Themes of Refugee Boy

A Piece of Analytical Writing: ‘Themes of  Refugee  Refugee Boy’ Boy’ There are many themes in the book,  Refugee Boy and I will name some of them. In this piece of analytical writing I will talk about the themes; Love; Injustice and Being the outsider. For each theme I will provide a point, evidence and an explanation. For  some of the points I will provide more than one piece of evidence. One of the themes of  Refugee  Refugee Boy is love. In the novel, Zephaniah focuses on the love shared between a parent and a child. For example, when Alem’s father brings Alem to England he says:

‘Until the fighting stops me and your mother think it would be best   for you to stay in England’  (Pg 32). This evidence shows Alem’s father’s selfless love for Alem. By saying ‘it would be  best’ for them to separate until the fighting stops, Alem’s father is sacrificing his own happiness for the safety of his son. His father is also saying that he can come back  when the fighting stops, but he will stay there to try to make it safer, which means that they will try and make the country safer for Alem. This means that they will risk their  own lives for the safety and comfort of Alem, and that is the ultimate gift of love from a parent to a child. Another example of love appears in  Refugee Boy when Alem’s father gives Alem the choice of his dinner, he says:

‘So what do you want to eat? In London you can eat anything, the choice is yours.’  (Pg 25) This tells us that Alem’s father really cares about Alem and loves him because he is giving Alem the choice to eat whatever he wants. He does not let money disrupt his love for his son. Also later on, he goes on to list all the options for Alem to see. This means that he wants Alem to know all of the options to make a decision. While the mane focus is on parental love, other types of love can be seen as well, like love  between friends. For example, when Alem’s application for asylum had been turned down, Alem’s friends came to help him. In the meeting Robert said:

‘All right, we are here today because we all want justice for our   friend Alem. We have all agreed to help out in any way we can to get  him and his father to stay in the country for as long as he needs to.’  (Pg 246) This shows the love between Alem and his friends is great; they are willing to do anything to help out Alem. The regard him as a friend, and love him very much. Also they are not stressing Alem to do what they want because they say  for as long as he needs to . They are also putting their free time and hobbies behind so they can help their friend in need. Two other themes which appear in ‘Refugee Boy’ are injustice and power over others. In the novel, the author focuses on people having power over others, and using their   position to cause injustice. I know that the novel  Refugee Boy is based on the theme of 

unfairness because of what the author says in the preface of the novel. Benjamin Zephaniah says:

‘When I met Million and Dereje Hailemariam, two teenagers who had been denied asylum in Britain, I knew I had to write a story that  would illustrate the suffering and struggles that many asylum  seekers have to endure.’  (Preface)  Not only does this tell us why the author wrote a book about this topic, it tells us that the story has a theme of unfairness and struggles. It also shows us that the book has the theme power over others as the two teenagers had their application for asylum turned down. This was exactly like what happened to Alem and his father; their lives were turned upside down by the corrupt judge. So since Zephaniah says that he will write a book because of the two teenagers’ unfair turn of events, which must mean that Refugee Boy is also because of that. Another example for this theme happens when Alem and his father appeared in the court room, the judge says:

‘I have given this case much consideration, but I am afraid that I  must turn down your application for asylum.’  (Pg 234) This shows us that the judge has the future of Alem and his father’s future in his hands, but he is misusing his power to send them out of the country. This argument can be looked at in two ways. The first view is that the judge is misusing his power  over Alem and his father by sending them out of the country, they have done nothing wrong, and so they should be allowed to stay. The second view to this argument is that the judge is actually innocent, and that he was persuaded by the opposition speaker to send Alem and his father out of the country. After all he did say that he gave the case a lot of consideration, this means that the judge is just doing his job, and that Nicholas Morgan (Alem’s Barrister) did not provide a good enough speech to persuade the judge. Out of the two views I think that the first view is correct, this is  because I think that the judge was just saying that he had given the case a lot of   persuasion so that it would not look suspicious. After all, no matter how good the opposition speech was, it would be inhumane to turn down Alem and his father’s application for asylum, and that shows real injustice. Another example is when Alem enters into the English classroom; he got knocked onto the floor by another pupil. Zephaniah described Alem’s feelings by saying:

‘It hit Alem on the back and knocked him to the floor. The whole class began laughing. Alem lay completely still. He was physically unhurt but wished he could disappear through the crack in the  floorboard that he was now looking down at. He wanted to fade away and reappear back home with the Fitzgeralds.’  (Pg 103) It is really unfair that everyone starts laughing at Alem because he fell down. Though the sight would be quite funny, people should restrain their urge to laugh; one reason is because it is generally rude to laugh at another person, and the other reason being that Alem is new to the school, and even the country! From the way Zephaniah says the whole class began laughing  sounds like they did not even try to contain their urge to laugh. They should have seen Alem’s expression and stopped laughing. The were  being really cruel to Alem.

My third and final theme that appears in  Refugee boy is being the outsider, in the novel the author focuses on the fact that being unfamiliar to a particular place can be very hard for you, and sometimes people can take that to their advantage. For  example, when Alem was chairman for a class debate, he said something wrong, he looked at Christopher for help, but Christopher double-crossed him by saying:

‘Say that you’re sorry, you’re just a wanker’  and once Alem had said that the whole class erupted with laughter.’  (Pg 135) This evidence shows us how Christopher is taking the advantage that Alem is new to England, and therefore he will be unfamiliar with most of the English language, especially slang. He uses this to his advantage by telling Alem to say that he is sorry and he is just a wanker. This makes Alem fell alienated and the fact that the whole class erupted with laughter  didn’t help in any manner. This would make Alem feel like the odd one out, because he did not know what a wanker  was. Therefore he was the outsider . In conclusion, Refugee Boy has many themes and I have named a few. I have given many points, examples and explanations. I have named three themes of  Refugee Boy  but there are many more. From reading this book I have realised that refugees are not  bad people like I had imagined. They are not fake or bogus. Benjamin Zephaniah has told us that refugees have not left their homes and families for the sake of it, they have left the things and people they love because of their own safety. They will have a hard time fitting in, and you will have to try to help them as much as you can. Refugees have lost their home to disastrous circumstances such as war or famine. They deserve to be respected, they are not fake, and they are not bogus. They are human beings.

 Havish Samudrala 9B