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? Why do you think our character’s parents put so much pressure on their kids, especially as an immigrant? If your character does not feel pressure from their parents, are they pressured by other people?
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