Analysis Of The F Word By Firoozeh Dumas

Firoozeh Dumas’s essay “The "F” Word” is not what people think it would be about. When people hear the someone mention the “F” word all sorts of things pop into their head. Yet, Firoozeh Dumas twist the meaning of her title to something people wouldn't think when they heard the title. Dumas takes a stereotype in the title to grab our attention. People in the American Society judge people by more than just the color of their skin, for instance in Firoozeh’s case it was her name. Society has an image of what everyone should be like from their looks the the name they go by. In the article Firoozeh Dumas tries to explain her experience as an immigrant from Iran to the US. Dumas tries to show how hard it was for her to come to America and live

Dumas’s word choice in “The “F” Word” puts it on another level. She starts her preview of her word choice with the title. She could have said my story, America prejudice towards different names, or something else like that. Instead Dumas chooses a phrase that has an extremely negative connotation and takes the phrase out of meaning. We, as the readers do not understand the meaning of the title yet. We just assume because of the phrase that is is going to be something negative. While the article progresses, the reader learns the assumption over the title is incorrect, and that the “F” word is just her first name. Just the title alone exhibits a mastery of choosing words and her ability to take them out of normal context and make them work perfectly. In one excerpt, the author showcases how easily and masterfully she can sculpt words and phrases. Her use of words and phrases in this excerpt pull us the reader in and paint a complete picture, “ In Berkeley, and only in Berkeley, my name drew people like flies to baklava. These were usually people named Amaryllis or Chrysanthemum, types who vacationed in Costa Rica and to whom lentils described a type of burger. These folks were probably not the pride of Poughkeepsie, but they were refreshingly nonjudgmental.”. The author could have used very dull described Berkley and their interesting looks toward life. She instead, goes to extremes

Because I spoke English without an accent and was known as Julie, people assumed I was American. This meant that I was often privy to their real feelings about those “damn Iranians.” It was like having those X-ray glasses that let you see people naked, except that what I was seeing was far uglier than people’s underwear. It dawned on me that these people would have probably never invited me to their house had they known me as Firoozeh. I felt like a fake.” Just as Dumas is feeling more American the Iranian Revolution comes around and conflicts her. Something happening thousands of miles away and geopolitical is directly affecting