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01/04/2026 11:45 am
In the TED Talk "Don't feel sorry for refugees, believe in them" by Luma Mufleh, Luma was a muslim refugee from Jordan who had to leave her country because she was in danger, and she gave up her citizenship to stay safe. “We left because we had to, not because we wanted to. There was no choice.” (Mufleh). She moved to the United States, where she helped kids by starting a soccer team and even took care of one boy who got hurt. Luma also worked hard to help other refugees by starting a school for them. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Oscar struggles to control his life as he seeks to avoid the traditional expectations of a Dominican man. He prefers his love of sci-fi and fantasy over fitting in. He wants love and keeps pushing for relationships, even though he is often rejected. “He wanted to be in love. More than anything, he wanted to be in love.” (Diaz 299). His life is also shaped by his family’s fuku curse, which affects everyone in the family. In the end, even when he makes his own choices, things such as culture, family, and fuku still limit his control over his life. Oscar struggles with family issues between Lola and Beli. Oscar gets isolated and depressed because Lola and Beli fight all the time. At the end of the book, Oscar gets murdered, and Lola and Beli hire a lawyer to help with the murder case.
Both The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Luma’s story from her TED Talk show how people try to take control of their lives despite powerful outside forces. Oscar struggles against cultural expectations and the fukú curse, while Luma faces displacement and danger as a refugee. Even though their situations are very different, both highlight how identity, culture, and circumstances can limit their ability to live a good life. Oscar keeps pursuing love, and Luma builds opportunities for others through soccer and education.
Does your character struggle with relationships or go into a state of depression?
03/04/2026 9:45 am
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 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.
Vero struggles keeping relationships with people due to her injury, it causes her to be uncomfortable and people always assume things about her so she never feels open or safe enough to share that part of life. Even her family never truly understands her, her sister always seems to be jealous because Vero gets most of the attention so they tend to push each other away when they really need each other the most, “Wait. What are you saying? Geoff and I are performing next week. Don't F- this up for us. I swear, I’ll tell Mami and Papi about you and Jason if you do!” (Sylvester 280). I feel that this also connects to the Ted talk, “Sweet, difficult sounds” by I.M. Desta, when she needed to make friends the most she was frozen and couldn’t get herself to break out of her box, “It made Nothukula nervous, stiffening her tongue. With each wordless second that passed, she felt more pressure to make up for the awkwardness, say the right thing to Ashley and ensure it came out perfectly. She opened her mouth, but not a single thing came out.” This is showing how she needed connection but feared the idea of rejection or embarrassment.
06/04/2026 1:11 pm
mpetersen27: What if Vero never had her injury? Do you think she would have a better relationship life?
mpetersen27 reacted
09/04/2026 8:34 pm
caustin
My character Natasha struggles with making relationships with people or getting into romantic relationships because she does not believe in love. “Well, lust fades, and then there are children to raise and bills to pay. At some point it just becomes friendships with mutual self- interests for the benefit of society and the next generation.” (yoon 82) This relates to the ted talk “sweet, difficult sounds” by I.M. desta. It is about a girl who moves to America and has a hard time speaking in front of her classmates. Due to this she has a hard time making friends and relationships. There’s a boy in her class that talks to her a lot, but she struggles to talk back. “But she never answered him, even when he offered to help her with her English after school. She smiles awkwardly and shrugged her shoulders.” (Desta) her not being responsive makes it hard for her to make relationships with people.
14/04/2026 12:46 pm
TSmith: What if Natasha believed in love would she have a better relationship's with people.
