Foreign Soil

by

Maxine Beneba Clarke

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Foreign Soil makes teaching easy.

Antonio Character Analysis

In “Aviation,” Antonio is a caseworker assigned to find Sunni emergency foster care after Sunni’s maa is taken into custody following an altercation with a woman she felt was discriminating against her. Antonio values the work he does, but his parents—at least his mother—isn’t as supportive. She thinks that kids whose parents don’t want to—or can’t—take care of them themselves are “hopeless,” and that her half-Black, half-Puerto Rican son isn’t living up to his potential by trying to help them. Antonio’s father, on the other hand, is more supportive of his son’s work. As Sunni and Antonio wait on Mirabel’s front porch for Mirabel to come to the door, Antonio hopes the person on the side of the door is as loving and supportive as his father. This isn’t quite the case though—Antonio, seeing the September 11 mementos and photographs on Mirabel’s wall, immediately understands that Mirabel’s husband Michael died in the September 11 terrorist attacks, and he also understands that this will complicate Mirabel’s ability to provide care for Sunni. He pleads with her to understand that Sunni is just a child and has nothing to do with the people who killed Michael, but the story ends on an open-ended note as Mirabel is too deep into a panic attack to fully digest and comprehend Antonio’s pleas.

Antonio Quotes in Foreign Soil

The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Antonio or refer to Antonio. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Place Theme Icon
).
Aviation Quotes

The kid’s bottom lip is quivering. He raises his hand to the front rim of the faded blue Knicks cap, slowly removes it from his head, and rests it in his lap. His face is cherubic: cheeks rounder than Mirabel’s ever seen on a child his age. Wound tightly over his head is a piece of black, stretchy material. The material conceals the boy’s hair and twists around at the top to form a kind of covered-up bun.

Mirabel takes a sharp breath in, fear rising in her throat.

Related Characters: Antonio (speaker), Mirabel, Sunni
Page Number: 228-229
Explanation and Analysis:
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Antonio Quotes in Foreign Soil

The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Antonio or refer to Antonio. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Place Theme Icon
).
Aviation Quotes

The kid’s bottom lip is quivering. He raises his hand to the front rim of the faded blue Knicks cap, slowly removes it from his head, and rests it in his lap. His face is cherubic: cheeks rounder than Mirabel’s ever seen on a child his age. Wound tightly over his head is a piece of black, stretchy material. The material conceals the boy’s hair and twists around at the top to form a kind of covered-up bun.

Mirabel takes a sharp breath in, fear rising in her throat.

Related Characters: Antonio (speaker), Mirabel, Sunni
Page Number: 228-229
Explanation and Analysis: