Boy Overboard

The sport of soccer (“football” to most of the world, including Afghanistan), Jamal and Bibi’s passion, doubles as a symbol for the way outcasts like themselves are treated, both in Afghanistan and during their flight—as well as for the large-scale political exploitation of immigration itself. First, the Taliban government “kicks” the family to the curb by blowing up their house; next, its soldiers drag Jamal’s mother into a large football stadium to be publicly executed as mass entertainment for the same crowds that used to cheer soccer games. In the refugee camp, corrupt police officers extort a hefty bribe from Jamal’s father and then dump the family into the tender mercies of a shady smuggling ring, who in turn demand another $100 from their helpless passengers before delivering them into the hands of pirates. After being buffeted by storms and almost drowned, the family and the other immigrants are rescued by an Australian warship, which drops them into the limbo of a refugee camp on a small island since the newly elected Australian government has been swept into power on an anti-immigration platform. In Australia, immigrants have become a “political football,” just a state-level reprise of how Jamal’s helpless family has been kicked back and forth from one greedy and/or despotic faction to another.

In Boy Overboard, Jamal prides himself on an illustrious heritage, believing himself descended on one side from “fierce brave desert warriors” and on the other from “honest, hard-working bakers” (12). Thus, his lineage combines honesty, public service, and a hardy work ethic with toughness, resilience, and courage. As members of a bullied ethnic minority in an unstable, war-torn nation, tales of powerful or virtuous ancestors serve as daily bread for Jamal and his family, a source of pride and comfort that gives them hope for the future. Jamal and Bibi’s optimism and dreams of sports stardom may derive, at least partly, from this ancient wellspring of self-esteem. Conversely, the “gloomy” orphan Omar admits descent from a line of thieves, one of whom “had his hands chopped off” as punishment for stealing (172), which could factor into his own pessimism and darker impulses, as when he tries to steal Jamal’s soccer ball. Jamal also suffers a crisis of confidence when he discovers that the family heirloom, a jewel-encrusted candlestick that has been passed down through his mother’s family for hundreds of years, has been sold to buy them passage abroad. As a physical embodiment of the family’s precious continuity with their ancestors, the candlestick was a sort of magical talisman that the family believed kept them safe. With this loss, Jamal’s optimism begins to flag. However, when the refugee boat starts taking on water after a storm, Jamal invokes the ancestors on his other side—his father’s baker forbears—for their relentless work ethic, which gives him strength while bailing out water: “They didn’t stop and I’m not going to either” (148).