Izzy Character Analysis in Foreign Soil

In “Gaps in the Hickory,” Izzy is Delores’s former wife, Jeanie’s mother-in-law, Jackson’s mother, and Carter and Lucy’s grandmother. She dies shortly before the story’s present, and Carter and Delores take her death especially hard. When Jackson was a young boy, Izzy discovered that her husband Denver (now Delores) was transgender. She responded with compassion and insisted that Delores leave their rural Mississippi town for her own safety. She also kept Delores’s gender identity a secret—not out of shame, but to protect Delores from friends and family (like Jackson) who would never accept her. Izzy would regularly visit Delores in New Orleans, and they remained good friends until Izzy’s death. She leaves the family house in Mississippi to Delores in her will. It’s Izzy who first recognizes that Carter, too, is transgender, and she’s the only family member Carter knows who actively seems to accept him for who he is. Izzy brings Carter’s transgender identity to Jeanie’s attention and pleads with her to take Carter to live in New Orleans with “Denver” (now Delores), where Carter will be safe.

Izzy Quotes in Foreign Soil

The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Izzy or refer to Izzy. 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:

Denver ain’t her no more. He jus the man her best friend Izzy married then split from. He jus somebody she used-a know, long time ago. The real her was born when she came to Orleans. Real her is Delores.

Related Characters: Asha (The Older Sudanese Woman), Delores, Izzy, Millie Lucas, Jackson

Page Number and Citation: 136

Explanation and Analysis:

Delores recounts her past life, in which she lived in rural Mississippi with her wife, Izzy, and was still—to the outside world—Denver: husband to Izzy, father to Jackson, and the archetypal Southern man. In reality, Delores is transgender. She identifies as a woman and did long before she moved from Mississippi to New Orleans. When she observes, “The real her was born when she came to Orleans,” she’s getting at the complex relationship between identity and place—how being in a place where one feels accepted and at ease can allow a person to ease into themselves and be a whole, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat.

Izzy Character Timeline in Foreign Soil

The timeline below shows where the character Izzy appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Delores looks out the window and sighs. She’s tried not to think about her friend Izzy’s death, but it’s hard when it’s the middle of the summer—the time of year Izzy... (full context)

...and sits down. It’s summer in Mississippi, and it’s unbearably hot outside. Jeanie looks at Izzy’s crochet blanket spread across Lucy’s bed. It has holes in it from where Lucy pokes... (full context)

...Carter has been digging his fingernails into his palms—a habit that started when his grandma Izzy died. Jackson starts to yell at Carter, and Carter stares at his feet. (full context)

Delores remembers that Izzy would warn her to watch out with Ella. She told Delores to make up with... (full context)

Communication and Misunderstanding Theme Icon

...too hot, he says—Jackson calls him soft. He accuses him of moping around ever since Izzy died. But this is true, and Carter misses Izzy terribly. She died of a cold,... (full context)

...notes that it’s been a long time since Delores’s friend from Mississippi came to visit. (Izzy used to drive down once a month.) Delores hasn’t been able to tell Ella that... (full context)

It was Izzy who told Jeanie about Carter. She told Jeanie she’d caught Carter dressed up in a... (full context)

...the Still. Delores hated leaving Mississippi, though she’s grown to love New Orleans. It was Izzy who told Delores to leave—nobody in their small town would accept the way she was.... (full context)

...old clothes. Carter turns and looks at his sister. He likes the dress she’s wearing; Izzy bought it for her, he remembers. She brought it back from one of her visits... (full context)

Delores’s thoughts drift back to Mississippi—back to the days when she was Denver, Izzy’s husband. They were married for nine years and already had Jackson when Izzy found out... (full context)

...changed. Lucy enters the kitchen, excited to eat spaghetti. Carter follows her inside, looking sullen. Izzy’s warning about Jackson finding out about Carter echoes inside Jeanie’s head. Jeanie tries to say... (full context)

...Mississippi when Jackson was about Carter’s age. It was hard for her, but she and Izzy thought that was best; Jackson was too young to understand it, anyway. Izzy told Delores... (full context)

Four years ago, Jackson came to visit Delores, though Delores never told Izzy about it. He’d come wanting Denver’s help for one thing or another. When Delores answered... (full context)

Carter still hasn’t touched his food. Instead, he traces the porcelain plate’s floral pattern. Gram Izzy bought it at the thrift store years ago. When Jackson found out where Izzy got... (full context)

...eyes shake as she opens it. It’s a letter from a lawyer in Mississippi; apparently, Izzy has left her the house. Delores tells Ella about the house, and Ella asks if... (full context)

Carter continues to trace the porcelain plate’s floral pattern. He thinks about Gram Izzy. She never had many friends around Newmarket. He knows this had something to do with... (full context)

...wants to do. Delores wipes the sweat from her forehead and blinks; she knows that “Izzy’s soul done leap through the gaps in the elm an the hickory,” and she knows... (full context)

...bad back in Newmarket, so Jeanie’s brought Carter to stay with her grandpa (Delores), like Izzy told her to do. Lucy is too young and will stay back in Mississippi. Carter... (full context)

...to see who she’s been staring at. She peers down at the street and cries, “Izzy’s Carter!” She calls out to him. Delores can hardly contain her joy: she knows that... (full context)

Izzy Character Analysis

Izzy Quotes in Foreign Soil

Gaps in the Hickory Quotes

Izzy Character Timeline in Foreign Soil