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Eddison William
In “Foreign Soil,” Lucinda is a domestic servant who has worked for Mukasa’s family for years. At first, she and Ange don’t interact much, as whenever Mukasa is there, he speaks to Lucinda in Luganda, which Ange can’t understand. But when Mukasa is at work one day, Ange connects with Lucinda, and the women chat and drink together. Lucinda admits that she’s surprised Ange accompanied Mukasa to Uganda and that she chooses to stay in a place where she’s so unhappy, given Ange’s status as a white woman of means. Lucinda also seems to hint to Ange that Mukasa has controlling or abusive tendencies, but Ange ignores or fails to understand Lucinda’s meaning. When Mukasa comes home that evening, catching the women off guard, he scolds Lucinda for not working and Ange for interacting with a servant. He then fires Lucinda, something he relishes telling Ange.
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Lucinda Character Timeline in Foreign Soil
The timeline below shows where the character Lucinda appears in Foreign Soil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Foreign Soil
...spoken since returning to Uganda. Whenever Mukasa has long, drawn-out conversations with her in Luganda, Lucinda, the housekeeper, sometimes shoots Ange timid, apologetic looks. Now, Ange gets out of bed and...
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Later, Lucinda and Ange chat and drink waragi. Lucinda has removed her headscarf and looks much younger....
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Just then, Mukasa walks through the front door. In English, he berates Lucinda for not doing the work he’s paying her to do. Lucinda’s fear seems to please...
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...present, the morning after Mukasa forced himself on Ange, Mukasa tells Ange that he fired Lucinda—now, it’s Ange’s job to do the cooking and cleaning. Then he kisses her on the...
(full context)
