2. Group A---klittlefield27

In the book all my Rage by Sabbaa Tahir, Noor and Salahudin are family friends who had a big fight. As the book tells the story of them their dearly loved auntie dies and shatters both of them. Salahudin struggles with his father, has alcoholism and has no one to turn to.  Noor and Sala meet each other at the hospital and Noor comforts Sala. In my book Noor is more family oriented than friends. She doesn't talk about not fitting in at school or with Fridays because she spends most of her time with her family. “My uncle frowns. He hates that I call him Chatchu.” (15)

In my book Brighter than the Sun by Daniel Aleman, Sol's family doesn’t have a lot of money after her mom got diagnosed with cancer they used all of their money to help her. Once she passed away they were left with piles of bills and continuous payments for their restaurant they were currently running. Once their restaurant stopped doing well they struggled to even keep it afloat. Sol goes to school in the U.S. because she was born there, but her family was not. They pay more in the U.S. and Sol needed to help her family pay for the bills of the restaurant or they would have to sell it. Sol started working in the U.S. which means she has to live with her friend, but she feels like she doesn’t fit in with any of her friends at school because her friends don’t have any of the same problems as her, her friends don’t have to work to provide for their family, her friends have time to do their school work and hang out with their friends, but she can’t. Sol has a really hard time dealing with this, once she starts hanging out with her friends more, she then starts getting behind in her school work. A quote to show that Sol feels like she doesn’t fit in with her friends, “I daydream about the warmth of the sun on my skin, the sound of the waves, and the feeling of the wind in my hair, telling myself that maybe next time–maybe next week, maybe sometime soon–I’ll get to just be a regular girl doing regular things with her friends on a Saturday” (Aleman 75). 

klittlefield27: What if Noor did not comfort Sala? What would Noor do instead?

klittlefield27: What if Sol's family had money? Do you still think that she wouldn't feel like she does not fit in?

In the book  "Brighter Than the Sun" written by Daniel Aleman, the story is about a teenage girl named Sol who lives in Tijuana, Mexico. However, she crosses the border every day to go to school in San Diego. After her mom dies, her family faces a lot of problems in keeping their restaurant afloat. Since Sol is the only citizen in her family, she feels a lot of pressure in helping her family financially. Eventually, she finds a job in San Diego and stays at her friend's family during the week so she can work and go to school easily. This poses a problem for her because she feels guilty about leaving her family in Tijuana. Throughout this part of the book, Sol tries her best to balance her work and school with helping her family financially, yet she dreams of going to college. The pressure on Sol starts to build up even more. She starts spending more time in San Diego at work and school, and she starts feeling more and more removed from her family in Tijuana. At the same time, she starts thinking more seriously about her future and whether she should pursue college or help her family as much as she can. Her relationships with the people in her life also start to get more complicated as she tries to come to terms with her guilt and grief over her mother's death. Sol also starts realizing that it is not as easy as she thought it would be to have two different worlds at the same time. This part of the book mostly illustrates her inner conflict about her dreams and her family. In the book "Brighter Than the Sun" by Daniel Aleman, the main character Sol feels as though she does not really fit into any one place. This is because Sol lives in Tijuana, Mexico, but goes to school and works in San Diego, California. This makes Sol feel as though she is stuck between two different worlds. When Sol is at school in San Diego, the majority of the students do not understand the struggles that Sol goes through as she crosses the border every day, nor do they understand the importance of Sol helping to support her family. However, when Sol is spending more time in San Diego for work and school, she feels as though she is not fitting in with her family back in Tijuana, Mexico. Sol deals with all of these emotions by continuing to work hard and trying to balance both parts of her life. She continues to try to help her family financially while also trying to be committed to school and her dream of going to college. Even though she is feeling all of these emotions, she continues to move forward because she knows that it will ultimately benefit her family in the future. “I know how badly he wishes things were different, how hard he’s tried to figure out alternatives, how long it took him to accept that this was the only way-that me taking a job on the US side of the border was the only remaining option we had to keep the family afloat.” (Aleman 5)

gpoulin27: If Sol's mom did not pass away, do you think she would still be facing the hardships she still is?

In Like a love story by Abdi Nazemian we still follow Reza , Judy and Art story . The first part finishes with Reza and Judy being a couple and Art being jealous because he also loves Reza . We also know that Reza doesn’t love Judy because he is gay and he just wants the world to accept him and be with Art  . In the second part , after weeks together ,  Reza feels more and more bad for lying to Judy . So he finally tells her that he loves men and Art . This revelation destroys Judy and she doesn’t appear for the rest of the part 2 , the story is now focused on Reza/Art relationship . 

As I said Reza is gay and Persian he always feels that he doesn’t fit Reza's coming out . Reza finally comes out after breaking up with Judy and starting dating Art . He found the courage to tell them that he loves men and that he is in love with Art . Her mom cried a lot and then the whole family acted that nothing happened , only his sister was supportive because she has always known it . After that Reza felt more free and he could live life without being scared of people's judgement . “ I realize I'm a new person now, the person I've been waiting to be."