Previous
Clarise
In “The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa,” Dinesh was Asanka’s friend in Sri Lanka. They were both forced to serve as child soldiers with the Tamil Tigers. As punishment for running away, the Tigers locked Dinesh and Asanka in a potato chest and nailed it shut. It’s not totally clear what happened to Dinesh, as Asanka is too traumatized to think about his friend directly, but it seems that Dinesh died in the chest, and Asanka left his body behind—an act that continues to haunt Asanka.
Dinesh Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Dinesh or refer to Dinesh. 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:
).
The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa Quotes
The head doctor said there was no blood, that he would never be locked in a chest or a fish hold again. But then the head doctor had walked out of here, left him behind, in the chest.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Foreign Soil LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Dinesh Character Timeline in Foreign Soil
The timeline below shows where the character Dinesh appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa
...time he tried to escape the Tigers—as punishment, the Tigers locked Asanka and his friend Dinesh in a potato chest and nailed the chest shut. Thinking of this makes Asanka sick;...
(full context)
...will be locked in the chest. They will shove him in the fish hold. […] Dinesh will be dead, and his face will already be decaying.” The doctor Asanka sees says...
(full context)
...find ways to fill his days. He thinks he “deserves to die” because he left Dinesh behind. He wishes they didn’t fight for the Tigers—he wishes they’d just the Tigers take...
(full context)
