In the book, Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh Dumas offers an intriguing glimpse at her life growing up as an Iranian immigrant in America. Through a series of recorded events told from the author’s point of view, the reader is able to see what it is like for someone who has to adapt to a completely new lifestyle in a foreign place. Not only is Dumas able to create an entertaining piece of literature, she is also able to create something that challenges how one thinks about people with different backgrounds and upbringings. By looking at America through the eyes of an immigrant, the reader is able to examine how it feels to be an outsider, and how biases and stereotypes can influence the way immigrants view a country. From the first chapter in
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While she believes she is only simplifying her name so it will be easier for people to interact with her, the effects of her decision are actually much greater. The fact is, Dumas making her name easier for people to say is not what helps her fit in, it is what her new name says to those around her. Dumas admits this when speaking about Americans during the Iranian Revolution saying, “Because I spoke English without an accent and was known as Julie, people assumed I was American. This meant that I was often privy to their real feelings about those ‘damn I-raynians’” (65). It is not only her familiar name, but also people’s assumption that she is American that helps her fit in. It soon becomes apparent to Dumas that her difficult name pronunciation is less of her problem’s root cause and more of a symptom from the greater issue at …show more content…
However, one potential reason is that Americans know more, or at least think they know more, about the French and French culture. This cultural influence, combined with the fact that there are more historical ties between America and France than there are between American and Iran, could be one reason for the positive stereotype associated with François. In fact, initially there does not seem to be many stereotypes associated with Iranians at all. An example of this is when Dumas says, “It was clear that most Americans in 1972 had never heard of Iran” (31). It was only after the Iranian Revolution and the Americans were taken hostage that “Iranians living in America became, to say the least, very unpopular”
While she believes she is only simplifying her name so it will be easier for people to interact with her, the effects of her decision are actually much greater. The fact is, Dumas making her name easier for people to say is not what helps her fit in, it is what her new name says to those around her. Dumas admits this when speaking about Americans during the Iranian Revolution saying, “Because I spoke English without an accent and was known as Julie, people assumed I was American. This meant that I was often privy to their real feelings about those ‘damn I-raynians’” (65). It is not only her familiar name, but also people’s assumption that she is American that helps her fit in. It soon becomes apparent to Dumas that her difficult name pronunciation is less of her problem’s root cause and more of a symptom from the greater issue at …show more content…
However, one potential reason is that Americans know more, or at least think they know more, about the French and French culture. This cultural influence, combined with the fact that there are more historical ties between America and France than there are between American and Iran, could be one reason for the positive stereotype associated with François. In fact, initially there does not seem to be many stereotypes associated with Iranians at all. An example of this is when Dumas says, “It was clear that most Americans in 1972 had never heard of Iran” (31). It was only after the Iranian Revolution and the Americans were taken hostage that “Iranians living in America became, to say the least, very unpopular”