Foreign Soil

by

Maxine Beneba Clarke

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Foreign Soil makes teaching easy.
In “The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa,” Sam is Loretta’s husband. Their marriage is in poor shape, though. Loretta wants children and Sam doesn’t. He urged her to quit her job as a social worker with the Villawood Immigration Detention Center—a job she was passionate about—arguing that its hours and pay weren’t conducive to having children (insinuating that children would be in their future as a couple). Then, he never mentioned having children again. In addition, Sam doesn’t understand why Loretta’s work at the center is so important to her—why the immigrants she works with affect her on such a personal level.

Sam Quotes in Foreign Soil

The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Sam or refer to Sam. 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
).
The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa Quotes

Tears stream down her face as she watches the cameras flashing and microphones jostling at the other end of the parking lot, where the razor-wire fence adjoins the visiting area. The Mazda windows are closed, but she can still get the gist of the press conference spin. Hopelessness burrows into her chest again, its fingernails digging into her lungs, slowly squeezing the air out.

Fuck Sam, fuck having a baby, fuck her new job, and fuck this stupid fucking car. Loretta doesn’t even know who her husband is anymore. She’s even more uncertain of why she’s sitting here, crying about her husband, in this of all places.

Related Characters: Asanka, Loretta, Sam
Page Number: 215-216
Explanation and Analysis:
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Foreign Soil PDF

Sam Quotes in Foreign Soil

The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Sam or refer to Sam. 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
).
The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa Quotes

Tears stream down her face as she watches the cameras flashing and microphones jostling at the other end of the parking lot, where the razor-wire fence adjoins the visiting area. The Mazda windows are closed, but she can still get the gist of the press conference spin. Hopelessness burrows into her chest again, its fingernails digging into her lungs, slowly squeezing the air out.

Fuck Sam, fuck having a baby, fuck her new job, and fuck this stupid fucking car. Loretta doesn’t even know who her husband is anymore. She’s even more uncertain of why she’s sitting here, crying about her husband, in this of all places.

Related Characters: Asanka, Loretta, Sam
Page Number: 215-216
Explanation and Analysis: