Jean Palmer HECK

Jean Palmer HECK Log Line: Two Eastern European siblings, driven by duty to family, are scorned and exploited as illiterate outsiders in America, while they struggle to earn money for their starving family living under Russian oppression, and they are torn between the promise of a new life and the pull of their homeland. If I Could See Across the Ocean 1905 Kaunas, Lithuania — under Russian rule When Sofia didn’t come home from the market where she was selling her woven linen tablecloths, her brothers knew something was wrong. The three men headed to the town square and discovered her bruised, bloodied body behind the tavern. They carried her home and buried her next to their parents. Inside the house, in the silence of grief, the youngest brother picked up their lone photograph of the family and touched the image of Sofia. “It’s time to go,” commanded the oldest. “I refuse to wear their Russian uniforms.” “If we stay, I’ll kill them,” said the middle one, “if they don’t kill us first.” Before the moon rose that night, they closed the door to their home for the last time and headed to the border. 1909 Merkine, Lithuania — under Russian rule “Tell me a story before you leave,” said Martynas, his wan, innocent face staring up at his oldest sister from his frequent resting place on the sofa. “Prašau. Please.” “How about the one with the lambs? The stubborn ones.” Viktoria’s voice strained, a bit higher than usual. She was dressed in her Sunday skirt and blouse, wearing a new pair of shoes the cobbler gave her, a gift for all the times she brought communion to his sickly wife when no one else in the village dared. Viktoria would much rather be wearing her broken-down shoes and frayed work clothes, filling the copper wash bucket and scrubbing laundry for her parents and seven younger siblings. Today she wouldn’t be the one to do that. Nor tomorrow. Nor the next day. The tickets were bought; the ship for America would leave England in six days; and, Viktoria would be on it with her brother, Petras. “Let’s make up a new story,” Martynas suggested, “with someone who can fly.” Viktoria glanced over at their mother who was sweeping the bare floor for the third time that morning, pretending it needed her attention. Motina gave a little nod, wiped her eyes with the end of her apron, and turned back to the unnecessary task at hand. Viktoria granted her favorite brother’s wish — knowing it would be the last time for four or maybe five years. “Once upon a time, there was a stork and a little boy,” she began. “And…who else should there be?” “A hedgehog. I like those,” said Martynas. “You know they’re very, very strong…like I’ll be someday.” “Yes, you will, sweet one.” Viktoria patted her brother’s head, lingering to stroke his soft hair. “The hedgehog and the little boy lived in a castle. The boy—he was in the tower part.” “A tower that goes all the way up to the sky!” He pointed as they both craned their necks towards the clouds outside. Viktoria continued to keep her face lifted, blinking her eyes to soak up the tears that started to form. On any other day, she would have been absorbed in the story-telling. Today, she was anchored in reality. The Russian Tsar’s taxes were oppressive. Sending family members to America was the real price they paid. If she could, she would stay. But at age 23, and unmarried, Viktoria knew it was her duty to go.

Jean Palmer HECK Algonkian Conference February 20, 2025 1. Story Statement In 1909, two Eastern European siblings, Viktoria and Petras Miskis, must earn enough money at the American Carpet Factory to save their starving family back home in Russian-controlled Lithuania. 2. Antagonist The antagonist for Viktoria, age 23, is her Boss at the carpet factory in Yonkers, NY. He is a power-driven, low-level manager overseeing a crew of immigrant women. Realizing Viktoria has no friends in the workroom, he targets her by offering her more pay if she works through the lunch hour alone. Boss also promises to teach her English and get her a promotion. At the climax of the book, he attempts to rape her. Petras, age 17, in his last conversation with their father, was given the task to make money quickly and to keep Viktoria safe in America. Petras’s several antagonists are forces (people and vices) that block those goals. • On the first ship leaving Europe (crossing the North Sea), a Russian thief steals their money and holds Viktoria at knifepoint, scarring her chin. Petras lunges at him and both men are arrested by the ship’s crew. • In America, Petras, joins his boarding house roommates at the bars after work. He is lured by back-alley conmen to try and double his pay by gambling. • When Petras learns of the attempted rape of Viktoria, he stalks the Boss, attacks him, is jailed and loses his job. 3. Breakout Titles • If I Could See Across the Ocean • Duty to Family • To Be Back Home 4. Comp Titles • The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani Three Italian immigrants come to America, circa 1910. The young woman and her father must earn money for their large family back home. The young man, is banished from his small village and forced to emigrate. He works his way up through ingenuity, eventually finding his true love in America. My book will appeal to readers who like The Shoemaker’s Wife, but want a quicker read. • Brooklyn by Colm Toibin A young woman leaves her small Irish village, where there is little opportunity to make a living or build a future. She must adjust to a new culture, come to grips with duty to family and eventually learn where home truly is. My book, also with a young woman who must discover how strong she really is, deals with the same themes of duty to family and discovering where home is, but “If I Could See Across the Ocean” is set in 1909 America and a small Lithuanian town, under Russian domination. 5. Log/Hook Line with Core Wound Two Eastern European siblings, driven by duty to family, are scorned and exploited as illiterate outsiders in America, while they struggle to earn money for their starving family under Russian oppression, and they are torn between the promise of a new life and the pull of their homeland. 6. More Inner Conflict Viktoria is the oldest child in a family of 7 children. Uneducated and unmarried, she helps her mother with the family and household chores, as well as ironing the priest’s vestments and making communion hosts for the Catholic church in their small Lithuanian town. Nothing prepares her for the life in America, especially for being a lowly factory worker among thousands of people. Viktoria’s inner conflict: she feels stupid because she can’t communicate with Americans or other foreigners who don’t speak the same language. Even though she is a hard worker, her job of filling wool drums in a huge carpet factory is tiring and monotonous. She feels stuck (bound by duty in this low paying job), incompetent (because she doesn’t understand what’s being said), lonely (missing her boisterous family) and unfulfilled (hoping to return home, marry and have her own children). Her brother, Petras, who has a natural gift for languages, encourages her to learn English. “But why,” she asks, “ if we are going back to Lithuania soon anyway?” “Because if you can talk better to your boss, you can get a nicer job…maybe in the loom area,” says Petras. “Just try, Viktoria. Then we’ll have more money to send home.” In a later scene when her boss observes her trying to speak in other languages, he offers to teach her English during lunchtime. But his goals aren’t the same as hers — he uses her book to teach her names of different bits of clothing. When he begins touching her in explanation of parts of the body, she faints. Secondary conflicts arise in the social setting when she meets a fellow Lithuanian woman, Adrija, at work one day. Adrija has been in America 5 years and has married into a fun-loving Irish family, with a handsome cousin who is a widower. They enjoy both Irish and Lithuanian social events, and take in vaudeville shows. With Adrija’s help, Michael is learning Lithuanian and Viktoria, English. But Viktoria still thinks about her poor family and feels guilty for these decadent pleasures. An important historic event, The Hudson Fulton Celebration, takes place throughout the Hudson Valley in October 1909. It marked the discovery of the Hudson River, the invention of the steam engine, and the ingenuity of immigrant workers. It’s a 2-week party, for Viktoria, Petras, and all of Yonkers. During one event, the first electric lighting of a public building on the town square in Yonkers, Viktoria feels a stranger approach her in the dark and touch her. She realizes from the smell of the person, it must be her boss. She is humiliated and scared. Several weeks later, Michael proposes marriage. This conflict heightens her secret embarrassment about her boss’s untoward advances. She realizes she wants to be with Michael. This also raises her ultimate dilemma: Where is my home? How can I fulfill my duty to my family? 7. Settings A modest family farm in a small Lithuanian village, a steerage deck on an ocean liner, the inner workings of Ellis Island with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, the streets of New York City, a massive carpet factory in Yonkers and the beautiful Hudson River — all spell out a very cinematic backdrop for “If I Could See Across the Ocean.” Here is a list of places where the characters live, work, play, fight and hide in the darkness. Back Home 1. A modest home on agricultural land in Lithuania. Interior shots of the Viktoria reading to her invalid brother, as her mother sweeps the floor. A separate workshop where the father shows Petras the financial books revealing their meager earnings and dire situation. An exterior shot of the family crying goodbye to Viktoria and Petras as they leave on horse-drawn wagon. The Journey to America 1. A Russian train station. A large steam-engine pulls up. Interior and exterior shots. 2. SS Ivernia. On deck shots as the ship leaves the European continent at Bremerhaven. 3. Train from Hull, England, to Liverpool, England. 4. HMS Lucania, an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic. Steerage compartment filled with passengers. 5. Ellis Island. Interior shots of the Great Hall. Interior shots of the hospital. 6. Battery Park in NYC with immigrants meeting their hosts or families. Life in and around Yonkers, New York 1. The Kundrat’s house, a two-story house on a side street (Croton Terrace) in Yonkers. Interior and exterior. 2. A boarding house for men. Interior and exterior. 3. Company housing on Moquette Row, Yonkers. 4. The streets around various factories and places of work in Yonkers. Exterior shots. 5. The Alexander Smith and Sons Carpet Factory. Interiors of the wool transfer building, the looms, the finishing room, the offices, stairways, machine shop, shipping department. Exteriors when the workers enter and exit. 6. Riverside Park. Exterior shots 7. St. Casmir’s Roman Catholic Church. Exterior and interior shots. 8. St. Joseph Cemetery, Warburton Ave, Yonkers. 9. Getty Square, site of Hudson Fulton electric lighting display. 10. Various parade routes with ethnic bands performing. 11. Hudson River and Yonkers Pier. 12. Yonkers Theatre and Vaudeville House. Interior. 13. New York Zoological Park (now the Bronx Zoo) 14. County Jail. Interior shots. Cleveland, Ohio (or other location) 1. Modest home of newlyweds. 2. Terminal Tower (Cleveland train station). New York City 1. The Singer Building, 149 Broadway Street, New York. Interior first floor shots and views from the 47th floor viewing area. 2. The Cunard Dock at Pier 54, New York City, on the Hudson. HECK Algonkian pre-event assignments.pdf