3. Group H--dbubier26

My book, Immigrant Odyssey: A French-Canadian Habitant In New England by Félix Albert is about the author, an illiterate, French speaking subsistence farmer from Québec and his family's story of moving to Lowell, Massachusetts from L'Isle Verte, Québec in 1881 in hopes of better fortune. At the beginning, he and his family were essentially dirt poor in The States, initially having to live in another immigrant family's flat until they could afford their own. Eventually, Albert becomes a successful businessman, owning a few buildings. Unfortunately, just before the turn of the century, a depression hit which caused his creditors to demand payment immediately. He was forced to liquidate what he still had, and watched as his creditors pawned his other belongings. He then settled on a farm he was able to muster up the money for, this time just ouside of Massachusetts, in New Hampshire, back on the bottom rungs of the ladder.

Since the book takes place in the late 19th century, there were many laws that were either more relaxed than they are now, or did not exist at all. Albert and his family did not do anything explicitly against the law. However, “In contrast to her life on the farm in St. Eloi, Desneiges [Albert's Wife] no longer had the oldest children, two girls in their teens, at home to help her. They, and at least one brother, Joseph, the eldest son, who was employed in the mule room of the Tremont Mills, left home before six o’ clock in the morning to labor all day in a factory.” (Albert 13). It wasn't until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was passed that children were not allowed to work dangerous jobs. Working these strenuous hours helped the family keep afloat until Albert cemented himself as a successful businessman in Lowell.

How old was Joseph when he first started his job at the factory, and if he was younger? How did this affect him mentally and physically with such a labor intensive job?

In my book Out Of Nowhere by Maria Padian the protagonist, Tom Bouchard, lives in a city in Maine that recently has become a hot spot for Somali immigrants. Tom is a soccer player and plays for his high school team which has recently gained some new Somali players. Tom meets a Somali kid his age named Saeed that he plays soccer with. Although there wasn’t necessarily a time when my character had to break a rule, they were restricted by a rule that caused them to lose an important part of their team. This was when Saeed was kicked off the team and unable to play because of eligibility issues because Saeed struggled in school. “There were a couple of chairs, but when I went to sit, Saeed remained standing so I stood, too. ‘I off the team.’”(Padian 235). This is when Saeed tells Tom that he has been cut from the team. 

In Out of Nowhere, Maria Padian tells the story of Tom Bouchard, a high school senior living in a small town in Maine. Tom’s life is relatively quiet and revolves around playing soccer for his school team. However, this changes with the arrival of several Somali refugees, particularly one named Saeed. Tom becomes curious about him, and he admires his soccer skills. Although Saeed doesn't speak much English, Tom, as captain of the team, offers to help him. Over time, they become close friends. However, things take a turn when Tom and his friend Donnie are caught sneaking into another high school to paint over their rival's rock. Tom is sentenced to 100 hours of community service and must repaint the rock. Meanwhile, as more immigrant groups arrive at school, communication becomes difficult due to language barriers. This leads to segregation based on culture, religion, and language. However, Tom is a very social person and is always trying to talk with immigrants and understand their situation. Another place he does this besides school is the volunteering place for his community hours, where he helps a little Somali kid to get his school work done. There he also meets Myla, a girl in College who loves volunteering and helping immigrants. Tom starts having feelings for her, and takes her out for dinner a couple of times, even though he already has a girlfriend, Cherisse. Tom is learning a lot about Somali people and their tradition. There’s one in particular that he is a little concerned about: Ramadan. This is because he made a bet with the Maquoit school for their next soccer game. Back then, Tom didn’t know it was scheduled during Ramadan, which means their best players won’t be at their maximum condition. Fortunately, they end up beating Maquoit, their biggest rivals, so everyone is really happy about that. Tom breaks up with his girlfriend Cherisse and starts dating Mayla. At this point, everything seems to be going great in Tom’s life. But everything changes when Maquoit questions Saeed’s eligibility, so he’s not allowed to play for a while. Everyone on the soccer team is really mad about this. Especially Saeed and Tom, who is trying to understand why Maquoit is doing that. After talking to Alex, a friend of Tom from Maquoit, it seems like everything is back to normal. But then a huge storm hits, and the entire town collapses, losing all power. During the storm, Saeed disappears, and Tom gets a call from Donnie's mom: Donnie's been in a terrible accident and is in the hospital. Tom immediately goes there with his father. After waiting for a long time, the doctors say that Donnie will live, but it will take very long until he recovers. Unexpectedly, Mayla and Samira, Saeed’s sister, show up at the hospital, looking for Saeed. Samira starts to panic, worrying deeply about him, which makes Tom feel very sorry for her and decides to give her a hug. Unfortunately, Cherisse sees this and takes a picture of the exact moment, and posts it on Facebook. At first Tom doesn’t realize how bad this is, until Mayla tells him. Somali girls are not supposed to touch anyone outside their family. Because of this, the whole Somali community is really mad at Samira, and her family. Meanwhile, Saeed’s family finally contacts the police, reporting him missing. Tom is being interrogated at Saeed's house, when he walks in through the door. It turns out that Saeed was playing for another soccer team in Portland and couldn’t get a ride home. Tom tells Saeed about the situation with Samira, but there’s nothing they can do about it. One day, Saeed and his whole family are missing. After soccer practice, Tom stops by their house, but no one is there. They seem to be gone. Nobody knows anything about them. A few days later, Tom and Myla are studying at the library when Myla gets an email from Samira. She explains that they moved to Minneapolis and now live with her uncle and his family. She is really sad and misses a lot of things and people from Maine. But they all know it’s better for them this way.

When has your character gone outside the rules or broken the law to help them succeed? What drove them to do this? What was the result or outcome?

In the last third of my book, nobody breaks the law, but Tom does something that could be seen as a violation when he hugs Samira. Tom was born and raised in the U.S., so he doesn't know about some Somali traditions or prohibitions.

At the hospital, when Samira and Myla were searching for Saeed, Tom could tell that Samira was very worried. He felt sorry for her and decided to hug her. Tom’s ex-girlfriend happened to capture this moment in a photo and posted it on Facebook. Myla tried to explain to Tom why this was problematic, but he didn’t understand. A few days later, Tom learns from Saeed: "In Islam, it says woman must not show hair, or the skin, to man outside the family. Woman must not touch man outside the family." (Padian 295). Tom then realizes that Samira may have inadvertently broken Somali cultural rules because of his actions. He tries to explain this to everyone, but the photo Cherisse took tells a different story, and there’s nothing he can do to change that.