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Harlem Jones
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Foreign Soil, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Place
The Limitations of Hope
Communication and Misunderstanding
Solidarity vs. Prejudice
Summary
Analysis
Millie Lucas in almost 14. She was born and raised in Cidar Valley, Saint Thomas, in a small cabin at the base of the Blue Mountains. Most people who live in Cidar Valley work in the coffee industry: in a field, a factory, or a processing plant. Millie loves her home’s natural beauty. Her family’s cabin is small—Millie shares a bed with her 12-year-old sister, and there are other siblings, too.
From the start, “Hope” reaffirms Foreign Soil’s central theme of place and how where a person is from shapes their life. Millie comes from a rural area where there are few job opportunities other than farming or working in the coffee industry (both controlled by the British, who controlled Saint Thomas as a colonial territory in the 1940s, when the story takes place), and there’s not much money to go around.
Themes
The Pentecostal church runs Cidar Valley’s one-room school. It’s a fine school, though it only offers the basic, mandatory classes. Kids often skip class to help with work around home, so attendance is a big problem. But to these kids, “loosening hardened ground soil to dig a yam bed” is far more important than “Learning the King’s English.”
The Pentecostal church further illustrates Britain’s presence in Saint Thomas, Jamaica. Still, though colonial rule might control many aspects of the economy and day-to-day life of people indigenous to Saint Thomas, their connection to the land itself is stronger than colonizers’ efforts to assimilate them to Western culture, as evidenced by the children’s disinterest in “Learning the King’s English.”
Themes
Mr. Lucas knows Millie is special. He’s watched her do math problems and pluck feathers from freshly killed chickens. And ever since she turned eight, Millie has been responsible for all the sewing. For a year, Millie’s dad anguishes over what to do with beautiful, special Millie. Then he figures it out: he will send her to Kingston. He proposes this to his wife (Mrs. Lucas) as they lie in bed one night, but she pretends to be asleep. Mr. Lucas trusts the Lord to guide him in the right direction. After all, he knows that using what little you have to make something of yourself “was the legacy of the city[.]”
Mr. Lucas believes that Millie is capable and skillful enough to really go places and make a life that’s better than what she grew up with. He’s willing to sacrifice being near his daughter (and the additional income her sewing work provides the family) to send Millie to Kingston, the only way he thinks he can make his dreams for Millie a reality. The story thus underscores the elements of hope and sacrifice that are so common to many immigrant stories, something Mr. Lucas himself alludes to with his acknowledgment that using all one’s resources to invest in a better future is “the legacy of the city[.]”
Themes
To afford to send Millie to Kingston, Mr. Lucas plants extra bananas in his garden. They grow beautifully. Millie’s siblings know the plants are meant to pay for her future, so they nickname her “Banana Girl.” Soon, the other children of Cidar Valley call her this too. The village’s young men and women are more skeptical and believe that Millie won’t leave—she’ll end up working at a coffee factory like everyone else. Yet Millie still dreams of the life she could have in the big city.
The village children’s silly nickname for Millie, “Banana Girl,” perhaps childishly conveys the adults’ skepticism that Millie will ever leave Cidar Valley. That villagers young and old place doubt that Millie will ever leave suggests that it’s rare for anyone to leave the valley and make a better life for themselves—for the most part, simply being born there limits one’s opportunities to improve their circumstances.
Themes
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Millie has been accompanying Mr. Lucas to Kingston to buy tools and other goods since she was nine. On each visit, they go to Willemina’s sewing shop. Willemina is 65 years old. Though she was skeptical of Millie at first, thinking she was just a child, she soon came to respect Millie for her courteousness and sewing knowledge. The year Millie turns 14, Willemina watches Millie as she shops for sewing supplies and thinks about all the grueling domestic labor—caring for her siblings, cooking, and cleaning—that awaits Millie back home. When Mr. Lucas comes by to get Millie, Willemina explains that she’s getting older and is looking for a girl to help around the shop; she asks Mr. Lucas if Millie could apprentice for her, explaining that she’d cover Millie’s room and board, food, and teach her to use a sewing machine. Mr. Lucas agrees.
Willemina might own her own shop, but she doesn’t seem particularly well-off—at least, not compared to the wealthy British people who have gotten rich in the exploitative coffee industry, for instance. Still, she uses what little economic privilege she has to help Millie, a young girl in a far worse position than herself, and in so doing gives Millie the opportunity to have a better life than the impoverished existence she’s destined for if she remains in Cidar Valley.
Themes
At first, the bananas Mr. Lucas planted grow full and fat. But that October brings an especially severe wet season, and a bad fungus attacks the banana crops. Soon, it’s clear to Mr. Lucas that “his daughter’s dreams [are] in trouble.” But Mr. Lucas is a resourceful man. He fetches a ride to Kingston and purchases as much pig meat and marshmallow as he can. Then, back home, Millie’s family makes a giant bonfire out of the ruined banana crops; Millie and Mrs. Lucas sell sticks of skewered marshmallows and meat to the other villagers.
Though Mr. Lucas works hard to provide for Millie and invest in her future, he doesn’t have many resources to work with. All he has are his crops and his hope, both of which are easily and swiftly crushed by one poor growing season. This further establishes that the land and conditions in which Millie grows up are the primary forces that shape her future. No matter how hard her father works, there are larger, uncontrollable forces at play that easily thwart his efforts. Still, despite this initial setback, Mr. Lucas comes up with a second plan that works out, paying homage to the determination and sacrifice that are elements of so many immigrant stories.
Themes
It’s not long before Millie moves to Kingston to work in Willemina’s shop. Millie works hard and impresses Willemina. Willemina runs the only sewing store in Kingston, so it’s always busy. Millie attends Willemina’s sewing class on weeknights. There are five local girls in the class; the youngest is 10, and the oldest is 18. Dressmakers are in high demand in Kingston, so it’s a big deal to be enrolled in the class, and enrollment goes to the highest bidder. The local girls don’t seem to understand how lucky they are, though, and they often complain about the tediousness of the class. Millie feels lucky to be there, but she feels homesick for Cidar Valley.
Millie grew up surrounded by a level of poverty the local girls she attends class with can’t even imagine—a poverty that few manage to escape. Growing up in a place with few opportunities for economic advancement makes Millie well aware of how lucky she is to be enrolled in Willemina’s class. By contrast, the local girls’ relative privilege allows them to take more things for granted.
Themes
Millie spends her free mornings walking along Kingston Beach. She’s lived in the mountains her whole life, and so the beach is unfamiliar and exciting to her. On one of her early morning walks, she meets Winston Gray, a young man from a rural town called Montego Bay. He cuts cane, the only work available to a 17-year-old with no education. Winston meets Millie near the end of this off-season in 1949. He falls in love with her the moment he sees her walking along the beach. They eventually have sex; it’s full of passion and longing, and Millie trusts Winston. Winston tells her he has to leave for Montego Bay in two days, but he promises to write her at the shop.
Winston, like Millie, has also left his rural hometown behind in search of opportunity. Though both characters are clearly hardworking and hope to create better lives for themselves, growing up in rural, poor villages creates added challenges. And this passage also shows how place can affect a person’s personal life: though Millie’s trust for Winston suggests that their relationship is communicative and healthy, it remains to be seen whether that’s enough to overcome the physical distance that will separate them once Winston returns to his hometown.
Themes
Gossip about Millie’s courtship spreads around town, and Willemina isn’t surprised when she hears it. Before, only women entered her shop. But now, their husbands accompany them, eager to catch a glimpse of Millie’s curvy, maturing body. Afraid for Millie, Willemina sits her down and tells her to focus on her studies and work—if she gets pregnant, she’ll be stuck in the valley forever. Willemina finishes her talk, which Millie brushes off, and watches as Millie leaves the shop. The girl reminds Willemina of herself at that age: she, too, met a man who made lots of promises but kept none of them. The man was Haitian. He was wealthy and married, and he bought Willemina the sewing shop to keep her on the island.
Willemina is trying to be a good mentor to Millie and teach her to not let her current romance distract her from her future. As a poor girl from a rural village, Millie doesn’t have the privilege of starting over if she makes a mistake. Though Willemina is trying to be helpful, she doesn’t communicate with Millie the real reason she knows the dangers of romance—she fell victim to its distracting allure herself and now regrets it. Willemina’s path to economic freedom—through a wealthy former lover—also illustrates how place and circumstance shapes a person’s destiny. With few opportunities to improve her circumstances on her own, Willemina had to rely on her lover’s help—and he bought her the shop not to help her but to entrap her. Thus, Willemina’s economic freedom isn’t entirely freeing.
Themes
Millie has seen Mrs. Lucas pregnant and knows exactly what’s going on when her breasts begin to swell and she feels nauseous all the time. She waits for Winston to call for five months, but he never does. Willemina pretends not to notice at first, but Millie can tell that she knows. Millie doesn’t know anyone in Kingston and has nobody to confide in; the other girls in her sewing class think she’s “a hick from the hills” and want nothing to do with her. Millie writes home often, but she can’t bring herself to tell her family about her pregnancy. Anyway, they have no money to visit her since losing her sewing income.
Willemina’s worst fear has come true: Millie’s dalliances with Winston have led to a pregnancy that could totally destroy Millie’s hopes for a better future for herself. Worse—and also as Willemina likely predicted—Winston appears to have broken his promise to Millie and written her off. Still, Willemina’s ignoring the pregnancy is a promising sign that Willemina will keep Millie on as long as she can, standing in solidarity with her even though she went against her wishes and made a mistake.
Themes
Unbeknownst to Millie, Winston’s first letter arrived just five weeks after he left Kingston. Willemina received it. But, deciding that Millie had enough to deal with, she hid the unopened letter from Millie—and she hid all the ones that came after it, too. Willemina continues not to mention Millie’s pregnancy. But by the time Millie is six months pregnant, customers are gossiping all the time, and so Willemina gently suggests that Millie work on alterations in the back room instead of running things up front. Millie is grateful to be out of the spotlight. She apologizes to Willemina for getting herself into trouble and starts to cry, believing that Willemina will fire her now. But Willemina promises Millie that she’ll keep her on; Millie is grateful.
Millie thinks that Winston has abandoned her because Willemina, unbeknownst to Millie, has taken it upon herself to hide Winston’s letters, thinking she knows what’s best for Millie’s future. Though Willemina thinks she’s helping Millie by hiding the letters, she’s only further limiting Millie’s already limited ability to control her future. Millie’s poverty already deprives her of so many opportunities, and now Willemina is preventing Millie from deciding whether it’s in her best interest to seek a future with Winston.
Themes
Millie is nearing the end of her pregnancy when a white man enters the store looking for Millie. Willemina recognizes the man as the goods driver who delivers her sewing supplies when they arrive at the port. Willemina lies and says Millie isn’t there, and eventually the man leaves. Meanwhile, Millie is practicing backstitching out in the back shed but can’t focus due to the oppressive heat. Suddenly, the goods driver sneaks up behind her squeezes her breast. Millie is terrified and confused. Just then, Millie groans and slumps forward. Willemina appears in the doorway and barks at the man to leave. Angrily, he insinuates that he’ll bribe the police to take away Willemina’s shop’s license if Willemina doesn’t leave him alone with Millie. Willemina grabs a meter stick and strikes the man over the head with it, and the man falls forward onto Millie.
The goods driver’s attempt to sexually assault Millie underscores how much trauma and suffering are inherent in the stories of immigrants, minorities, and other people living at the margins of society. Her story isn’t one where a hardworking girl with a dream travels to the big city and eventually gets a happy ending—it has many bumps and setbacks along the way. Willemina comes through as one of Millie’s most important sources of support in this scene. Though Willemina has a lot to risk in not giving in to the man’s demands, she puts Millie’s welfare above her own, attacking the goods driver instead of giving in to his threat and leaving him alone with Millie.
Themes
Millie screams at Willemina that the baby is going to come. Summoning a strength she didn’t know she still had, Willemina drags the goods driver’s body out of the shed. Then she returns to Millie. The birth is over in 15 minutes. Millie falls in love with her baby instantly and names him Eddison William; she decides that “no-good Winston” doesn’t matter anymore—all that matters is her beautiful baby.
If “no-good Winston” represents Millie’s past, then Eddison Winston represents Millie’s future. Instead of pining over Winston, who has abandoned her (at least, that’s what Millie thinks, as Willemina has been hiding Winston’s letters), Millie redirects her focus to her baby and the hope that she can make a good life for him.
Themes
Things go back to normal after Millie gives birth. Mr. Lucas finds out about the baby and offers to bring it back and have Mrs. Lucas raise it as their own, but Willemina tells him that if Millie is old enough to make a baby, she’s old enough to raise one. Willemina’s health is declining rapidly now, and it’s clear that she’s training Millie to take over the shop when Willemina can no longer run it. Millie feels immensely grateful, and she works all day with Eddison strapped to her chest. She never pauses to think whether running the shop is what she wants in life—but that changes the day Winston returns.
Despite her unexpected pregnancy, Millie remains in a good position to build the better future that her father envisioned she’d have. Still, even if taking over Willemina’s shop will allow Millie to become economically independent, it’s a future that was thrust upon her—not one she sought out and worked for because she wanted to. Even as Millie improves herself, being born into poverty in a place without many opportunities vastly limits her ability to control her own fate. Finally, the detail that Winston will arrive builds tension—it seems inevitable that the truth about his letters will come to light, and that Millie will find out about Willemina’s deception.
Themes
Millie is upstairs when she hears shouting coming from the shop. She rushes downstairs, Eddison strapped to her chest, and sees Willemina hitting Winston with a carboard meter roll. Millie runs to him and starts hitting him herself, screaming that he’s a liar.
This scene makes clear the serious consequences of Willemina’s decision to hide Winston’s letters: Millie believes that Winston is a liar, when in fact it’s Willemina who has been deceiving Millie all these months.
Themes
Winston walks to the shop’s front steps and screams that it’s really Millie who has wronged him: she made him think she wanted to be with him, and he sent her letters and money every month, and then she never even responded. At first, Millie doesn’t believe him. Realizing that Millie will soon learn the truth, Willemina slowly retreats to the register and removes a stack of unopened envelopes from a locked cupboard. She hands them to Millie, who angrily takes them and then sits down beside Winston on the shop’s front steps. Slowly, she reads through all the letters. Winston smiles at her, explaining that he wrote the letters to lay out his hopes for the better life they’d build together. He asks her to marry him.
As is the case in many of Foreign Soil’s stories, Willemina’s decision to keep Winston’s letters from Millie has led to conflict and misunderstanding. And her intentions have backfired, too: she hid the letters so that Millie wouldn’t let Winston distract her, yet Winston has returned all the same—and now Millie is angry with Willemina on top of this. And, if Millie accepts Winston’s offer of marriage, it’s possible that Willemina once more will be without someone to take over the shop, just like she was before Millie came to apprentice with her.
Themes
Millie is touched and begins to cry. Then she pauses and tells Winston she has something to confess. It’s only then that Winston sees the baby strapped to Millie’s nightgown. He freezes—can it be his? Millie tells Winston, “tentatively,” that the baby is Eddison.
Like most of Foreign Soil’s stories, “Hope” ends ambiguously. It’s not clear whether Winston is happy or unhappy to discover that he and Millie have a son together—and how this news will affect his plans for their future. Though “Hope” doesn’t end tragically, necessarily, it certainly leaves Millie and Winston’s future together up in the air. While hope can be a powerful motivator, the story’s ending suggests that unexpected setbacks can arise that have more powerful, concrete effects on one’s future.
Themes
