Notifications
Clear all
Perspective Discussion #1
3
Posts
5
Users
2
Reactions
41
Views
Topic starter
24/02/2026 12:13 am
How does your character feel about American culture? What parts of culture/society do they find appealing? What are they currently doing to be part of culture/society?
In my book “The Sun is Also a Star” By Nicola Yoon, two main characters Daniel and Natasha are experiencing America from coming from another country. Natasha is being deported the same day her and Daniel meet. Daniel’s family speaks Korean while at home., This can be related back to the story “Sweet, Difficult Sounds” by I.M Desta because of the way he has to change his voice once he goes outside of his home, which is something extremely similar to the story. Both of these stories have struggles with identity. Natasha views herself as an American, while the government sees her as an undocumented immigrant. Daniel sees himself as a poet while his family sees him as a doctor. In “Sweet, Difficult Sounds” she refers back to having to change her voice often, and every time she does it feels like she loses herself more and more over time. Natasha and Daniel are both Americanized in public but stays true to themselves and their culture in their homes. Desta mentions going back to her “home” in Zimbabwe. This also shows in the book because of how conflicted Natasha is by going back to her “home” county, but she doesn't remember much about it since she's been in America her whole life.
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
02/03/2026 1:03 pm
In my book, The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo, the main character, X (Short for Xiomara), never really tried to be involved with American culture. Xiomara is the first generation daughter of her parents who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. X is a sophomore in high school, in Harlem, New York, she also comes from a very religious family, but X has never liked that. X has always tried her best to avoid God, to avoid church, to avoid her God idolizing mother. Xiomara has never been able to identify with the religion of her family, and she’s never liked how it’s often forced upon her. She wrote referring to her experience in church, “When I look around the church/ And none of the depictions of angels/ Or Jesus or Mary, not one of the disciples/ Look like me: morenita and big and angry.” (Acevedo 59). This shows how she’s never been able to feel comfortable or relate to the religion she’s forced to be a part of. Hence, Xiomara hasn’t really tried to be a part of American culture, she simply doesn’t relate to it because nobody looks or acts like she does. Many of the people around her are rather sour, always cat-calling her, or trying to use her for her body. This obviously doesn’t make things any easier for her to be able to be comfortable with herself, her environment, and with American society.
iadams27 reacted
03/03/2026 2:43 pm
In my book, very similar to yours. The male main character, Daniel is having the pressure of his rest of his family to become a doctor since it's the family legacy. Which is forced on him by the social and religious part of his family. He has to hide the things he really does and wants to be. Such as being a poet.
rbussiere27 reacted
