 Tya, a nine year old Syrian girl has just moved to Warren Michigan, circa 1969. The fact that she is different and foreign is undeniable even as she tries to fit in by training herself to lose her accent. In The Lunchroom, she realizes that the things that she loves within her culture may alienate her from the other kids. She makes a decision to abandon the sandwich that she was so happy to bring to school therefore abandoning her culture and herself.