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29/03/2026 7:41 pm
I am going to be using the TED Talk by Phuc Tran, “Grammar, Identity, and the Dark Side of the Subjunctives” and It’s about language barriers, mainly focusing on subjunctives.
In “Out of Nowhere” by Maria Padian, there are two main characters, Tom, who is a popular white boy from Maine, and Saeed, a Refuge from Somalia. It takes place in Maine after 9/11. The story is told from the perspective of Tom Bouchard, who is very popular in his high school and is a captain of the soccer team. Saeed is from Somalia and had to escape because of danger in his country. Everyone struggles with the change of refugees living in the town, as well as getting used to language barriers when it's hard to communicate.
The connection between the TED Talk and my book is the barrier between cultures and languages, and how to adapt to new environments when the people around you are different. A quote to show this from my TED Talk is when Phuc’s Dad complains about the English Language when he doesn't understand something. “I’d say ‘Dad, listen, you can say: if it hadn’t rained, we would’ve gone to the beach.’ and my dad’s response: ‘That’s Stupid’ ‘why do you wanna talk about something that didn’t happen?’ Fair Enough’” (Tran 1) a quote to support this from my book is when Saeed doesn't understand what Tom was talking about, “He didn’t have the english to bridge the gap between our respective understandings of girls any more than he had the english to explain how one slaughtered a goat according to the Koran. But he did have enough body language to make one thing very clear: the gap between us was deep: Like, Grand Canyon deep. I changed the subject. We talked about soccer for the rest of our walk.” (Padian 117) this quote shows how Saeed still can't understand Tom and what they talk about.
Where do your characters experience a language barrier? If they do not experience a language barrier, where do they see cultural differences with other people? What are those differences? Do the difference create a challenge when meeting other people?
This topic was modified 3 weeks ago by cstubbs10
03/04/2026 1:32 pm
Throughout my book, “How the Garcia Girls lost their Accent” by Julia Alvarez, Yolanda struggles a lot with her cultural differences. She goes between the Dominican Republic and the United States, which causes her to have to balance the change in culture. She starts to struggle with her identity, and it causes her to have trouble with things in her life. Towards the end of the book the Garcia sisters childhood was shown more and how they grew up in the Dominican Republic. It shows how they had a lot of political danger that made them have to move away from their home in the U.S. When Yolanda was young, she saw a kitten, which highlights the beginning of her identity, and language struggles.
Yolanda is shown many times that culture is something she struggles with throughout many points in this book. When Yolanda sees the kitten, it shows the start of her culture identity issues. One the cat vanishes from her mind, she stars to feel peace with her mind, “At that hour and in that loneliness, I hear her, a black furred thing thing lurking in the corner of my life, her magenta mouth opening, wailing over some violation that lies at the center of my art” (Alvarez 290). This quote shows how once she is able to become proud of her culture and not worry about other things, she can put her mind to ease.
In the TED Talk, What’s missing from the American immigrant narrative, by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez, relates back to Yolanda and her story because she talks about how some people always feel the need to help others instead of putting themselves first, and Yolanda does this through different point in the book to protect her families opinion but also other peoples because she has to switch between the Dominican and America, which is very hard for her to try to achieve everyone's need for her to fit in, “Put your oxygen mask on first before helping those around you” (Gutierrez 3). This quote shows how many people struggle to put themselves first because they feel the pressure to put others first. Both learn that it is okay to put yourself first while still caring for others at the same time.
11/04/2026 10:14 am
Thats interesting, what do you think would've happened if she never met the cat? do you think she would've adapted differently to culture?
13/04/2026 1:52 pm
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.
My character experience both a literal language barrier through the blending of Spanish and English because his family is from the Dominican.
15/04/2026 9:17 am
“Tu ta llorando por una muchacha?”(Diaz 14)
