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The Stilt Fishermen
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:
).
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:
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Sam Character Timeline in Foreign Soil
The timeline below shows where the character Sam appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Stilt Fishermen of Kathaluwa
Elsewhere, in the story’s present, Loretta wakes up and smells liquor on Sam’s breath. “Client drinks,” he explained in a text to her last night—a text that Loretta...
(full context)
The alarm goes off. When Sam stirs, Loretta tells him she has to go to the center. Sam thinks she’s lying...
(full context)
Sam convinced Loretta to quit working for the center, citing the job’s low pay and long...
(full context)
...horror of Asanka’s situation. When Loretta listened to Viv’s voicemail, she collapsed on the floor. Sam came home and found her there. He was angry when he learned what was wrong...
(full context)
...him. Loretta begins to cry as she watches the news crews swarming the building. “Fuck Sam,” she thinks to herself, “fuck having a baby, fuck her new job[.]” He doesn’t feel...
(full context)
