Thomas Character Analysis in The Refugees

the narrator of “Someone Else Besides You.” Thomas and his ex-wife, Sam, had gotten divorced because Sam had wanted a child and Thomas was unsure of whether he could be a good father. His own father, Mr. P., had been very tough on his children growing up and Thomas worries about turning out like him. Yet after Thomas has lost Sam, he spends a majority of the story trying to combat his resulting isolation. When Thomas’s mother died shortly after his divorce, he had asked his father if he wanted to move in with him, which his father had agreed to. Thomas also calls Sam many times a day in order to hear her voice. Mr. P. realizes what Thomas doesn’t seem to see: that Sam made Thomas a whole man. Mr. P. devises a plot to try to win Sam back, but when they see that she is pregnant, Thomas is shocked. Seeing her, he realizes what he had lost and is haunted by the child and the future that he might have had with Sam. This spurs him to tell her that he wants to be the father of her child, revealing his desire to regain that intimacy with her.

Thomas Quotes in The Refugees

The The Refugees quotes below are all either spoken by Thomas or refer to Thomas. 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:

War and the Refugee Experience Theme Icon

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Grove Press edition of The Refugees published in 2017.

“Who says I want her back?”

“Don’t be an idiot. You were only half a man before you met her, and you’re back to being half a man now.”

Related Characters: (speaker), (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 161

Explanation and Analysis:

When I spoke, it was so softly that only the stranger curled up behind the belly ring could hear. Then I said it once more, louder: “I can be the father.” Feeling Sam’s hand grip my shoulder, I said it a third time, just to make sure they both heard me right.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 179

Explanation and Analysis:

Thomas Character Timeline in The Refugees

The timeline below shows where the character Thomas appears in The Refugees. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Thomas and his father (Mr. P.) drop by his father’s girlfriend Mimi’s condo. Thomas has never... (full context)

Thomas goes to the bathroom (although saying he had to use the bathroom was just an... (full context)

Thomas explains that he is 33, but that Mr. P. didn’t think anyone was a man... (full context)

Mr. P. walks Thomas to the door and says he’ll need a ride home the next morning, and then... (full context)

The next morning, while Thomas processes refunds and listens to his service representatives, Thomas pictures Mimi and Mr. P. lounging... (full context)

During Thomas’s lunch break, he calls his ex-wife Sam’s home number just to listen to her answering... (full context)

Thomas says that the job is perfect, because after Sam left him and Thomas’s mother had... (full context)

...but her patience ran out the previous year when she turned thirty-four. She had told Thomas she wanted a child, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to be a... (full context)

Thomas’s shift ends at dawn, and he returns to the apartment into which he’d moved after... (full context)

Thomas sleeps for two hours, and then drives back to Mimi’s apartment. Mr. P. is showering,... (full context)

Mr. P. appears and he and Thomas leave soon after. In the car, Thomas’s father asks when the last time Thomas spoke... (full context)

Thomas questions Mr. P., asking if he’s going to marry Mimi and then find another woman... (full context)

Mr. P. says that Thomas should never have let Sam go. Thomas starts to cry. He remembers that he had... (full context)

Thomas doesn’t know what “doing something” means; only that Mr. P. usually said it when he... (full context)

Mr. P. had taken Thomas to the boy’s home and knocked on the door. He spoke with the other boy’s... (full context)

Thomas and Mr. P. go to pick up a rental car, then to a barbershop, where... (full context)

Sam is surprised to see them, and says they should have called. Thomas says they were just taking a drive and thought they’d stop by. She is skeptical,... (full context)

...Sam on the house, but she says that most of the decorations are her roommate’s. Thomas’s father points to a pipe on top of the TV and asks where she bought... (full context)

When Sam leaves, Thomas looks for traces of a man, but can only find mementos from their life together.... (full context)

Thomas leaves and gets in the car with Mr. P. As they pull out of the... (full context)

As they argue and drive away, Mr. P. claims that Thomas wouldn’t know right from wrong because he never makes any choices. Thomas questions if it... (full context)

...P. takes a pill, thinking he might have pulled a muscle in his neck, and Thomas gives him a massage. After he falls asleep, Thomas hangs his shirt in his closet... (full context)

...missing car. His father goes with Mimi to retrieve it from the impound lot while Thomas sleeps between shifts. When they return, his father goes to clean the car, leaving Thomas... (full context)

Mimi starts to chat with Thomas, but he’s in a dull mood. He asks her, “You know he’s going to cheat... (full context)

Thomas goes to work, changes his clothes, goes to his second job. Near dawn of the... (full context)

Sam tells Thomas that when she saw the tires, she wanted to kill him—but that she also thought... (full context)

Sam tells Thomas to stand up and asks if he knows what he’s saying—or what he’s doing. He... (full context)