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11/03/2026 9:07 am
In the novel, The Poet X, By Elizabeth Acevedo, the main character, Xiomara, is living in Harlem, New York, with her Mother and Father. Her mother has strong Dominican heritage, having been born in the Dominican Republic, marrying her husband in order to move to America for its opportunities. Xiomara and her mother don’t particularly get along. X struggles to agree with her mother on many issues, the biggest one being religion. Xiomara’s mother is very strongly involved with her religion, Catholicism. However, X doesn’t necessarily identify with the same religion. X has grown uncomfortable, and skeptical of her mother’s religion, mostly because her mother has tried to force this religion upon Xiomara her whole life. This is similar to the story, “From Scratch”, By Susie Castellano, the young girl, Priya, has moved to America from India with her mother. She has struggled to assimilate with American culture, having to adjust to things like American school lunches. She says about the American supermarket, “It felt cold and unfriendly, and the fluorescent ceiling lights hurt her eyes.” (Castellano). Priya misses her home, misses India. She misses her old Supermarket, and her old food. She feels embarrassed having to be Indian in America, the other kids judging her, or her mother for their food, or the way they dress. All she wants is to be Indian, in India, and feel at home, to feel comfortable. Similarly, Xiomara struggles in school, and in public. X is described as someone quite attractive in the novel, and the way her male teenage classmates act around her, reflects that for sure. Xiomara met a boy named Aman, and has had a casual loving relationship with him. Aman made her feel safe, but X couldn’t allow her mother to find out about the situation between her and Aman. Unfortunately for X, her mother spotted her and Aman in a less than ideal circumstance, something which should have been left behind closed doors. Mami watched this scene in horror, and soon punished Xiomara for disobeying her, and messing about with Aman, forcing her into confession at church, and making her kneel on grains of rice while praying, it reads, “Mami prays and prays/ while my knees bite into the grains of rice” (Acevedo 209). This type of thing is another reason that X struggles so much with religion; as she’s coming of age, her urges and tension are becoming stronger and harder to dismiss, Mami wants her to dismiss them, wants her to forget she is a young woman, wants her to accept Jesus as her lover, but X simply can’t resist. Xiomara just can’t bring herself to agree with, or give her life away to the church because her mother has forced it down her throat all her life, and she feels unsafe and unfree, like she’s trapped by the swelteringly tender embrace of religion.
In the Short story, “From Scratch”, By Susie Castellano, and the Novel, The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo, both characters struggle to identify with, or to follow the particular norms or ideas that they feel forced into.
In your Novel, do(es) your character(s) struggle to identify with something in a similar manner?
This topic was modified 1 month ago by cstubbs10
18/03/2026 10:37 am
Yes in my book saeed struggles with identifying with the english language because he is samlie and has a hard time with english for example “i realized id stopped trying to figure out what saeed understood and what he pretended to understan.i just talked to him.somtimes he surprised me and came up with strings of english that made you think he could speak the language. Other times he faded and I couldn't tell if he just not getting the words or abiding the topic.”(pg96)
Summary in the book out of nowhere tom is a high schooler that plays soccer and is a captain for the team in maine where lots of somalis have been moving to lately just like his friend saeed that also paly soccer but it hard for americans to communicate with no english speaking people cuz they dont understand each other and then after getting in trouble he had to do community service at a somali community center and learns lots about there culture
23/03/2026 10:24 am
Iadams27, Yes, that makes sense, and I agree that this part of our books is similar where both our characters struggle to identify with something in their life.
31/03/2026 12:56 pm
The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon is about two teenagers, Natasha Kingsley and Daniel Bae, who meet during one important day in New York City. Natasha is very practical and believes in science and facts. She is trying to stop her family from being deported back to Jamaica, so she doesn’t believe in fate or love. But Daniel is romantic and believes in things happening for a reason. He is also dealing with pressure from his parents, who want him to choose a traditional career instead of following his dream of becoming a poet. When Natasha and Daniel meet in New York, Daniel thinks their meeting is meant to be, but Natasha believes it is just a coincidence. As they spend the day together, they talk about love, destiny, and their futures. During their time together, they begin to form a strong connection that makes Natasha question what she believes and makes both of them think about what really shapes their lives. Natasha finds out the lawyer failed, so she’s still getting deported. Daniel goes with her to the airport, and they confess they love each other before she leaves. Years later, they’ve moved on, but by chance, they meet again on a flight, suggesting fate brings them back together.
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In The Sun Is Also a Star, both Daniel Bae and Natasha Kingsley have small personal identity struggles. Daniel has trouble seeing himself as the serious doctor his parents want, since he loves poetry, while Natasha struggles to accept her feelings because they don’t match her logical, science-based view of the world.“Maybe part of falling in love with someone else is also falling in love with yourself.” This works well because it connects relationships to self-identity. It shows that as Daniel Bae gets closer to someone else, he also starts understanding and accepting himself better. |
06/04/2026 11:14 am
Llovering27, I agree, that's a really interesting sounding analysis of your book, and that aspect of our books is similar.
08/04/2026 3:37 pm
In my book The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, the main character Natasha does find some struggle in the norms. She is fact based person and relies on facts. While the other main character is more open to things. He believes they met by fate, while she thinks its just a one time coincidence. She thinks many things are relied on religion and things like that more. She finds to think of things based off of things that aren't complete facts
10/04/2026 11:43 am
Krussel27, that's very interesting. Do you find that her fact based point of view changes toward the end of the story? Does she become more open to ideas such as "fate?" Or does she remain rigid in her beliefs.
