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Ahmed’s Mum
In “David,” Nile is the young Sudanese woman and Ahmed’s young son. At the beginning of the story, the young Sudanese woman has just bought a bicycle and is looking forward to taking rides with Nile. The story implicitly contrasts Nile with Asha’s young son, David, who was killed during the Sudanese Civil War.
Nile Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Nile or refer to Nile . 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:
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David Quotes
These children, born in this country, do you think they feed their babies the aseeda for breakfast? Do they drop it on the little one’s tongue to show them where is it they come from? Do you think they have learned to cook shorba soup? I tell you: no! They feeding them all kinds of rubbish. McDonald’s, even. They spit on their grandmothers’ ways. They spit in our bowls, in our kitchens.
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I felt awkward, had no idea what she was talking about, but felt like I was somehow supposed to. Auntie took up her grocery bag from the ground, smoothed some dirt from her skirt, walked away slowly, down toward West Footscray Station.
I stood there for a minute, staring after her. The rain had stopped. A small puddle of water had settled in the baby seat. Nile would be getting testy. It was half an hour past when I usually collected him. I threw my leg over the bike, started pedaling down the street. The Barkly Star was a dream to maneuver—smooth gliding, killer suspension, sharp brakes. Felt like I was hovering above the wet tar, flying. Like there was nothing else in the world except me and my wheels. David. I slowly rolled her brand-new name around in my mouth.
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Get the entire Foreign Soil LitChart as a printable PDF.
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Nile Character Timeline in Foreign Soil
The timeline below shows where the character Nile appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
David
...the Ted’s Cycle’s window display. When she and Ahmed were still together—and before they had Nile—she used to watch Ahmed and the other boys at the bike dump put together different...
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...bike will change things for the better: now, she’ll be able to keep up with Nile when he rides his tricycle. The woman decides it was worth the half of her...
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...Asha’s insults in her head. She’s about to part ways with Asha to pick up Nile from kindergarten, but before she can leave, Asha grips the young woman’s wrist and tells...
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...it continues to rain. After a while, the narrator hops on her bike to retrieve Nile from daycare. As she rides, she considers the bike’s new name: David.
(full context)
