Overcoming Obstacles Around the World
In Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, both Pi and Firoozeh feel that they have to change themselves in order to survive in their surroundings.. In Life of Pi, Pi struggles to adapt to his environment when he is stranded on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Before he was stranded however, he has to make hard choices in his life that have to do with religion and school in order to be accepted. In Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh is self conscious about her background and feels that she needs to change herself to fit in with the other kids when she moves from Iran to Southern California. Later on when she is older she realizes that she does not need to change herself for others, …show more content…
To a class of kindergarteners, the name Firoozeh definitely stood out. This caused Firoozeh to feel very self conscious about her name, because many of her friends couldn’t even pronounce it. So, when she moved to Newport Beach, Firoozeh was determined to find a more ‘American’ name. When she started sixth grade, she introduces herself as Julie and she thought to herself: “people actually remembered my name, which was an entirely refreshing new sensation” (Dumas, 65). She was happy that people could remember her and that she was making friends, but, later on when she got older, she realized that “people would have never invited me to their house had they known me as Firoozeh. I felt like a fake” (Dumas, 65). She felt like a poser because her friends never knew the real her, and she was losing her culture. Both Pi and Firoozeh changed their names to fit it, but Pi changed his name because he was being made fun of for it, where Firoozeh changed it to be like everyone else. When Pi was in school, he was made fun of for his full name, Piscine. Kids in his class called him ‘pissing’ as a joke. When this joke started, Pi was very embarrassed and when he walked into the classroom, he “walked in last, wearing my crown of thorns” (Martel, 20) This quote links his problems with his name and his religion together. The bible states that as a form of mockery, the …show more content…
Coming from a secular family, Pi is expected to have the same values as his parents. But as he gets older, Pi realizes that he has a lot of interest in not just one religion, but three, muslim, hinduism and christianity. Meanwhile, his father is “as secular as ice cream. He didn’t have a religious bone in his body” (Martel, 65). Because of the lack of a large religious practice in his home, Pi is scared to tell his parents about his beliefs. Pi’s parents knew that he was practicing religion, but they didn't know that he was “a practicing Hindu, Christian and Muslim” (Martel, 64). As more and more people find out that he practices multiple religions, he gets discriminated by people in the different temples and churches, causing Pi to feel like more of an outsider. On the other hand, Firoozeh feels left out because she can’t practice the religious celebrations as her friends. During christmas time, she felt like “everyone was having a party and I was not invited” (Dumas, 105). As an Iranian, she celebrates Nowruz, or New Years Day, but when Firoozeh and her family “moved to America in 1972, Nowruz lost all its meaning” (Dumas, 106). So her national holiday faded out of her life, and all she wanted was for Christmas season to be over. According to Firoozeh, “to be left out of Christmas is the ultimate minority experience” (Dumas, 107). Being left out of this holiday reminded Firoozeh of her home back
In Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, both Pi and Firoozeh feel that they have to change themselves in order to survive in their surroundings.. In Life of Pi, Pi struggles to adapt to his environment when he is stranded on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Before he was stranded however, he has to make hard choices in his life that have to do with religion and school in order to be accepted. In Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh is self conscious about her background and feels that she needs to change herself to fit in with the other kids when she moves from Iran to Southern California. Later on when she is older she realizes that she does not need to change herself for others, …show more content…
To a class of kindergarteners, the name Firoozeh definitely stood out. This caused Firoozeh to feel very self conscious about her name, because many of her friends couldn’t even pronounce it. So, when she moved to Newport Beach, Firoozeh was determined to find a more ‘American’ name. When she started sixth grade, she introduces herself as Julie and she thought to herself: “people actually remembered my name, which was an entirely refreshing new sensation” (Dumas, 65). She was happy that people could remember her and that she was making friends, but, later on when she got older, she realized that “people would have never invited me to their house had they known me as Firoozeh. I felt like a fake” (Dumas, 65). She felt like a poser because her friends never knew the real her, and she was losing her culture. Both Pi and Firoozeh changed their names to fit it, but Pi changed his name because he was being made fun of for it, where Firoozeh changed it to be like everyone else. When Pi was in school, he was made fun of for his full name, Piscine. Kids in his class called him ‘pissing’ as a joke. When this joke started, Pi was very embarrassed and when he walked into the classroom, he “walked in last, wearing my crown of thorns” (Martel, 20) This quote links his problems with his name and his religion together. The bible states that as a form of mockery, the …show more content…
Coming from a secular family, Pi is expected to have the same values as his parents. But as he gets older, Pi realizes that he has a lot of interest in not just one religion, but three, muslim, hinduism and christianity. Meanwhile, his father is “as secular as ice cream. He didn’t have a religious bone in his body” (Martel, 65). Because of the lack of a large religious practice in his home, Pi is scared to tell his parents about his beliefs. Pi’s parents knew that he was practicing religion, but they didn't know that he was “a practicing Hindu, Christian and Muslim” (Martel, 64). As more and more people find out that he practices multiple religions, he gets discriminated by people in the different temples and churches, causing Pi to feel like more of an outsider. On the other hand, Firoozeh feels left out because she can’t practice the religious celebrations as her friends. During christmas time, she felt like “everyone was having a party and I was not invited” (Dumas, 105). As an Iranian, she celebrates Nowruz, or New Years Day, but when Firoozeh and her family “moved to America in 1972, Nowruz lost all its meaning” (Dumas, 106). So her national holiday faded out of her life, and all she wanted was for Christmas season to be over. According to Firoozeh, “to be left out of Christmas is the ultimate minority experience” (Dumas, 107). Being left out of this holiday reminded Firoozeh of her home back