2. Group G---eberube27

The Turks are killing off all of the Armenians. There was a revolution in the Ottoman Empire which deposed the Sultan and installed a new government called the Young Turks. This new government is making the Ottomans into Turks. This also involves still killing all of the Armenians because they are Christian and the Turks are Islamic. The first World War is nearing and global tensions are rising. The Armenian struggle is being left behind with new world struggles. My book does not have specific characters, but the subjects of the book are very familiar with death. Entire Armenian villages are wiped out, families are left with no survivors. Many families were torn apart, left without crucial members after bouts of mass killings. The first use of the term Holocaust was used to describe the horrors of Armenia. “In a world of orphans and widows, the relief jobs were often staggering. “What is to be done with the great mass of widows,” one missionary wrote. There are probably over 1500, and some say 3000! All have children, without a father to support them.” (Balakian 84)

In the book, Throwback by Maurene Goo, Samantha, or as she’s called through the book, Sam, is the daughter of a first-generation Korean immigrant, Priscilla, with whom she has a… troubled relationship to say the least. After a fight with her mom that leaves her stranded in the mall parking lot over her not trying for homecoming queen, she orders a ride share service called Throwback Rides, after a talk about what happened with her mom with the driver, Samantha is thrown back to when her mom was in the running for Homecoming Queen, and now has to help her mom achieve said title to get back to her place in time and make amends with her mother, who she discovers tries/tried to hide the fact she’s from Korea to be popular. Over this time, Sam realizes why her mom is like how she is in the modern day. While Sam doesn’t directly deal with death, she does deal with the possibility of it with Halmoni, her grandmother on her mother’s side, who after a heart attack, is put in a coma, with the potential of death. Sam does not take this well, with the parking lot fight taking place because of it. In the past, however, her mom had her dad die well before either part of the story (as in Samantha’s grandfather), and she has been forced to move on too soon by the time Samantha travels to the past. “Halmoni paused, then her voice grew more measured, thought-ful. “You know their father died four years ago?”” (Goo, 161). 

In my book, Brighter than the sun by Daniel Aleman, the main character, Sol, faces and deals with the emotional aftermath of her mother’s passing while she is also trying to support her struggling family. After the passing of her mother, Sol had to take on the responsibility of financially supporting her family because she was the only person in the family that had been born in the United States. This meant that she was able to go to school and work in the United States, so she crosses the border everyday just so she was able to pay for the bills while going to school. However while juggling school and work she deals with loneliness and grief.

Sol deals with death by carrying the emotional weight of her mother’s passing while she continues to take care of her family. She experiences grief and loneliness but does not let it stop her from pursuing her goals. Sol’s struggles include crossing the border everyday just so she is able to attend school and have a job in the United States so she can support her family financially while dealing with grief and loneliness.  “My loneliness follows me wherever I go.” (Almen 1).This quote shows that Sol’s struggle isn’t just physical, it is also emotional. 

In Brighter than the Sun by Daniel Aleman, the main character sol a 16 Year old girl who lives in Mexico. Her mother dies, she crosses the border and works in the US to help her family. Balancing her culture, she stays with her best friend during the week for school and work.Sol is exhausted and burnt out, she is split between 2 lives being a student and an employee.her grades and future are slipping, she's close to a breaking point. My character lost there mother before the start of the book. It doesn't show directly how they dealt with it. My character also struggles with constant pressure and stress from a job and school.“I wish I could be a child again”(Aleman 206)  this shows that she is under a lot of stress.

Oscar is a nerdy, overweight kid from the Dominican living in New Jersey and struggles with loneliness. Oscar meets Yunior the narrator. Yunior becomes his roommate in college. Yunior tries to “fix” Oscar by trying to get him into shape but he doesn’t really change. After Oscar got rejected he got super depressed. He tried attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge but he survives and is super injured. Yunior and Lola's relationship develops but fails.

He deals with death alright he just doesn’t like doctors because his brother died of leukemia.”Ever since my brother had died from leukemia”.(Diaz 167)

In Daniel Aleman's book,Brighter than the sun, A 16 year old Mexican girl named Soledad, is struggling to support her family after her mom died. She was born in and goes to school in the U.S, but lives in Mexico with her dad. She ends up getting a job in the U.S and living with one of her friends, only returning home on the weekends. All of this becomes so overwhelming for her that her grades start getting worse, she's liking her job less and less, and being treated badly in the U.S. She ends up making new friends and starts to feel bad for all the people back home. Soledad has had a loss to deal with, her mom died when she was young. Instead of trying to grief she gets a job to support her family. Her life is overwhelming as it is so grieving would make it worse, she tries to push it back. “‘I wish I could return to a time when I could just let someone else carry this weight for me.’” (Aleman 140).