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Rachel Landau
Isabel’s mother, Geraldo’s wife, and Lito’s daughter. At the beginning of the story, Teresa is eight and a half months pregnant with Isabel’s little brother. Still, she is adamant about joining her family on their journey to Miami because she wants to keep the family together. This holds true even when Teresa grows sick along the trip and is given the opportunity to receive medical attention in the Bahamas, but knowing that this would result in her deportation back to Cuba, she refuses. Teresa’s condition, however, requires Isabel to take care of her, again emphasizing how the dangerous circumstances that refugee children are put in forces them to grow up much sooner than an average child. At the end of the journey, Teresa gives birth to a baby boy, whom they name Mariano after Lito (Mariano Padron).
Teresa Fernandez Quotes in Refugee
The Refugee quotes below are all either spoken by Teresa Fernandez or refer to Teresa Fernandez. 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:
).
Isabel: Caribbean Sea – 1994, 3 days Quotes
“Thank you! Thank you!” Isabel cried. Her heart ached with gratitude toward these people. Just a moment’s kindness from each of them might mean the difference between death and survival for her mother and everyone else on the little raft.
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Following a storm at sea, Isabel and the other refugees arrive at land, which at first they believe to be Miami but then realize is the Bahamas. When they pull up to a dock, the Bahamian police tell them that if they set foot on land, they will be deported back to Cuba. The family decides to turn around and set off for Miami, but before they depart, nearby tourists give them food, water, and aspirin to help them make the journey. This is one of the primary instances in which Gratz highlights the importance of empathy and the responsibility 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. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut.
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Teresa Fernandez Character Timeline in Refugee
The timeline below shows where the character Teresa Fernandez appears in Refugee. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba – 1994 (2)
Isabel, Geraldo, and Lito return to their home following the riots. Isabel’s mother, Teresa, is pregnant and due to deliver in a week’s time, and so Isabel retrieves the...
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...proposes that the whole family travel to the U.S. Lito is surprised, and insists that Teresa can’t go while she’s pregnant. Isabel argues that there’s no food for the baby in...
(full context)
Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba – 1994 (3)
...and Lito are carrying the boat to the beach, packed with water, food, and medicine. Teresa walks alongside them, almost nine months pregnant. When they arrive at the beach, they see...
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Isabel: The Straits of Florida, Somewhere North of Cuba – 1994, 1 day from home (1)
Teresa asks everyone what they think the U.S. will be like. While others mention things like...
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...important as her family. Lito instead begins singing a salsa song, and everyone joins in. Teresa starts counting clave, but Isabel still can’t quite hear the rhythm. Then, suddenly, the music...
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Isabel: The Straits of Florida, Somewhere North of Cuba – 1994, 1 day from home (2)
...the boat because the sock with which they plugged the bullet hole has soaked through. Teresa and Señora Castillo sleep in the front of the boat.
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...her roots. He asks Isabel how she’s going to learn to count clave in Miami. Teresa wakes up and assures Lito that Miami is just “North Cuba.”
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Isabel: Somewhere on the Straits of Florida – 1994, 2 days from home
Isabel continues to bail water out of the boat, alongside Teresa, Geraldo, Lito, Luis, Iván, and Señora Castillo. They work feverishly, but the boat fills as...
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Isabel: Somewhere on the Caribbean Sea – 1994, 3 days from home
Isabel wakes to a very hot sun, and sees that Teresa has become sick with a fever. Lito and Señora Castillo try to help keep Teresa...
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...protests, saying that they have a sick pregnant woman on board. The officer says that Teresa can come ashore for medical attention, but then she will be deported to Cuba. Lito...
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...with gratitude: this moment of kindness might mean “the difference between death and survival” for Teresa. They restart the engine and turn back into the sea.
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Isabel: Somewhere between the Bahamas and Florida – 1994, 4 days from home
...recovering, and points out that Geraldo isn’t helping either. Geraldo says that he’s tending to Teresa. They start to fight, until Amara tells them that they’re acting like children. Amara suggests...
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Isabel: Somewhere between the Bahamas and Florida – 1994, 5 days from home (1)
Teresa starts to shift and wince, and announces that she thinks she’s gone into labor. Isabel...
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Isabel: Off the Coast of Florida – 1994, 5 days from home (2)
...seeing the Coast Guard ship. A search light clicks on and scans the water. Suddenly, Teresa grows panicked: the baby is coming. Then, Luis realizes that the Coast Guard ship is...
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...the other boat, but then its search light finds theirs. Isabel paddles like crazy as Teresa insists that she wants to have the baby in the U.S. But Isabel can see...
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Isabel: Off the Coast of Florida – 1994, 5 days from home (3)
...all his life, but that they never did. He tells Isabel to take care of Teresa and the baby, and that they need to keep rowing. Lito then stands up and...
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Isabel: Off the Coast of Florida – 1994, 5 days from home (4)
The boat is close to the shore as Teresa pushes frantically, trying to bring the baby into the world while Señora Castillo talks her...
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...shore. The water is now only at Isabel’s waist. Isabel then looks up and sees Teresa and Geraldo with the newborn baby, who is crying. She knows instantly that she will...
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...him out of the water and staggers onto U.S. soil. She turns and sees that Teresa and Geraldo have also made it to the shallow water, and the Coast Guard boat...
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Isabel: Miami, Florida – 1994, Home
...month after arriving in Miami. After they arrived on the beach, Guillermo took Isabel, Geraldo, Teresa, and baby Mariano into his home until they found an apartment of their own.
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Teresa is running a day care in her home, Geraldo had gotten a job driving a...
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