CHARACTER: BELLA.

Much of the inspiration to write this blog came from the novel Uprising, by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In her book, one of the three main characters is Bella, a young Italian immigrant just newly arrived in America, with many hopes and dreams. She comes to America to help her family back in Italy; hoping to send money back to them. She is greeted by her cousin Pietro, to whom she finds herself immensely attracted to. He takes her to the Lucianos, an Italian family that rents her a tenement. She starts working in the triangle shirtwaist factory, after Pietro gets her the job. After a while living with them, Pietro has to leave, as the construction company he worked for moved to another state. Bella was devastated, and to even worsen everything, she finds out the Luciano's have been cheating her and never sent her money back home, and now her family is all dead. She later meets Yetta, a Russian immigrant with a passion for rebellion, and ideas of a strike. She had a sister named Rahael, who had ran away from Russia after having problems with the government for her rebellious acts. She then meets Jane, a rich girl who ran away from home. Bella has an interesting point of view of the world, taking in appreciation the smallest things. She is very grateful of her life in America, as she had close to nothing back in Italy. She is usually the one that cheers up the group of friends, and is a very humble girl.  Bella is deeply involved in a strike that Yetta and Rahael started, and works hard every day for a change. After a while, the strike ends, with some points won and others lost. After a few months of struggling through, the fire happens. She wants to die, but survives to save other people. She is the only one of the three friends, Bella, Yetta and Jane, that survives to save other people. She is the only one of the three friends, Bella, Yetta and Jane, that survives the fire, she then marries the Luciano's son (who was adopted by a graduate's family thus becoming Rocco Livingston) and becomes Miss Livingston, who tells the story.