45 pages • 1 hour read
Benjamin ZephaniahRefugee Boy
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Alem Kelo
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses graphic violence, racism, anti-immigrant bias, and the emotional distress of refugees related to familial separation and loss.
Alem is the protagonist of the novel. He is a 14-year-old boy who is half Eritrean and half Ethiopian. Alem is a dynamic and round character. He loves books, learning, and architecture, and he dreams of becoming an architect when he grows up. When he first arrives in London, Alem loves the way “the old and the new [stand] side by side” when he looks at the buildings (16), symbolizing his hope for peaceful coexistence in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He expands his knowledge when he lives at the Fitzgeralds’ house and reads as many books as he can because he does not want to waste the opportunity his father and mother have given him. At first, he has difficulty completing a book because “he want[s] to know everything immediately, he [can’t] learn quickly enough” (88). Alem’s voracious attitude toward learning continues throughout the narrative, culminating in his award of the Positive Pupil Certificate, which he receives because of his dedication to learning, even through great personal tragedy.
Throughout the novel, Alem’s main internal conflict stems from his displacement from his home and his separation from his family. When Alem arrives in England, he speaks Amharic to his father, who quickly tells him he needs to start speaking English. Alem must give up portions of his identity to integrate into British society, yet even when he gives these parts up, people around him still treat him with suspicion because of his refugee status. Alem’s experience with discrimination and dehumanization causes him to stand up to his father and advocate for his friends to continue with their campaign supporting them. Although Mr. Kelo does not want to make the government angry, Alem reminds him that they “have a right to life […] and sometimes these judges and adjudicator people get it wrong” (232).
Alem’s character development through the narrative shows him becoming a strong, capable young man who wants to advocate for peace so that he can keep the memory of his mother—and later, his father—alive. Although Alem faces many challenges, the novel’s final chapter shows that he will not give up, even though those who do not know him only see him as a refugee. Instead, Alem decides to make goodness out of the bad things that have happened to him. In the end, Alem resolves to be a good person, just like his parents always wanted him to be.
Mr. Kelo
Mr. Kelo is Alem’s father, who leaves Alem in England in the hopes that he can have a better life. He is a round and static character. He is from the Amhara tribe in Ethiopia and is a man who “trie[s] to smile as much as he [can] to please others but he [takes] the business of life very seriously” (10). Mr. Kelo loves Alem so much that he and his wife decide that it would be safer to leave him in the asylum system in England. Before he leaves Alem, Mr. Kelo tells him that his only hope in life is for him “to be a good person” (21). Mr. Kelo believes that the only way to ensure this is by leaving him in England so that he will not continue to experience persecution in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Mr. Kelo leaves Alem a letter when he leaves, reminding him to love his neighbors “because peace is better than war, wherever you live” (25).
Mr. Kelo experiences severe trauma after he leaves Alem and returns to Eritrea to discover his wife is missing. Mr. Kelo describes the absurdity of war to Alem through his letter when he tells him that he found the arm of a man lying by the side of the road and thought, “Is this an Ethiopian or an Eritrean arm?” (106). The Impact of War on Individuals and Families leaves Mr. Kelo desensitized to violence, yet he is still emotional and vulnerable when it comes to his wife’s death. He teaches Alem that “people who kill and think nothing of it are cowards. Real men feel, real men cry” (211), creating an alternative model of masculinity for his son’s coming-of-age journey. He is inspired by Alem’s decision to promote his mother’s dream for peace and unity in Africa because he knows “that will mean that she lives” (212). Although Mr. Kelo is murdered before he can see peace come to Eritrea and Ethiopia, he leaves Alem with a strong sense of the importance of continuing to fight for peace and love rather than being beaten down by the trauma of their experience.
Mrs. Fitzgerald
Mrs. Fitzgerald is Alem’s foster mother and is a mother figure for him. She is a round, static character. Mrs. Fitzgerald and her husband come from Ireland, and although they have a daughter, they have spent years fostering children in their home. Mrs. Fitzgerald’s motherly attitude restores Alem because he misses his parents and longs to feel comforted. Alem likes that she makes him “feel at home without pampering him or seeming condescending” (80).
Although Mrs. Fitzgerald does not understand the depth of Alem’s suffering, she explains that she and Mr. Fitzgerald experienced similar discrimination as Irish refugees when they first came to England. Mrs. Fitzgerald teaches Alem that politicians always try to avoid responsibility for problems because it is easier to blame “the ills of the country” on a marginalized group of people (122).
Despite the discrimination she faced when she first came to the country, Mrs. Fitzgerald uses her experiences to help other people, which is why she became a foster parent. Even though Mrs. Fitzgerald cannot fill the void that Alem’s mother leaves when she dies, she tries to make sure that Alem feels supported and loved. When Alem apologizes to her for the stress of the hearings and becoming a problem for her, Mrs. Fitzgerald brushes it off and tells him, “The only problem I have is you thinking you’re a problem” (203). Mrs. Fitzgerald provides comfort and love to Alem even as he loses both parents and reminds Alem that there are good people in England who want to help him.
Ruth Fitzgerald
Ruth is Alem’s foster sister. She is a dynamic and round character. When Alem arrives at the Fitzgeralds’ house, he thinks that Ruth does not like him because she keeps her distance and speaks to him abruptly. Alem does not think they will ever get along because they have opposite interests: “Ruth was into pop music, Alem was into books; Alem loved buildings, Ruth loved clothes […] Alem was thirsty for knowledge but Ruth thought that she knew it all” (85). These juxtapositions seem like a gulf between the two children, but this distance eventually shrinks when Ruth learns to relate to Alem. She has trauma of her own from abusive foster siblings, but by getting to know Alem, she learns that he is different. When his mother dies, she is able to relate to him and act like a sister; she knows that when Alem hugs her, he is “hugging the family he [is] missing” (157).
After this, Ruth becomes an advocate for Alem and the sister he never had. Through her actions, she also becomes an important tie between Alem’s homeland and his new life in England. By digitizing Alem’s family photograph, she ensures that he will always have access to this important memory of his parents. When Alem learns that the Home Office arrests his father, Ruth brings Alem CDs with traditional music from Eritrea and Ethiopia to help him remember his homeland and culture. Although Ruth still has issues trusting her parents after they did not protect her from the other foster children, her involvement in Alem’s life slowly begins to heal her relationship with her parents.
