Notifications
Clear all
Perspective Discussion #2
9
Posts
8
Users
1
Reactions
169
Views
Topic starter
12/03/2026 9:36 am
The TED Talk I am referencing is “Grammar, Identity, and the Dark Side of the Subjunctive” by Phuc Tran. In this talk, Tran explains how language can shape the way people think about their lives and identities. He discusses how English allows people to imagine different possibilities through phrases like “could have,” “should have,” or “what if.” Tran shares stories from his life as a Vietnamese refugee growing up in the United States and explains how language helped him think about who he was and who he might become. He also explains that the subjunctive tense allows people to imagine “possibility, potentiality, and counterfactuality” (Tran, 2:26–2:31). While this can inspire people to think about new futures, it can also make them think about regrets or alternate versions of their lives.
The book I'm currently reading is North of Happy by Adi Alsaid. It tells the story of a teenager named Carlos Portillo, who lives in Mexico and has dreams of becoming a chef. Everything changes for Carlos when his older brother Felix dies in an accident. After this tragic event, Carlos starts seeing Felix’s ghost, who encourages him to chase his cooking dreams. Carlos makes the decision to leave Mexico and head to the United States to pursue his passion. Throughout the narrative, Carlos faces challenges with grief, family expectations, and figuring out who he really is. His father wants him to take a more traditional and secure route, but Carlos feels a strong pull towards cooking and discovering the kind of life he truly desires.
Both the TED Talk “Grammar, Identity, and the Dark Side of the Subjunctive” by Phuc Tran and North of Happy by Adi Alsaid show how thinking about different possibilities can shape who you are. Tran says that the subjunctive lets us imagine “possibility, potentiality, and counterfactuality” (Tran, 2:26–2:31). In the book, Carlos thinks about what his life could be like if he follows his dreams instead of doing what his family wants: “I don’t know what my life is supposed to look like, but I know it’s not going to look like this” (Alsaid, 87). Both texts show that imagining different futures helps people figure out who they are and what they want.
Both the TED Talk and North of Happy show how thinking about different possibilities in life can affect a person’s identity. How do the characters in your book deal with choices, expectations, or imagining different futures, and how does that help shape who they become?
For participants:
-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username
-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion
-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead
-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far
-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer
-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up
To exceed: Incorporate a quote from a different Ted Talk or a different CommonLit text that has not yet been discussed in your group
This topic was modified 1 month ago by jennifer.chick@rsu4.org
16/03/2026 11:49 am
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 expected to be at work and show up on time even when there are emergencies “ i have twenty five missed calls from Chatchu.” (41)
17/03/2026 10:09 am
In my book Brighter than the Sun by Daniel Aleman Sol my main character wants to be the first in her family to go to college. So, everyone in her family tells her to focus on school, and since she was born in America she has the opportunity to go to a better school in the U.S. Sol focuses on school a lot and it makes her apprehensive when she thinks about not doing well, or not being able to go. To answer your question, Sol does not deal with thinking about her future very well. She used to get all excited about it because she wanted to be the first to go and have people look up to her, but since her family can’t find a way to afford anything, all of her time and effort has been going into working and giving that money to her family to pay for other things than herself. Because she has been working so much, she has a hard time even getting any of her schoolwork done at all, she is starting to get behind in school. Her family also had to close down the restaurant to afford food at all, and now she’s thinking maybe she should drop out of high school to help her family more, but the thought of that made her sick to her stomach. Later on Sol starts to get used to the idea and now she’s just waiting for the time to hit where she has to drop out of school. My quote to show this, “I at least had something to work toward– the idea of getting into college. Now, there’s none of that. Nothing but a clock that seems to be ticking in the back of my mind, reminding me that the time is fast approaching when I’ll need to drop out of school” (Aleman 278).
17/03/2026 1:21 pm
@dgosselin27 I like how you pointed out that Sol feels like she’s “just waiting” to drop out, because it really shows how she’s starting to give up on something she used to care so much about. In North of Happy, Carlos also feels a lot of pressure from his family, and I agree with your idea that family expectations can make someone feel stuck and stressed about their future. I do think though that it’s not that Sol can’t handle thinking about her future, but more that everything happening is making it way harder for her to stay focused on it. What if her family wasn’t struggling as much—do you think she would still feel this stressed about college or would she go back to being excited about it?
17/03/2026 1:27 pm
@amelanson27 Could you expand on what types of emergencies your characters face? I would love hear how they face those struggles.
amelanson27 reacted
23/03/2026 1:19 pm
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 ”Brighter Than the Sun”, written by Daniel Aleman, Sol is faced with choices and expectations when she has to make decisions about her life and future. The main pressure on Sol is that she is the only US citizen in her family and feels the need to support them financially. She has to decide whether to support her family and their restaurant in Mexico or to pursue her dream of going to college in the United States. On the other hand, being in San Diego and spending more time there makes her think about a different life for herself. These decisions are starting to shape the life of Sol because she is realizing that even though she needs to support her family, she also needs to support herself and think about her own life and future. The pressure from her family and the opportunities available to her in the United States are making her grow up and think about the life she wants to lead, which is an important factor in the development of her identity and the decisions she makes. “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)
25/03/2026 10:24 am
In my book Strike Zone by Mike Lupica there is a family that is not from America. Nick is the main character, and he plays baseball. Nick has dreamed of becoming a major league baseball player his entire life. He dreams to be like his idol Michael Arroyo. He wants to be like Michael Arroyo because he is one of the best pitchers in the league at the time. Nick really enjoys watching Michael Arroyo play because he is a left handed pitcher, “Michael Arroyo was Nick’s all time favorite power pitcher.”(Lupica 26-27) This quote shows that Nick dreams of being a MLB player like his favorite pitchers. It is his dream of becoming one of the greatest pitchers to ever live but first he has to get through the fact of his family not being legal in this country and try not to get deported and sent back to his home country with his family.
26/03/2026 4:07 pm
In my book; The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao, Oscar is an overweight and shy nerd who was born in the Dominican republic and is looking for love in new jersey, his sister, Lola also has her own problems to deal with. their mother, Belicia, grew up in the Dominican under a dictatorship, she has trauma from it and has a very strict view on her children. "Did what had always saved her in the past. Was defensive and aggressive and mad overreactive." (Diaz 83). This quote shows how she was as a child dealing with living under a dictatorship, this directly reflects how she is as a mother. she is overprotective, strict, and stubborn with her expectations. Lola constantly disagreed with her mother, she deals with this by staying out late and eventually running away for a period of time.
09/04/2026 9:41 am
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 .
He can’t deal with it because he is always stressed about everything . The only way for him to not think about it is to be with his boyfriend and even sometimes he focused too much about what people think . “ I want to believe we’re the only person two people in the world , and on the ice , but my eyes can’t help but dart around”
