum’s things and put them in the attic. Jimmie kept the Bone Sparrow and a notebook full of words that Jimmie can’t read. Jimmie still can’t read them, but one day,...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...the Centre. Suddenly, she decides she has to know more, so she grabs her mum’s book and sneaks out the bathroom window. She picks her way down the hill and reaches...
(full context)
Chapter 7
...girl asks for Subhi’s name, but she doesn’t share her name. Subhi asks if her book is hers and then nods vigorously when she asks if he can read. Then, the...
(full context)
Chapter 9
...used to enjoy her conversations with a garden gnome. Now, Jimmie picks up her mum’s notebook and says that Subhi can read. Just then, Jonah bursts in the front door, singing...
(full context)
Chapter 10
...The duck shouts that this isn’t sensible. But Subhi is desperate to read a new book.
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They settle down behind the bushes. Jimmie holds the book and says again that it’s her mum’s. Subhi wonders what it’d be like to have...
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Chapter 11
...be better to save the stories so they last longer. She thanks him, takes the book, and disappears.
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Chapter 15
...he has to look forward to. That night, she puts the phone and her mum’s book in a drawer so she can share them with Subhi later.
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Chapter 17
Jimmie then pulls the book out of her pocket and asks Subhi to read just a little bit. The story...
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Jimmie shimmies under the fence and then Subhi passes her the book. When his hand brushes the dirt outside, his hand feels like it’s on fire. Subhi...
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Chapter 18
...bad thing, which Subhi appreciates. Still, he doesn’t feel any better. He grabs at Jimmie’s book as soon as she pulls it out so he can escape into the story.
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Chapter 21
...the paper. Finally, Jimmie stands as if to go. But instead, she pulls out a book, one to help kids learn to read, and asks if Subhi can help her so...
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Chapter 25
...she didn’t bring her Thermos, and she seems confused. She doesn’t even have her mum’s book. However, Jimmie tells Subhi to read, as though she believes she brought the book. Subhi...
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...says the crocodiles won’t eat her. Subhi helps her under the fence and her mum’s book falls out of her pocket. Jimmie doesn’t notice. She walks on unevenly, and Subhi rescues...
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Chapter 26
...She can’t remember if she saw Subhi and if they read a story. Her mum’s book is also missing. Jimmie realizes she’s holding a flashlight, and she remembers that two flashes...
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Chapter 27
Subhi tells himself that Jimmie will be back for her book, trying to ignore the part of him afraid that she won’t be able to come...
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Chapter 29
...keep her calm and will make her better. This time when he reads from the book, the words aren’t magic. When the story is over, Subhi continues reading the email addresses...
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...sure nobody finds the weak spot so that Eli can escape later. He leaves the book on Jimmie’s chest and hides in the shadows. The first responders take the book off...
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