Karakteranalyse af Sam Hughes i 'In Country'

Sam Hughes is the main character in this novel, she is a seventeen-year-old girl, who lives in Hopewell with her uncle Emmett. Sam Hughes lost her father Dwayne, he died when he was around Sam’s age in the Vietnam War before she was even born. Sam is indeed interested in the Vietnam War. She would like to know more about her father and wants to know what happened during the war. She also wants to be able to understand her uncle Emmett, who also contributed during the Vietnam war. The only thing that Sam really have in common with her past away father is the DNA. She has no further relation with him besides the genetics, therefore it comes natural for someone like Sam who never had a chance to know her father, to be curious about her father’s time among the living.

Sam would like to leave town but, she does not feel like she can leave until, she figures out what there is wrong with her uncle Emmett, and she wants to get a better feeling about who her father was. Sam Hughes has recently graduated from high school. Irene whom is Sam’s mother wants Sam to attend the University of Kentucky, but that demands that Sam has to move to Lexington where she is supposed to live with her mother and her husband, and their newborn daughter. Sam is a little squeamish about the whole university thing, she is considering to attend Murray State which is nearby Paducah, going to Murray State would allow her to stay home with Emmett so she can watch over him. Emmett has some things in common with Sam’s father, but unfortunately because of Emmett’s emotional paralysis he does not represent a very good father figure, because Sam has to take care of Emmett. “Irene handed Sam a check for six hundred dollars and said, “Here, go buy that car you were talking about,”” Sam does not have the best relationship with her mother after she moved away with “that Jerk who got her pregnant.” Sam loves to run, but also believes that the car is her ticket to freedom. Sam does only have one girlfriend and her name is Dawn. Sam has a dreamy crush on Tom Hudson, Tom is one of the veterans that Emmett hangs with.