A Guardian and a Thief: 15 Essential Questions and Answers

1. Why does Ma steal from the shelter where she works?

Ma takes food from the shelter’s supplies because severe shortages leave her unable to feed her family by legal means. She sees it as a temporary survival measure, not a career of theft. The novel reveals her theft on Day 1 when she steals eggs, and later Boomba witnesses this act. Ma’s decision is driven by her need to keep her daughter, Mishti, and her father, Dadu, fed until they can emigrate. This moral compromise echoes the broader theme of moral compromise in survival, showing how scarcity forces ordinary people into unethical choices.

2. What drives Boomba to break into Ma’s house on Day 2?

After catching Ma stealing eggs, Boomba concludes that honesty is a lie and that one must take what they want before others take it. He follows Ma home, noting the route, and later burgles the house to steal food and cash. The novel describes his reasoning: he watched the shelter manager steal, which dismantled his belief in moral absolutes. This event occurs in Chapter 4 (Day 2), where he takes rice, lentils, and other goods, discarding passports he cannot value. Boomba’s motivation is pure survival, rooted in his own history of displacement and loss.

3. How does the framed child’s drawing lead to the hidden storeroom?

While exploring the house, Boomba lifts a framed drawing titled Whale Scratches Mosquito Bites and discovers a switch underneath. Pressing it opens a hidden storeroom door. The storeroom contains bins of lentils, rice, cashews, and other staples. This revelation, detailed in Chapter 4, connects a child’s innocent artwork to a concealed cache meant for the family’s future. It serves as a symbol of hidden resources in a city of scarcity, and later becomes a key bargaining point.

4. Why does Boomba discard the passports without understanding their value?

Boomba finds three “little books” in Ma’s purse but believes they are useless bank books. He throws them away with the garbage, not realizing they are travel documents essential for immigration. The novel shows his confusion when Ma demands “passports” and he replies, “Bank books?” This misunderstanding, from Chapter 6, stems from his limited exposure to international travel; his world is confined to survival, and the documents have no tangible worth to him. It foregrounds the vast gap in opportunities between Boomba’s life and Ma’s.

5. What deal does Boomba offer Ma on Day 3, and why does Ma accept?

Boomba proposes returning the passports in exchange for Ma’s house after she emigrates. Ma accepts because she is trapped: he threatens to expose her theft of shelter supplies, which would prevent her departure and invite prosecution from the billionaire who funds the shelter. The conversation in the stairway of the shelter shows Ma weighing the risk of a police case and deciding that silence is safer. This deal reflects the theme of family love and sacrificial motherhood, as Ma sacrifices her home for her child’s future.

6. How does the Scooby-Doo T-shirt clue lead to identifying the thief?

A shopkeeper recognizes the T-shirt worn by the thief in a security video as one stolen from his clothesline. He describes the day a young man pulled clothes down and fled. This identification, from Chapter 6 (Day 3), provides Ma with a concrete connection to Boomba. The T-shirt becomes a piece of evidence that narrows the search, linking a petty clothes theft to a larger burglary. It underscores the interconnectedness of small crimes in a city where scarcity turns everyone into a potential victim or perpetrator.

7. Why does Ma agree to let Boomba stay in the storeroom on Day 4?

On Day 4, Boomba arrives at Ma’s door after being accused of theft at the shelter and learning his family’s hut collapsed. He threatens to expose Ma’s theft of shelter supplies unless she lets him stay. Ma, already vulnerable after giving away her mother’s gold bangles to a suspected scammer, reluctantly allows him into the storeroom. The novel shows her locking herself in the bedroom afterward, while Boomba searches for a weapon, taking a pressure cooker. This arrangement deepens the moral compromise, as Ma permits an intruder to share her home.

8. What is the significance of the parrot in the final chapter?

In Chapter 17, Boomba uses a parrot to gain entry into Ma’s empty house. The bird, a tool of deception, helps him bypass the locked door. The parrot later appears as Mrs. Sen’s pet, emphasizing the neighbor’s complicity or indifference. This object symbolizes how Boomba adapts any resource, even an animal, to achieve his goals. It also connects to the novel’s theme of performance—just as Boomba pretended to be a guardian at the wedding feast, he now pretends to be a legitimate occupant.

9. How does the ferry sinking on Day 5 serve as a turning point for Boomba?

During the billionaire’s wedding feast, Boomba uses Mishti to gain entry, but a ferry sinks as looters escape. Boomba saves Mishti while losing a bag of rice he had stolen. This moment, from Chapter 11, shifts him from a purely self-interested thief to a reluctant protector. He puts the child’s safety above immediate gain, revealing a protective instinct shaped by his care for his own brother, Robi. The event also escalates the conflict, as Dadu beats Boomba and forces him out, deepening the rift between the families.

10. Why does Ma decide to use forged passports despite the risk?

On Day 4, after finding only candy in the garbage heap where Boomba led her, Ma visits a photocopy shop where a man offers to forge passports and visas for gold. She is desperate—her future is collapsing, and the real passports are lost. The novel shows her agony, but she eventually collects the forgeries on Day 6 after Dadu’s death, refusing a beggar on the way. This decision highlights moral compromise in survival, as Ma chooses illegal means to escape a city that is no longer sustainable.

11. What does the garden symbolize in Dadu’s final memories?

In his dying moments, Dadu remembers childhood scenes of custard apple trees, a garden with marigolds, and a rhino painting. The garden recurs in his recollections of his wife and daughter, representing a lost world of safety, beauty, and continuity. The novel shows him waking on Day 6, then slipping into memories of the past. The garden contrasts with the barren city he scavenges, emphasizing the environmental and emotional losses that climate change and scarcity have wrought.

12. How does the heatwave and taxi strike on Day 1 foreshadow later crises?

On Day 1, Ma faces transport disruptions due to a heatwave that causes a taxi strike. This small crisis delays their trip to the consulate and sets the tone for a week of escalating hardships. The novel uses this detail to show the city’s infrastructure crumbling under climate stress. The heatwave previews the extreme conditions that will later force Dadu to scavenge in the sun, lead to Boomba’s homeless destitution, and ultimately strand Ma at the airport on Day 7 when flights are canceled due to protests.

13. What does the “jeweled globe” in the final chapter represent?

In Chapter 17, Ma returns home to find Boomba’s family occupying her house. A jeweled globe is mentioned, possibly an heirloom or symbol of the world Ma tried to reach. The globe likely represents wealth, the prized American dream, and the fragile global order. Its intrusion into the home underscores how material objects become contested in a collapsing society. The globe’s presence also hints at the billionaire’s world of privilege, contrasting with the austerity of the shelter residents.

14. Why does the phone call in Chapter 3 emphasize checking passport details?

In Chapter 3, Baba repeatedly asks about checking passports, visas, and birth dates. This obsessive concern foreshadows the theft of those very documents on Day 2. The call establishes Baba as a distant, anxious figure who cannot protect his family from afar. It also highlights the fragility of immigration plans—every detail must be perfect, or the chance to leave can vanish. The conversation’s focus on bureaucracy contrasts with the chaotic reality of scarcity and theft that Ma faces.

15. How does the ending leave Ma’s survival ambiguous?

In Chapter 17, Ma confronts Boomba’s family with a secateur. Boomba’s father strikes her with a pressure cooker, and she collapses, possibly dead. The novel does not confirm her fate; instead, Boomba retrieves Mishti and tells her that her mother said to come home. This ambiguous ending underscores the sacrificial motherhood theme—Ma’s love leads her to risk everything for her child. It also mirrors the uncertainty of survival in a world where both climate change and human violence offer no guarantees.