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Symbols
Subhi’s “Night Sea” symbolizes his youthful, magical way of looking at the world, which is one way he copes with the horrific violence that permeates his real life and with his ba’s absence. In reality, the Night Sea is just Subhi’s interpretation of intense, nighttime rainstorms, which cause flooding even in the tents. This could be cause for alarm, but Subhi chooses to see the storms as a sea that washes up to the tent and brings magical creatures, including a singing whale, with it. In addition, Subhi believes that the Night Sea is something his ba sends to him, especially because on mornings after the Night Sea comes, Subhi regularly finds treasures. These include a greenish coin, a little soldier figurine, and a seashell, which Subhi thinks are magical messages from his father.
After Subhi sees the Night Sea for the last time, cries with his vision of Eli’s singing whale, and decides to tell the truth about the circumstances surrounding Eli’s murder, Queeny reveals to Eli that she, in fact, has been leaving the treasures for him. She explains that the objects belonged to Ba, who is no longer alive—in a way, then, Queeny’s admission confirms that Subhi was correct about the Night Sea all along. But learning the truth about the treasures, and the very mature choice he makes after seeing the Night Sea for the last time—to tell the authorities from the Outside the truth about Eli’s murder—suggests that Subhi has finally come of age. For better or for worse, by the end of the novel, he’s beginning to move away from his magical and childish way of seeing the world.
The Night Sea Quotes in The Bone Sparrow
The The Bone Sparrow quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Night Sea. 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 33
Quotes
The whale raises his head so his eyes are level with mine, and in the whale’s eye I see exactly what I have to do. For Eli. So everyone everywhere can feel that ache, fierce and strong. So no one ever forgets.
Queeny is wrong. We do exist. Eli existed. And now he’s gone. And everyone needs to know, to feel that pain tearing at them, even if just for a bit. Just so they know that once there lived a Limbo kid named Eli, and he had something important to do.
I scream out my tears now, and the sea thrashes and the Night Creatures are screeching, whirling and heaving themselves in and out of the water. All the little fish roll on to their backs and pop up to the surface of the sea, their eyes cloudy, their gills still.
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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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The Night Sea Symbol Timeline in The Bone Sparrow
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Night Sea appears in The Bone Sparrow. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...up and stop being silly, she gives him some paper so he can draw the Night Sea and its creatures.
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...Maá feels better tomorrow, Subhi will show her this picture and tell her about the Night Sea . Now, he invites Maá to go get breakfast with him, but she says she...
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...[him] another.” Eli clearly isn’t convinced that Subhi’s father is sending him gifts through the Night Sea , but Eli just says that Subhi’s father needs to work on making his messages...
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Chapter 7
...the Jackets shine their flashlights into tents to harass refugees. But on nights that the Night Sea comes, Subhi is the only one awake. Since everyone is asleep, Subhi wonders if the...
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Chapter 10
...spent each of them outside with the Shakespeare duck, waiting for the girl or the Night Sea . Subhi isn’t sure if he’s going crazy. Just as the duck tells him that...
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Chapter 14
...Subhi to give her a tattoo. Subhi draws a picture of his shell from the Night Sea and Eli’s whale swimming in it, and he then tells her Eli’s whale story. Jimmie...
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Chapter 18
The Night Sea came last night; the Shakespeare duck squeaked happily when he noticed it. Subhi found a...
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Chapter 19
It storms that night, and the Night Sea ’s waves make the tent lean. Subhi can hear Eli’s whale bellowing outside. Queeny tries...
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Chapter 33
...up in the middle of the night. Everyone else is asleep—and Subhi can hear the Night Sea coming. There’s thunder outside and a sucking wave, and then puddles appear on the floor...
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...Night Creatures scream and die. The whale bellows and disappears. When Subhi wakes up, the Night Sea is gone. But there are dead fish all over the ground.
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Chapter 34
...last treasure,” and that this is a book of Ba’s poems. Subhi understands that the Night Sea didn’t bring him treasures—Queeny left them for him. Did Eli know? Queeny says that when...
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...up from the sea and dump them inland, but it made her think of Subhi’s Night Sea .
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