Funny In Farsi

Dumas begins the memoir with a detailed description of her earliest days as an immigrant in America. Her father was a moderately successful man prior to arriving in the US, but his impressions of America are rather idealistic. Dumas writes, “To him, America was a place where anyone, no matter how humble his background, could become an important person” (3). For Kazem, America is a place where he can pursue his ambitions, unencumbered, and fulfill his dreams of financial success. His upbringing was filled with struggle, and he lost both of his parents when he was young. Dumas refers to her father’s childhood as “hardscrabble,” which “left him with a burning desire to get rich” (13). In America, he sees unlimited opportunity. He attended college in America prior to moving his family to the US, and his experience during that time only made him respect and admire it more.

While acknowledging the validity of her father’s perspective, Dumas also points out its exaggerated nature. She mentions that her father also views America as “a kind and orderly nation full of clean bathrooms, a land where traffic laws were obeyed and where whales jumped through hoops” (3). She suggests that Kazem’s outlook is a bit over-the-top; while America indeed represents opportunity for the family, there are limits to its greatness. Her first days of school illustrate the actual struggles an immigrant faces, many of which result, in this situation, from not knowing English. This is especially true for her mother. Firoozeh gradually learns to speak English, but her mother, Nazireh, does not. This creates an inverted kind of relationship in which the mother is dependent on the child. Dumas says, “At an age when most parents are guiding their kids toward independence, my mother was hanging on to me for dear life” (10). Navigating a foreign culture brings real struggles to Firoozeh and her mother, in spite of Kazem’s ever-rosy outlook. In another example of reality’s sharp contrast with idealism, Dumas recalls becoming separated from her family while at Disneyland. After she provides her name, a staff person says, “What kind of a name is that?,” a question that Firoozeh will be “doomed to answer […] over and over again, for the rest of (her) life” (19). The cultural marker that her name represents highlights her difference from others when she simply wants to avoid attracting attention and figure out how to navigate her new life in the US. For a young person who does not really enjoy the spotlight, this is a difficult adjustment to make. However, the challenges Firoozeh faces in her relocation to America do not make her cynical, nor do they affect her perception of Americans. Dumas says, “After spending an entire day in America, surrounded by Americans, I realized that my father’s description of America had been correct. The bathrooms were clean and the people were very, very kind” (7). Despite the difficulties, Dumas concedes that while her father’s view may be too idealistic, there is also some truth behind his outlook.