Throughout the years I have read books about people being different and have friendships dispute those differences. Yet I have never read anything as touching and interesting as The Vow by Jessica Martinez. The Vow describes the friendship of Mo and Annie, and how when Mo is forced to move back to Jordan because his dad lost his job and his visa is gone, him and Annie figure out a loop hole: marriage. The book first shows the constant teasing and distress Mo experiences because of his differences when he first moved to America in fifth grade. But then in the actual time the book takes place, shows how people accept Mo and understand and love his differences. The book also doesn't assume everyone is good and happy in the same ways.
In a flash back in the beginning of the book, Mo describes his life when he first moved to America. The description revolves around the teasing and bullying he got for him being different. Everyday he would be bullied and be outcasted because he was from a different place and had a different accent and had different customs. He had no friends and missed home and his old friends. He tried so hard to be like everyone else because he hated being harassed, but gave up seeing that it wasn't helping him. One quote that describes his harassment is: "At first I tried to correct false assumptions one at a time, but I learned pretty quickly that talking back ended in getting shoved against my locker or leveled by a kick in the back of the knee" (Martinez 41). This shows that he was constantly bullied for his differences and slowly learned it did no help.
But thankfully during the actual time that the book takes place, his differences are excepted more. He has lots of friends, is on the basketball team, is smart, and has a good social life.Yet he is still seen as the "arab boy or that iraqi kid". Lots of people still see him different but except that. Annie and Bryce and a few others don't see him different at all; he's their best friend. The quote in the book describes that he will always be seen as different, yet he will be excepted: " It's true though, that at the end of the day he's still the nice arab boy or that iraqi kid, and no amount of time here will change that" (Martinez 4). Nice should be the word we focus on.
Moving on, Mo is happy and good in different ways then a lot of people, and the book shows it. Mo is good at school work and studying and doing well on tests, and Annie is good at art and more creative things. Nobody cares that they're good at different things. Mo is happy when he plays basketball or when he's learning interesting facts, while Annie is happy when she's painting her bedroom mural and working at the ice cream shop. Once again nobody cares that different things make them happy.
The text makes me wonder if in other places when people move to their town or city, do people bully them because of their differences and then discover they like them and don't care that they're a little different.
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