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Perspective Discussion #3
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30/03/2026 10:01 am
The Ted talk, Why children of immigrants experience guilt -- and strategies to cope by Sahaj Kaur Kohli is about how children of Immigrants, can often feel a sense of guilt from feeling like they aren't living up to their parents' expectations of them. A lot of kids feel obligated to work harder to meet these expectations and when they feel like they can't they feel like they are letting their parents down. “Many children of immigrants feel a chronic sense of guilt for letting their parents down, for not being enough, for being too American, for seeming ungrateful” (Kohli 0:53).
In I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez is about a young girl named Julia whose parents are immigrants from Mexico and they moved to Chicago. Julia struggles a lot with depression especially after her sister died. She has a lot of guilt connected with her sister's death and how her parents blame her. She feels like she can’t meet her parents' expectations and she will never be like she will never be the perfect Mexican daughter unlike her sister who was. “...My parents want me to be a person I don’t want to be. I love my mom, but she drives me crazy. I understand that she’s upset about my sister—we all are—but I feel so suffocated. I’m nothing like Olga, and I never will be. There’s nothing I can do to change that”’ (Sánchez 216).
Based on this, does the character in your novel feel pressured by their parents? If your character does not feel pressure from their parents, are they pressured by other people?
02/04/2026 10:09 am
In my book, Americanized, by Sara Saedi she faces pressure from her classmates in school to do dangerous stuff. At her sister's birthday party, her sister and her friends thought it would be funny to get Sara high. From my book, "I was swimming in our pool with Samira and our cousin Leyla when they came up with the brilliant idea to smoke me out." (Saedi 84)
02/04/2026 11:46 am
In my book Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi the story Half a Moon by Renee Watson my character is not pressured by parents or others though she does experience stress because of her father leaving when she was young and starting a new family. “As soon as I see her, my heart vibrates and my mind replays all the years without my dad, because the girl on the bus sitting on a seat all by herself is my dad’s daughter.” (Watson 3) this shows instead of being pressured from parents or others my character instead experiences stress from her parents.
This post was modified 3 weeks ago by lgallagher27
05/04/2026 4:24 pm
In the book I’m reading “Indivisible” by Daniel Aleman the main character Mateo Garcia doesn’t directly have pressure from his parents, but he does in his head. Taking care of their house, his little sister, and their business after his parents got detained by ICE when he’s only at the age of 16 is a very stressful and demanding thing. “All the stress and the tears had made me forget” (Aleman 52).
10/04/2026 10:02 am
Maybe it isn't the stress from her parents, it may be possible that its the feeling of being left alone again.
lgallagher27 reacted
10/04/2026 10:03 am
I wonder what he was saying that he forgot.
16/04/2026 8:13 am
in my book a land of permanent goodbyes by Atia Abawi my character tareq doesn't face pressure like a normal person like grades or succeeding he focuses more on survival but that doesn't mean tareq isn't pressured at all. he definitely is just from different things such as war and danger puts him through constant pressure to survive, make smart decisions, and grow up faster, he also feels pressured to keep his family safe and help them, and other people like smugglers, soldiers, and even other refugees. "the invisible lines in your world hold so much power... whether you live or die can depend on which side you stand on." (Abawi 73)
22/04/2026 9:53 am
In “The Tyrant’s Daughter” by J. C. Carleson, Laila’s father wasn’t a good man in public and he got killed, but had a great relationship with his family. His death caused the family to have to move to the United States. Ever since that, they’ve had to deal with the image of their father and the entire family is trying to separate themselves from him. Unfortunately, everyone is giving them a really hard time about it and are still bringing up the past. Laila is forced to deal with her father’s mistakes over and over again.
in my book she she pressured by her dead dad with people always asking about it
