Firoozeh's Family Moved To America Case Study

Growing up with parents who are immigrants can present many obstacles for the children of those immigrants. There are many problems people face that we do not even realize. Things happen behind closed doors that we might not even be aware of. Writers Sandra Cisneros and Amy Tan help us become aware of these problems. Both of these authors express those hardships in their stories about growing up with foreign parents. Although their most apparent hardships are about different struggles, both of their stories have a similar underlying theme.

“When I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to

As a result of these “American problems” the mother decides to move the family into boarding schools in order to avoid these cultural conflicts.

In Firoozeh Dumas narrative she suse the rhetorical terms ethos,pathos,logos,repetition, and flashback.“The F Word” explains how to overcome obstacles as an Iranian immigrant.She persuades the audience that they can trust her because she's an immigrant herself . Her move to California impacted her life forever. Dumas uses Ethos by sharing how she's received her BA from the University of California,Berkeley. She won a PEN/USA award in 2004 and is an Iranian immigrant herself making this narrative from someone who had first hand experience, she is someone who can speak for those who can relate. She felt the need to write this because she never thought that her name would affect her life in America, surprisingly she learned that her name would be conundrum she would have to face for the rest of her life. She sends her condolences to those who have to face the same type of situation.

“The F Word” written by Firoozeh Dumas, describes the struggles of an Iranian immigrant that tries to assimilate and feel accepted in the American society. The excerpt is about not feeling comfortable in using her Farsi name and the negative attitudes she receives while using it. Duma’s shows the Americans’ intolerance towards immigrants such as herself. In “The F Word,” Firoozeh Dumas suggests that stereotypical treatment and close-mindedness towards immigrants hinders assimilation through the use of social satire of the majority, flashbacks, and ethos from her personal experiences.

In Firoozeh Dumas's narrative, she uses rhetorical terms such as: ethos, logos, repetition, and flashback. “The F Word” explains how to overcome obstacles as an iranian immigrant. She persuades the audience that they can trust her because she's an immigrant; herself. Her move to California impacted her life forever. Dumas appeals to the audience's emotion BA from the University of California, Berkeley. She won a PEN/USA award in 2004 and writes this narrative from a first hand experience; she is someone who can be the voice of those who can relate. Dumas felt the need to write this because she never thought her name would affect her name in America. Surprisingly, she learned that her name would be a conundrum she would have to face for the

“We remember the kindness more than ever, knowing that our relatives who immigrated to this country after the Iranian Revolution did not encounter the same America.” This quote taken from “With a Little Help From My Friends,” written by Firoozeh Dumas, has many impacts on Dumas as a child, how Americans impacted her immediate family, and her family's relationship with the community in California.

Linda had an easier time learning English than her parents did because of help she received at school. Upon enrolling in public school in the third grade, Linda was immediately sent to ESL class where she quickly picked up on the new language. Her parents, on the other hand, had a more difficult time adapting to American culture and the English language. Linda’s parents started out working low-wage jobs and eventually, through hard work and dedication, saved enough money to open their own travel-agency business. Linda’s father even had to enroll in language school in addition to his undergraduate education in order to increase his chances of

Imagine this, your dad died not long ago, your uncle is living in America and your mother, your younger brother, and you are living alone in Greece during a economic low point. Now that your dad has passed you mother wants you and your brother to move with her to America to be with your uncle. You know since your 16 and your brother is too young to work you will have to help work the restaurant with your uncle. Well, this is not an imagination for the Mehales family. To start their new year, in January Penelope moved her family here to America. Penelope Mehales, the mother of the family, describes the hard ship of coming to the U.S, "Having a 16 year old and a 3 year old made the trip here very stressful... There was only a meal and a half a day." Mehales also explains that the sleeping areas were dirty and packed with passengers. This family is one of the hundreds, even thousands of families on the same ship coming into America hoping for a "better life".

The teenage years and transition to adulthood is in itself a very difficult period. Blending or fitting in are omnipresent issues that must be dealt with. For children of immigrants, this difficulty is only intensified through language. Both Amy Tan and Khang Nguyen strategically use narrative anecdotes and employ several rhetorical devices to illustrate this struggle in their works, “Mother Tongue” and “The Happy Days,” respectfully. Amy Tan chooses her childhood home as the primary setting of her work. This allows her to focus primarily on her conversations and interactions with her mother. However, she also gives several anecdotes in which her mother’s background and improper English negatively affected her, outside the home. Through

In the novel, The Book of Unknown Americans, Chirstina Heriauvez uses the characterization of Alma to depict an immigrant's´ journey in America to unravel the truth about the dark side of assimilating. The novels demonstrates that immigrants´ are filled with hope at the prospect of starting someplace new which often blinds them to believing that their new place will be better than their current situation. It can easily be impacted by racism, intolerance and the mistreatment of others.

Dealing With the Move from Iran In the article, “Reflections of Older Iranian Women,” Jasmin McConatha, Paul Stoller, and Fereshte Oboudiat find that there are three ways in which older Iranian women adapt to moving to a new country. The women are either withdrawn, insular, or assimilative. Although the grandmother from the story, “Mother the Big,” is more aggressive, strict, and overbearing than the “withdrawn” women, she relates to them in the way of not wanting anything to do with the US.

Over the following four years, Marji learned of how her grandparents were left poor because of the Shah, the leader of the Iranian government. Shah was well known for robing men and women of everything they had worked for and leaving them with nothing. Nevertheless, Marji was schooled on the different levels of society in Iran, which left her to consider her family as rich because her Dad drove a Cadillac. Despite being a child, Marji accused her dad of being anti-social towards a class that could not read and write. To clarify Marji helped out a friend with the writing of some love letters. Mehi was the family maid that could not read or write. Mehi fell in love with the boy

While Betty was in class she met another American woman, Ellen, in a similar situation as hers. The difference was that this woman had the chance to leave and return to America. However, Ellen came back to Iran and learned how to cope with the cultural struggles she faced. Mahtob also had to attend school. She hated it and cried hysterically on the first day.

The interviewee’s name is Zeinab, a female foreign student from Morocco, who can speak fluent Arabic, English and French. At the age 18, Zeinab arrived in California to purse a higher education (Bachelor Degree). Before coming to American in December 2009, Zeinab’s father was against having his daughter come to an unknown and far distance place from Morocco. From hearing stories about how a young female should not be alone in distance places terrified her father. Another reason was how dangerous it is for a female to travel to another foreign place. After Zeinab’s father concerns she still decided to study in another country.