Samantha is a white administrative assistant at the Tanaka Brothers Farm who helps translate and interpret between English and Spanish. Even though she can communicate with them, she still thinks Mexican workers are “‘dirty’ and ‘simple,’” and she constantly ignores or distracts from their suffering. For instance, she forces Abelino to go back to work even though he’s in severe pain, and she complains about the cold weather freezing her horses’ water trough without realizing that the farm workers have to sleep in the same conditions without heating.
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Samantha Character Timeline in Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies
The timeline below shows where the character Samantha appears in Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3: Segregation on the Farm: Ethnic Hierarchies at Work
...the farm’s Indigenous migrant workers. The receptionist is kind to them, whereas the bilingual assistant Samantha believes that they are “‘dirty’ and ‘simple.’” Another assistant, Maria, is Mexican American and picked...
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Chapter 5: “Doctors Don’t Know Anything”: The Clinical Gaze in Migrant Health
...alleviate his pain. Later, a different doctor tells Abelino to do lighter farm work, but Samantha, the administrative assistant, refuses to change his schedule. Abelino visits a traditional Triqui healer and...
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During a meeting about Abelino’s compensation, Samantha complains about having to go outside in the freezing winter temperatures to feed her horses....
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