Boy Overboard

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism and gender discrimination.

Boy Overboard opens on a war-scarred desert landscape that includes many hazards to its residents, like minefields. Jamal, the book’s 11-year-old narrator, implies that this is how his friend Yusuf lost his leg, and in the first scene, Jamal’s impulsive sister, Bibi, runs into a minefield and steps on a mine. Desperately, Jamal and Yusuf urge her to remain absolutely still—a difficult task for the high-strung Bibi—since the device will only detonate if she lifts her foot. In this scene, the deadly mine serves as a symbol for Bibi herself, whose hair-trigger impulsiveness, which Jamal struggles to control, poses a danger to herself and her family. Loud, boisterous, and rebellious, Bibi persists in dressing like a boy and playing soccer outside, both serious violations of the Taliban’s despotic restrictions on feminine behavior. She also hurls rocks at trucks and army tanks while using coarse language. Later in the book, her assault (with bites and kicks) on a sailor gets her thrown into the sea, and when pirates invade the refugee boat, Omar must wrestle her to the ground to prevent her from attacking them, which would have had terrible consequences for the children.