Summary
Harri and Altaf, a young Somali boy, do not attend religious education classes because their mothers find it immoral. Though Harri initially fears Altaf is a pirate because of his heritage, the boys bond and discuss their interests, such as superheroes.
Harri, Lydia, and Mamma watch the news, which frequently reports stories of children's deaths. The news inspires Harri to go to a pub "full up of killers" and interview suspects. Harri and Dean identify a man to interrogate whose "eyes looked deadly like he wanted to destroy everybody." The "suspect" advises Harri and Dean to avoid gangs and teenagers, who tend to be the ones to commit murders. However, Harri interprets the man's concern and advice as evidence that he is tricking them.
At school, X-Fire dares Harri to pull the fire alarm as initiation into the Dell Farm Crew. However, Harri cannot break the glass, and he worries that his failure will make him an enemy of the Dell Farm Crew. Later, the crew takes a quid from Dean as payment for letting him enter the cafeteria; Harri reassures Dean that the Dell Farm Crew only picks on him because Dean is white. Then, Harri and Dean bully the younger kids into letting them play on an abandoned mattress, charging the other children fifty pence to jump on it.
A tree falls in the schoolyard, and Harri watches as workers remove it, upset that the birds nesting in the tree likely died in the fall. A younger student comments that a cat probably killed the birds, and Harri shoves the child, infuriated and upset.
Miquita arrives at the house to get dressed for the carnival with Lydia. She relentlessly sexually harasses Harri, then gives Lydia a bag full of bloodstained boy's clothes, which Lydia takes to the laundrette. Harri follows his sister, wanting to play the "laundry game." X-Fire arrives at the laundrette with his dog and asks Lydia if anyone saw her wash the clothes.
Dean and Harri search for fingerprints by the river and outside Chicken Joe's, to no avail. Later, Aunt Sonia explains that she burned off her fingerprints to avoid extradition. Then, Julius, Aunt Sonia's abusive partner, returns with his baseball bat and makes Aunt Sonia wash the blood off it.
Harri and Jordan go to the playground, where Harri searches for the murder weapon among intravenous needles, and Jordan smashes beer bottles. Jordan brags about the bad things he's done, like setting the playground on fire, drinking vodka, and vandalizing police cars. Jordan chokes Harri to get him to smash more beer bottles, though Harri is scared of getting cut on the broken glass and getting in trouble.
The text switches to the pigeon narrative, which comments on how human beings destroy bird habitats. The chapter ends with a handwritten note from Poppy, asking Harri if he likes her.
Analysis
Harri repeats the phrases "everybody agrees" and "everybody knows" to support the outlandish claims he hears fellow students make. For example, Harri uses these phrases to insist that everyone from Somalia is a pirate, a person can die from "swallowing a jawbreaker," and "if a girl has an earring in her tongue it means she's slack." These varied claims indicate that Harri struggles to make sense of the world and social expectations as both a child and an immigrant to a new culture. Harri's sense of certainty helps him navigate social relationships and avoid bullying.
Harri and Dean's mattress jumping "business" is ironic and poignant. The boys begin to bully smaller children immediately after the Dell Farm Crew takes advantage of them. This anecdote illustrates how abuse and bullying are cyclical, and children become bullies to make themselves feel tough and strong in dangerous environments.
Harri misunderstands his mother's interest in news stories about children dying; he assumes that adults enjoy having "something special to pray for." Harri does not identify with the children he sees on television because he does not fully comprehend he could be a victim of violent crime. Harri's misconception foreshadows his murder.
Often, Harri tangentially interacts with crime, though he misunderstands danger and accepts confusing behaviors as normal. For example, Harri remarks how his mother "always goes serious when she pays the money to Julius." Though Harri knows the money is not for rent, he accepts that his mother pays money to a gangster as a part of life. Since Harri cannot comprehend the subtext of his mother's interactions with Julius, he catalogs her payments as just another cultural difference or rule he has to learn while in England.
On occasion, Harri is confronted with confusing and powerful emotions that he does not know how to handle. For example, when a smaller child points out that a cat might have killed a nest of baby birds, Harri is suddenly enraged and knocks the child to the ground. When examining why he and his family have grown more agitated and anxious since immigrating, Harri blames London itself, hypothesizing that the exhaust from "too many cars" makes "people go crazy." Harri is partially correct: after moving, Harri and his family find themselves in a high-stress environment, surrounded by poverty, crime, mental illness, and hostility.
The chapter opens with the image of a fingerprint, foreshadowing the role fingerprints will play in the narrative. Harri and Dean scour the woods for fingerprints, using tape to record them. Conversely, Aunties Sonia burns off her fingerprints to avoid deportation. Harri connects fingerprints with criminals but struggles to understand how Auntie Sonia, who "hasn't even done anything bad" and has "never killed anybody or stolen anything," can have the same "telltale signs of guilt" as a killer. This internal struggle is an example of the themes of the loss of innocence and "pidgin" English. When Auntie Sona explains the trauma of burning her fingertips, she affirms that Harri and Lydia are "not babies" and the family shouldn't be "always keeping secrets." However, Mamma and Auntie Sonia protect Lydia and Harri from other truths, such as Julius's abuse and the family's immigration status. Withholding information from Harri to protect him ultimately contributes to his demise. Harri and Lydia, used to keeping secrets, do not seek their parents' help when the Dell Farm Crew targets them.
In an example of the theme of morbid curiosity, Harri fixates on Auntie Sonia's burns because they look "like a zombie's fingers." Though Harri "felt sick when [he] thought about" Auntie Sonia putting her fingers on the stove, he "loved the story so much" and asks her to explain more, testing her fingers' remaining sensitivity.
Harri defers to Dean's "expertise" while searching for the killer because "Dean knows what he's talking about, he's seen all the shows." Harri and Dean's investigation is both an imaginative game and a serious undertaking. Harri and Dean replicate the speech patterns of the detectives they see on television and "collect samples" without understanding how or why. However, they do so with the honest intention of exacting justice for the dead boy. The friends' detective play becomes part of their "pidgin" way of relating to one another and exploring their world.
Harri is upset when he sees Auntie Sonia's small decorative tree. Harri compares the potted tree to "a baby who dies when it's still a baby." Aunt Sonia's tree symbolizes the children in London, like Harri, who are not allowed to grow up, either because they are killed or because their environment stifles them.
