Generose Character Analysis in Outcasts United

The mother of Bien, Alex, Ive, and Alyah. Generose fled with her three boys from civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis peoples in Burundi, Africa. They had landed in Mozambique and spent four years in a refugee camp before being accepted for resettlement in Clarkston. Alyah is born shortly after their arrival, but Alyah’s father is unable to obtain papers to immigrate to the United States. Thus, Generose must care for her family essentially alone. She is surprised by the fact that she has to choose between working and taking care of her children. She is forced to spend the day with the baby, and then leave Alyah with her sons in the evening while she goes to work.

Generose Character Timeline in Outcasts United

The timeline below shows where the character Generose appears in Outcasts United. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Refugees, Discrimination, and Resilience Theme Icon

...wakes up after his first night in the U.S. Two days before, he, his mother Generose, his older brother Alex, and his younger brother Ive, left a refugee camp in Mozambique.... (full context)

Community and Teamwork vs. Division Theme Icon

...war with each other, killing three hundred thousand people and displacing countless more. In 2000, Generose fled with her sons to Mozambique. She applied for refugee status and resettlement; four years... (full context)

Bienvenue lives with his brothers, Alex and Ive, his baby sister Alyah, and his mother, Generose. Their apartment looks almost exactly the same as it did when they arrived a year... (full context)

Generose knows Swahili, French, and Kirundi, but only a few words of English. Alex is fifteen... (full context)

Alyah had been born six months earlier, and since then Generose had been unemployed. Alyah’s father is in Canada but has no immigration papers to get... (full context)

Generose is open to a job at night, so that the boys could babysit Alyah when... (full context)

Generose takes a night-shift job at a chicken processing plant, which runs from late afternoon to... (full context)

...as a foothold in America. In 2007, Beatrice Ziaty moves with her sons to Iowa. Generose moves to Indiana. When Ive arrives, he calls St. John happily—he thought they were moving... (full context)