2. Group B---kbrault27

In my book Out of Nowhere by Maria Padian, Tom Bouchard is a great student, a good soccer player, and a bad decision maker. One night, he and his best friend went to the Maquoit school and wrote “you suck Maquoit” on their school rock. He gets in big trouble with the school and has to do 100 hours of community service and repaint the rock so he can walk at graduation. Tom faces humiliation when he goes to re-paint the rock, and all of the Maquoit students show up to watch him paint and haggle with him in the process. He swallows his pride and accepts his mistake. 

Question: So, does your character get judged or do they do the judging?

Tom was judged very harshly, especially when he had to paint the rock in front of a lot of the school's students. Before he got into trouble, he did most of the judging. So when he felt judgment, I think it changed his perspective. “We all walked to the rock. Someone whistled. “Good morning, ladies,” we heard laughter”. (Padian 103).

 In my book, “Breathe and Count Back From Ten” by Natalia Sylvester Veronica has lived in the U.S. since before she can remember so she's never had to think much about fitting in unlike her mother and father. They push her to be very perfect and do nothing wrong, but while they think it's for the best they are really taking away all her freedom and choices. Rather than her trying to fit in because of her ethnicity she has to fit in due to her hip injury; her hips are lopsided, and she just found out her parents have been keeping a huge secret from her. She finally gets her dream job but her family won’t accept it so she is forced to lie to them. Also due to the new worsening condition of her hip she has to learn when to figure out if she is actually okay or if she is just being brave for others. The job she thought she had wanted and she fought for, the place she thought would truly accept her with her scars ends up trying to cover up the part of her she's always been most self-conscious about. In the end she finally starts to live out her dream, her parents accept what she chooses and she finds out the decision she thought was going to be made for her was actually something she could finally control. 

Veronica has always been the one judged, even from her own family and friends she’s always on the receiving side. They judge her appearance by her scars, they judge her personality by how “brave” she had to have been during those times, but they make that one part of her, her entire life. “Like admitting I've needed crutches dispels the myths we want to believe about people”(Sylvester 228). This is showing a time when people were talking about mermaids needing air is considered a “crutch” it takes away everything happy, all the magic. This cuts her deep because they are judging something by one factor of it, just like they judge her just by one part of her body. Her whole life isn’t just that one factor and yet that's what everyone thinks of her.

In my book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, the characters undergo significant changes as they attempt to adapt to a new lifestyle vastly different from their old one. The book follows three primary characters: Oscar, a Dominican American nerd who adapts by escaping into sci-fi to block out the bullying and being judged. Lola, his sister, who changes by becoming a punk and running away to escape her mother's control and the strict Dominican culture, and Beli, the mother, whose childhood was destroyed by poverty, being an orphan, abuse in her relationships, and the Trujillo regime, but who adapts to all of those by using her looks. All three characters try to adapt to their new life, but the Fuku curse makes it nearly impossible for them to succeed. The Fuku is an ancient curse from Africa that has affected Dominicans. 

Oscar is judged the most by the people around him because he does not fit the stereotype of what a Dominican man should be. He is overweight, shy, and obsessed with sci-fi and fantasy, which makes him stand out from the other Dominican boys who are expected to be confident and good with women. Instead of judging others, Oscar mostly blames himself and escapes into books and sci-fi worlds where he feels accepted. The judgment from others causes him to feel isolated and different.

Lola is also judged, especially by her mother, Beli. Beli expects Lola to follow strict Dominican cultural expectations. When Lola tries to express herself by becoming a punk and rebelling, Beli views it as disrespectful and constantly criticizes her. “You don’t know the kind of world I came from,” (Diaz 125) Beli tells Lola. Lola is judged for her appearance, behavior, and independence. Although Lola does judge her mother's controlling behavior at times, most of her actions are reactions to the judgment and pressure placed on her.

Beli experiences judgment as well, particularly because of her beauty and relationships with men. When she works at Palacio Peking, people often see her only for her looks. When she becomes involved with the Gangster, she is harshly judged by those connected to the Trujillo regime. Her relationship leads to severe consequences, including the violent attack that forces her to leave the Dominican Republic.

In the TED Talk “The Necessity in Showing 'Imperfect Immigrants' by Tina Yong, she talks about how immigrating is not always perfect. She talks about the struggles, judgment, and unemployment issues.“We often expect immigrants to be perfect — hardworking, grateful, successful — because if they’re not, their presence is questioned.”(Yong). Immigrants have a hard time fitting into society, but they recognize that it is better than where they came from. This ties back to my book because Oscar, Lola, and Beli face cultural differences, are judged for being different, and struggle to support their family, and not being the people others expected them to be.

Jgreenwood27: I wonder what do you think would happen if he was never punished? If he never faced that judgement do you think he would still be judgey?  

Caustin: Do you belive these characters could go through another change where they become more confident and care less about what people belive? 

Mpetersen: Do you believe she will one day stand up to her family's bullying? what do you think would happen if she does? 

I believe these characters could go through another change where they become more confident and care less about what people believe. They could change because people can grow over time, especially after going through hard experiences. The characters in the story have already gone through struggles, and those struggles can help them become stronger.

If they become more confident, they might start to believe in themselves more. They might stop worrying about what others think and make their own choices. This could help them live better lives and not feel as controlled by fear or expectations. For example, Oscar might eventually realize that his love for sci-fi is great and stop hiding it, which would allow him to find people who share his same passion 

Also, if they care less about what people believe, they might take more risks and be more honest about who they are. This could change their relationships and how they see themselves.

Mpetersen27: Do you think that if Veronica's parents were not so strict, she would be at her dream job?

In my book “the tyrant’s daughter” by J.C carelson, my main character, Laila, often judges the Americans around her school for how they act and dress because it is much different than how people act back in her homeland

“That she can feel so at ease in her flawed skin is astonishing to me. Emmy must feel me looking at her. Judging her. Because her smile stiffens slightly and she takes a small step back, a wounded expression on her face”

– j.c carleson The tyrant’s daughter

kbrault27 

My character doesn’t get judged, but also doesn't judge others. She picks on Daniel calling him “red tie” (Yoon) but that's about it. In the ted talk “Sweet, Difficult sounds” By I.M. Desta the little girl named Nothukula got made fun of and or judged because she had a hard time speaking English in front of her peers. “They look at me as if I am funny” (Desta)