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Nile
In “David,” David is Asha’s son. In the story, Asha recalls how Masud, a man from Asha’s village in Sudan, made David a bike from metal scraps. David loved the bike and rode it everywhere. Through flashbacks, the reader learns that enemy soldiers shot and killed David, who had gone back to his burning village to retrieve his beloved bike. It’s for this reason that Asha is so interested and asks so many questions about the young Sudanese woman’s bike, though the young woman erroneously assumes Asha (like the woman’s elders, who are also Sudanese immigrants) is criticizing her for being unladylike and not upholding traditional Sudanese values.
David Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by David or refer to David. 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:
).
David
Quotes
I felt awkward, had no idea what she was talking about, but felt like I was somehow supposed to. Auntie took up her grocery bag from the ground, smoothed some dirt from her skirt, walked away slowly, down toward West Footscray Station.
I stood there for a minute, staring after her. The rain had stopped. A small puddle of water had settled in the baby seat. Nile would be getting testy. It was half an hour past when I usually collected him. I threw my leg over the bike, started pedaling down the street. The Barkly Star was a dream to maneuver—smooth gliding, killer suspension, sharp brakes. Felt like I was hovering above the wet tar, flying. Like there was nothing else in the world except me and my wheels. David. I slowly rolled her brand-new name around in my mouth.
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David Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by David or refer to David. 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:
).
David
Quotes
I felt awkward, had no idea what she was talking about, but felt like I was somehow supposed to. Auntie took up her grocery bag from the ground, smoothed some dirt from her skirt, walked away slowly, down toward West Footscray Station.
I stood there for a minute, staring after her. The rain had stopped. A small puddle of water had settled in the baby seat. Nile would be getting testy. It was half an hour past when I usually collected him. I threw my leg over the bike, started pedaling down the street. The Barkly Star was a dream to maneuver—smooth gliding, killer suspension, sharp brakes. Felt like I was hovering above the wet tar, flying. Like there was nothing else in the world except me and my wheels. David. I slowly rolled her brand-new name around in my mouth.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
