Analysis Of Funny In Farsi By Firoozeh Dumas

Holding prejudiced views against people and believing in stereotypes are seen as unpleasant qualities for someone to behold, though there is a study by “The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience” that shows that the human brain naturally classifies people, especially when the people correlate with negative views, like people of others ethnicities that have prejudiced views towards them. Immigrants are usually ridiculed for their differences because they can be picked on for either “stealing jobs” or being segregated because they are not “American.” Firoozeh Dumas was ridiculed and segregated for being an Iranian immigrant. In the memoir, Funny In Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, the poem, “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora, and political cartoon, “Great American

Melting Pot” by Richard Crowson, racism in America leads to violence against immigrants, which this violence makes the immigrants want to better themselves, and this pushes them to become a “citizen” of America.
Racism is the cancer that is sweeping across America, which is suppose to be known as “The Free World”, but with all the segregating and hate towards immigrants that come to America to seek the “Freedom” that America offers, it seems that America sadly lets them down, and this racism that is plaguing America just causes violence toward immigrants.

Firoozeh Dumas and her family were invited to Washington D.C. by Jimmy Carter –the President of the United States at the time of the visit in 1977—to welcome the Shah and his wife. When they arrived at the White House, anti-Iranian protestors in masks horribly greeted them, “The demonstrators had crossed the road. They were stampeding toward us waving sticks with nails driven into them. People were running and screaming. Instead of Iranian flags, the lawn was suddenly covered with bloody and injured Iranians” (Dumas 113). These anti-Iranian protestors thought that Iranians were horrible people, so they attacked them, causing violence and hatred when the Iranian people were invited to the White House to welcome the Shah and they weren’t even protected. If they had been protected, or if there hadn’t been any racist people there, the violent attack would have never happened. Racist people feel the need to say that “these people did this and this” and they resort to violence. But, if they say the Iranian people are bad, and they attack them, are they not worse? If everyone was not racist and more accepting of people, then these violent attacks and naming calling would never happen in America, though it does because of ignorance and intolerance. Pat Mora writes of the way that a Mexican American would be treating and how they were viewed and explains how they are seen, “viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic, perhaps inferior, definitely different” (Mora 10-11). Immigrants are viewed as different and inferior, which causes violence. If people did not see immigrants as inferior and differently and everyone was viewed as human

instead of by race, then the attack on Dumas would have never happened. Viewing people as inferior creates violent tendencies towards people, causing them to get picked on because they are “weak”.
People say “what does not kill you makes you stronger”, which is why people who are immigrants fight to succeed. Immigrants seem to try to make more of him or herself than a regular person would because they are trying to prove these racists wrong. The political cartoon that was created by Richard Crowson shows an image of what looks like an American that is stirring the “Great American Melting Pot” and which whilst the man is stirring, he says something that is quite unexpected, “Whew! Keeping this stirred is hard work! Wonder if I could hire an immigrant to do it” (Crowson). Immigrants work hard because they are segregated and ridiculed, so they have to prove him or herself. The creator of this political cartoon is trying to display that message by making the words “hard work” and “immigrant” stand out. If someone is made fun of, or put down, they are more likely to try their hardest to prove the person who did so wrong, the same is happening with immigrants who are segregated and ridiculed. Dumas’ father is a great example of working hard because of being segregated and ridiculed. He would always try his best to do whatever he could to make a living and a life for himself, “My father is a proud man. He was the first member of his family to study in America, the first to win a Fulbright scholarship, and, years later, the first to settle permanently in America. Because of him, his siblings and their families ended up in Southern California” (Dumas 68). Dumas’ father is a hard workingman and wanted a better life for his family. He worked tremendously hard to make the lives of his family an himself better because he knew that people were cruel and would not accept them as easily. He eventually got laid off from his job and when going to get another the man took a look at his passport and said, “I’m sorry but the government of Saudi Arabia does not accept Iranians at this time. We thought you were an Arab” (Dumas 120). Despite this set back after getting laid off and having to sell processions, Dumas’ father still continued searching for a job for an executive position with the Nigerian Oil Company, which he got. This gave him the high salary that he deserved. Throughout all this segregation and the terrible treatment he exhibited, he still fought to make his and his families’ lives better.
Success is something everyone strives for; it doesn’t matter if you’re a 70-year-old retired American white man, or a 24-year-old refugee from the Middle East. Though, there is one thing that both do not strive for, but one does. The 70-year-old retired American white man does not have to worry about being regarded as inferior and unworthy, but the 24-year-old refugee does. The 24-year old refugee has to worthy about how people treat and view him. People view him terribly and what he does usually isn’t good enough. The same thing happened with Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a student that immigrated to America to pursue a career. Bhuiyan was working at a mini-mart in Dallas to save up money for his schooling, ten days after the September 11th attacks. A man walked in and asked his ethnicity, when Bhuiyan spoke, he was shot because of being an immigrant. The man who shot him faced death row and Bhuiyan recovered from his injuries, but on that day he was shot, he prayed to God that if he was to have his life spared, then he would return the favor to another, “This immigrant begging America to be as merciful to a native son as it had been to an adopted one. In the mini-mart, all those years earlier, not just two men, but two Americas collided” (Giridharadas). This man, despite being shot by the man on death row, still had a heart in him that no one else had, still fought for this man because he thought what was happening was wrong, and still strived to allow himself to because one of the greatest citizens by trying to save the life of another. Being a citizen of America is not something that is set in stone; it is something that very fluid with the definition, depends how people view it. But, once you step foot in America and have all the proper paperwork, you shouldn’t have to prove yourself any further. People who are born in America are given a free ride it seems, and immigrants have to prove themselves. Bhuiyan strived to be the greatest citizen, human being, and individual there ever was by forgiving a man that had tried to take his life away from him. The hatred that was given toward Bhuiyan because he was an immigrant was forgiven and he wanted the hatred that the American Justice System gave to him to be forgiving as well. Dumas’ father strived for become what the American view of a citizen was, he was obsessed with voting and even thought that everyone in America should vote or they didn’t deserve to be there. When Dumas became an American citizen, her father talked to her about voting, “My father told me that I perhaps I did not deserve to be a citizen. Any immigrant who comes to this country and becomes a citizen and doesn’t vote, according to him, should just go back” (Dumas 118). Dumas’ father seemed to fall into the American meaning of being a citizen and he does anything to fulfill it. He adopted the American meaning of being a citizen because immigrants are highly ridiculed for being different and not contributing to society and he didn’t want to be seen as that, so he tried everything to go against those views so he would be treated better and thought of as a full fledged American citizen. Immigrants are ridiculed and segregated because they are inferior. People preform violent acts toward them, and because of these acts and segregated, immigrants strive to get away from these images of them by fitting into the American views of a citizen.
Immigrant’s lives are harder than that of the average citizen. The average citizen isn’t be critiqued twenty-four seven for everything they do, and they are treated more harsh as well. It is not everyday that you see a white male being denied service at a store, or being segregated because of their skin color, but it seems almost every week you can turn on the news and see something about a person of a different ethnicity, religion, or race that is being treated wrongly because of those factors. There was a recent attack in Ohio State that resulted from a refugee being segregated and ridiculed. No one wanted to understand him and they kept bullying him and making fun of him, so he thought there was nothing else to do. I’m not defending his actions, but this could have been easily avoided by just having one person being understanding and considerate. Immigrants work harder to succeed and are not rewarded as graciously; they’re segregated and ridiculed, which causes them to try harder to succeed and makes them want to become a full fledge American citizen to stop all the hatred. If everyone were to be understanding and have tolerance, then the world would be a better place than having a world were people are put into categories and bullied. Though, that is hard to achieve when there are people who think immigrants are lazy and bad people. This could be fixed, but it all starts with you.