37 pages • 1 hour read
Firoozeh DumasFunny In Farsi
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Iranian Immigrant Experience in the US
The memoir examines what life was like for Dumas’s family upon emigrating to the US, both prior to and after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The challenges faced by the family and the ways they try to adapt to their new life form the dominant theme in the book. Significantly, while there are many aspects of their experience, such as the language barrier, that can be common challenges for immigrants from many countries of origin, the family’s Iranian heritage distinguishes its experience from others. This is particularly evident when the family returns to the US following the Iranian Revolution. This political, economic, and human rights crisis serves as a pivotal moment that changes the nature of their experience and adds overt discrimination to the already difficult series of adjustments inherent in navigating a new culture.
Dumas describes her first day at elementary school, a day when her mother joins her. This is in 1972, prior to the Iranian Revolution and ensuing hostage crisis. After school is over, she and her mother leave the school and proceed to get lost. A woman, presumably the mother of a student at the school, notices them and invites them inside. Dumas says, “Having us inside her house was probably akin to having the circus make a personal visit” (6). While the woman’s act of helping the lost immigrants is perceived as kind, Dumas’s and her mother’s inability to speak English others them as some kind of “exotic” category of human. This is generally how Dumas is treated prior to the Revolution; there is no getting around being perceived as “foreign,” but that does not preclude people from treating her and her family with kindness. Dumas says of her first day in America that the people are “very, very kind” (6), which becomes a minor refrain for much of the book.
The general attitude toward Iranians in the US changes dramatically after the Revolution, especially after American hostages are taken in Tehran. Many Americans use the incident as an excuse to let their prejudices out into the open. In fact, as Dumas points out, bumper-sticker slogans become common, and the kindness shown to Dumas and her mother on her first day of school in 1972 is no longer typical of their experiences. Instead, Dumas says of her relatives’ experience when they arrive in America after the Revolution, “The Americans they met rarely invited them into their houses,” and they “did not think Americans were very kind” (36). Many Americans grew suspicious toward all Iranians, which replaced any altruism that was shown prior to that pivotal moment in history. The difficulty posed by emigrating to another country, which includes learning a new language and adapting to new cultural norms and customs, is compounded, specifically for Iranian immigrants, by the unfairness of stereotyping, racism, and broad-brushing.
The Central Role of Family
In some ways, this memoir is about family, and much of what this narrative examines is the importance of having and maintaining strong familial bonds. Dumas’s discussion of her father’s family offers one way this theme is explored. Kazem and his siblings lost their parents at a young age. Dumas says that they “survived through teamwork, and now, even though they are well into their seventies and have many kids and grandkids, they remain central players in one another’s lives” (13). They collectively experienced tremendous adversity through the loss of their parents and the resulting financial difficulties they endured, yet they managed to help each other so that they all became successful adults. They also became accountable to each other. As an example, Dumas says that “telling my father his beloved older sister, Sedigeh, is angry with him is like putting a grown man in time-out” (13). The respect and reverence between siblings results from their interdependence.
Dumas’s experience is different from her father’s, of course, but the role family plays in her life is just as critical. Clearly, Kazem’s reverence for family does not stop with his siblings. There are many occasions throughout the book when Dumas and her father share heartwarming moments. For example, when she is 18 and considers getting plastic surgery on her nose, her father takes her to the surgeon but is relieved that Dumas decides against the procedure. Dumas also recalls accompanying her father on his surreptitious trips to buy ham in Iran and becoming concerned for his soul after finding out that eating it is forbidden by Islam. Dumas mentions in the afterword that the memoir evolved to make her father the “main character” (190). She claims that she does not have an explanation for this, yet it is evident that she sees her own life within a larger context of family.
There is no continuous unifying plot to the book, but most of its anecdotes center on Dumas’s relationships with her family members. She clearly adores her father and her mother, and this respect and admiration are part of the lineage they hand down to her. Also, much like her father’s, Dumas’s life is full of adversity. Her success at overcoming the challenges she faces as an immigrant is in large part attributable to the support and interdependence of her cohesive family unit.
The American Dream
This theme is best represented by Kazem, who believes thoroughly in the system that prioritizes the individual’s pursuit of happiness. After Kazem applied for and received a Fulbright Scholarship, he arrived in America for the first time. When he returned to Iran, he had every intention of returning to America. Dumas says, “He dreamed that someday he would return with his own children. And they, the children of an engineer from Abadan, would have access to the same educational opportunities as anybody else, even the sons of senators and the rich” (95). At the heart of Kazem’s dream are access to education and opportunity, both of which were limited in Iran, particularly for women.
In many ways, the American Dream is simply an ideal; working hard and pursuing opportunities does not always result in economic security and access to the jobs and homes one imagines obtaining. Kazem’s family encounters daily struggles in the US, and the task of acclimating to an entirely new culture is a monumental undertaking. After the Iranian Revolution, when xenophobia produces overt prejudice against Iranian immigrants, Kazem does not lose his faith in the ideals that he believes America represents. Perhaps he is such a believer because the American Dream aligns well with his own natural optimism. In spite of many setbacks, Kazem always maintains that America is a great place, and his gratitude is passed down to his daughter and other family members. Dumas says, “My relatives and I are proud to be Iranian, but we give tremendous thanks for our lives in America, a nation where freedom reigns” (75). Dumas also is grateful for being able to pursue her “hopes and dreams, despite being female” (75). In some ways, Kazem’s dream becomes reality. He and his family understand that freedom is essential to his dreams’ coming true, and the gratitude Dumas expresses in the memoir underscores the value she and her family place on the American Dream and the ideals it represents. As an example of an action that expresses gratitude for freedom in the US, Kazem became quite serious when he discusses his obligation to vote. During one occasion, when Firoozeh expresses indifference about voting, Kazem tells her, “Any immigrant who comes to this country and becomes a citizen and doesn’t vote […] should just go back” (117). He sees the participation in government that voting allows as a duty that truly fulfills the promise of the American Dream and not something that should be taken for granted.
Related Titles
By Firoozeh Dumas
