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Throughout the book, soccer fields come to represent the Clarkston community’s lack of support for the Fugees, and the refugee population as a whole. When Luma begins the Fugees program, the YMCA sponsors their use of the field at the Clarkston Community Center. But when relations between the YMCA and the Community Center deteriorate, they are forced to move to a field behind Indian Creek Elementary School. This field is covered in gravel and broken glass, and anyone can walk through games. Luma is infuriated by this treatment, because she knows that the Fugees are being discriminated against because their parents are not wealthy. Affluent parents would never allow their children to play on a field, but the Fugees’ parents have neither the time nor resources to protest the decision.
Later, Luma is approved by the City Council to use a field at Armistead Park on a trial basis. But at the end of the book, Mayor Swaney authorizes a letter saying that they no longer have use of the field and will have to find another to practice on—a decision that he does not have the authority to make alone. Thus, the Fugees’ continual struggle to find a practice field is emblematic of their larger struggle to find their place in America—even though they have been able to immigrate, they are rarely welcomed or fully supported.
Fields Quotes in Outcasts United
The Outcasts United quotes below all refer to the symbol of Fields. 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:
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Introduction
Quotes
In fact, things with the Fugees were more fragile than I could have realized that day. The team had no home field. The players’ private lives were an intense daily struggle to stay afloat. They and their families had fled violence and chaos and found themselves in a place with a completely different set of values and customs.
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Chapter 3
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In 2001, Lee Swaney—a longtime city council member who called himself a champion of “old Clarkston,” that is, Clarkston before the refugees—ran for mayor.
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Chapter 7
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Luma also felt that if a soccer team of well-to-do sub urban kids was assigned to play on a field of sand and broken glass, their parents would call the team’s sponsors or the league—someone—to protest. The parents of the Fugees’ players were seen as powerless, she believed, so no one thought much about making the team play on such a bad field.
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Chapter 17
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Swaney’s proposal changed the energy in the room. The council’s questions became gentler. They talked among themselves and agreed that six months sounded like a reasonable amount of time for a trial period.
There was a motion, and a second.
The motion passed unanimously. Luma nodded in thanks and stifled a smile. The Fugees, for now at least, had a home.
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Chapter 28
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Pull back farther, and you got a sense of where Clarkston sat in America—tucked in a green corner of the country beneath the gray ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Pull back again, and the blue oceans came into view, then other continents and countries—Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq—all looking deceptively calm. Pull back farther still and the curved horizons of the planet revealed themselves—a beautiful ball of green, white, blue, slate, and brown. Someday, somewhere down there, the Fugees would find a home.
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Get the entire Outcasts United LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fields Symbol Timeline in Outcasts United
The timeline below shows where the symbol Fields appears in Outcasts United. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Introduction
...that the team is very fragile, even at this moment. The Fugees have no home field. The players are struggling to stay afloat, having fled violence in their home countries only...
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Chapter 7: Get Lost
...the center. They also want the YMCA to pay more for the use of the field, and after some refugee teenagers get in a fight near the field, the board wants...
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Luma finds an unused field a few miles away and borrows a bus from the Y to shuttle her players...
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...to put the best face on a bad situation: it is a convenient and free field, and the elementary school has classrooms where she could run her tutoring program. But the...
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Chapter 8: “I Want to Be Part of the Fugees!”
In August 2006, tryouts start up again for the Fugees. When Bien visits the new field, he is surprised by its poor condition, thinking, “it’s like Africa.” Kids begin to prepare...
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...divides them into two groups to watch them play a game. Luma realizes that the field is even worse than it looks: there are ruts, very little grass, and people walk...
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Chapter 9: Figure It Out So You Can Fix It
...during late August in the sweltering heat, surrounded by the dust and grime of their field. But none of the Fugees complain about the shortcomings of their new field. Practices for...
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Chapter 10: Meltdown
The field at Indian Creek can’t be used for league games, so the Fugees host home matches...
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Chapter 14: The Fifteens Fight
...there—Fornatee has walked away from the team for good. Luma cleans up and leaves the field, growing more and more tired of the scene at Indian Creek.
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...Luma drives down to City Hall to ask Mayor Swaney whether they can use another field, Armistead field, in Milam Park. It has grass, is surrounded by a fence, is frequently...
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Chapter 16: Gunshots
...Indian Creek Elementary and is eager to plead her case to use the Milam Park field.
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Chapter 17: The “Soccer People”
...called to order at the Clarkston Community Center. Luma politely requests the use of Armistead field, explaining that the field at Indian Creek is all gravel and is an unsafe place...
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Luma answers their questions, and Mayor Swaney interjects to point out that the field at Armistead is unused. He says he doesn’t see anything wrong with their using the...
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Chapter 18: Playing on Grass
This leads Luma to her segue that the Fugees have a new home field at Milam Park. It is flat, has grass, and no other soccer teams. She emphasizes,...
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When the boys arrive at Armistead field, they can hardly believe how nice it is: soft grass covering the surface, trees surrounding...
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Chapter 23: The Dikoris
...were going undone, like fixing a brake light on her car. But on the soccer field, things are looking up—particularly being on the new field at Milam Park.
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Chapter 28: Tornado Cup
...letter from the Town of Clarkston, informing her that she can no longer use Armistead field because the city is reactivating its youth recreation program. Luma is stunned.
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...find a place to practice. She logs onto Google Earth to try and find another field. She zooms further and further back from Clarkston, trying to find a place to play....
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Epilogue
...In the wake of public outcry, the City Council allows the Fugees to use Armistead field through the spring.
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