Amy Dumas

The document that is being reviewed is The Life of a Female Slave written by Harriet Jacobs. Harriet Jacobs was an African American slave that, after many harsh trials, was able to obtain her freedom, along with her children, by escape to a free state. Jacobs is responsible for her own writings, in the sense that she both wrote them and published them herself, which is remarkable because during this time it was uncommon for slaves to be able to read and write. Jacobs’ writings were later…

individual present in this world. The simple fact that a person is fluent in one language while they are not as fluent in the other can cause frustration. The person who is bilingual might be educated but yet faces obstacles as we see in the character which Amy Tan writes about. Tan’s character expresses what it mean to be bilingual in…

the English language speaks it the same way. In the essay, “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan analyses how the societies judge people by the way they speak. Tan talks about her mother having limited English, since that people give her less priority than needed. Her mother can understands every word that fluent English speaker says, however, it is hard for her to express her words. In the essay, “The F word”, by Firoozeh Dumas illustrates her personal anecdote to describe the societal problems. She…

Foods Within Traditions In her article, “Sweet, Sour, and Resentful,” Firoozeh Dumas directs us through on how her mom readies a feast. She gives us detailed description on how her mom cooks the food she is planning to serve the guests by starting out from the grocery till the part that the food is ready to be served. She writes about how because of their Iranian traditions they have to prepare a Persian feast for their newcomer friends and family, yet her mother always brought happiness to…

Using Native American names for sport team mascots devalues their experiences. In the article, “The “F Word””, Firoozer Dumas states, “My cousin’s name, Farbod, means “Greatness”. When he moved to America, all the kids called him “Farthead”. My brother Farshid (“he who enlightens”) became “Fartshit”.” When Firoozeh Dumas moved to America with his family the names they were given that meant something so great to them, were devalued and made into a mockery. In the same…

She soon discovered that if she stuck to her original name, ‘Firoozeh Dumas’, her classmates wouldn’t accept her. Dumas writes “Because I spoke English without an accent and was known as Julie people assume that was American this meant that I was often privy to the real feelings about those ‘damn I-ranians’ (Dumas 607). The United States of America being so strongly monolinguistic, does not accept and appreciate the hundreds of dialects out…

Usually many people at this time who do not speak perfect English try their best to communicate with others. However, heartless people, who don’t have tolerance for these individuals, take advantage of their situation to undervalue them. Amy Tan in her article “Mother Tongue” describe perfectly how people who immigrate to this country and try to fit in the society still have to handle with racial problems. It’s a story about a Chinese girl who narrates her life, and how her mother suffered…

Most of the time this first judgement is the one that they remember you by. For example, in the article “The ‘F Word’” by Firoozeh Dumas, the author explains that she was rejected from jobs and made fun of because of her name. Her name was the first thing people read about her and they immediately knew that her family was not American and made their judgement based on that. She explains…