Notifications
Clear all
Perspective Discussion #1
3
Posts
3
Users
1
Reactions
49
Views
Topic starter
24/02/2026 12:16 am
How does your character handle balancing the struggle between their heritage and their new culture?
For participants:
-Never use a peer’s real name, only use their username
-Respond to the question based on your book, not your personal opinion
-If the question doesn’t directly apply to something that appears in your book, be clear about what you’re seeing instead
-Make sure to include a summary of your book so far
-Include a quote with the proper citation to give context to your answer
-Acknowledge your lead’s reply to your response with a comment that clarifies information, offer a question to them about their book, or simply give a thumbs up
To exceed: Incorporate a quote from a different Ted Talk or a different CommonLit text that has not yet been discussed in your group
lfortier27 reacted
25/02/2026 10:19 am
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz features different stories from three family members, a son, his older sister, and their mother. The book goes over different parts in their lives and how they all struggled with their family and culture. Lola, the older sister, struggles with the expectations put on her by her overbearing and abusive mother. She’s expected to be a traditional Dominican girl, but wants to spread out and be more American. This eventually leads to her rebelling against her mother’s wishes and drastically changing her appearance and personality, “A punk chick. That’s what I became.. The puertorican kids on the block couldn’t stop laughing when they saw my hair” (Díaz 54).
27/02/2026 2:43 pm
In my book Brighter than the Sun by Daniel Aleman Sol a 16 year old girl who's a Mexican immigrant grew up in a town called Tijuana in Mexico, had to cross the border every day to go to school as she was mixed and could. So she’d go there for school because they teach better there but then she had to move into the US with her best friend so she could get a job in the US because the US also paid better than in Tijuana so she lived in the US at her best friend's house working. She left Tijuana because her family needed the money because their restaurant was going downhill. Sol handles balancing the struggle between her Mexican heritage and now living in the United States by working a ton whether it’s before or after school she buries herself in work even though it stresses her out a bit it helps her keep her mind off of the fact she couldn't go home. “I meet Ari’s eyes. Now that she knows the truth about how overwhelmed I’ve been feeling, I find it much easier to smile at Nancy and say, “”Longer than I expected.”” Nancy shakes her head. “I swear to God, they’re trying to kill you with these schedules.” “Yeah,” I say. “But… the more hours, the better.”(Aleman79) Tania in the ted talk how a penny made me feel like a millionaire she handled balancing the struggle between her heritage and new culture by hoping for something new and something better than what she had already which she had happen “About a year later, I get to feel that way again when we find a bag full of stuffed animals in the trash, and suddenly I have more toys than I’ve ever had in my whole life.”(Luna)
