Not That F Word
It is not uncommon to sometimes hear or see what here in America is considered to be a strange or different name and decide to make fun of it or the holder of that name. This is a major obstacle that an Iranian immigrant named Firoozeh Dumas, author of “The ‘F-Word” had to face. She illustrates a picture using words about the hardships that her name has brought upon her during her entire life. Throughout her essay, she uses real-life examples, humor, and a conversational tone to show her audience the poverty she faced when transitioning from the Iranian culture to the American culture.
In her essay, Dumas conjoined her style with how she builds ethos in the reader 's eyes. This creates a very attractive way to convey the argument, however it still lacks certain strengths. Had she written in a slightly more formal tone and included more evidence, she could have still used humor and continued to build ethos by appealing to a more professional group. The use of an easy going and conversational style in the essay helps to illustrate the claim in a way that most readers can recognize.
Her essay is aimed at Middle Americans or other immigrants living in the country who face the same issue as her. Having a name that is uncommon and hard to pronounce, can be a challenge for the peers of those with the names. The claim is not being made toward the easy to pronounce Bill’s, Susan’s, and Richard’s. The claim is also not aimed at professionals or people of
“My Name” by Sandra Cisneros is a short excerpt from her book The House on Mango Street (1984). In this excerpt, Cisneros narrator is a girl named Esperanza, who is telling us that her name reminds her of a lot of negatives things, including who she inherited it from. Esperanza is trying to convince us that her name is a terrible name, which is built up of negativity and bad history. She state that she was named after her great-grandmother, who was born in the Chinese year of the horse, which they have in common, and is well known for her wild customs which lead to her feeling sad and lonely all her life. Esperanza specifies that her name sound beautiful among Spanish speakers, but to non-Spanish speakers her name is pronoun funny “as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth” she says. She indicated that she would like to baptize herself under a new
Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi, crafts a well developed book that details her experience as an Iranian immigrant in America. She uses humor and a light hearted tone throughout the book and this creates an appeal for all ages. While Dumas spins hilarious stories from her childhood, she often speaks with a serious undertone about the struggles of growing up Iranian in America. Dumas tells why she decided to attempt to take on an American name, how she discovered the way Americans truly feel about Iranians, and how her husband, Francois, experienced life in America differently than she did. Through her stories, the reader is able to dive into Dumas’ life and experience her life alongside her.
Why do people get made fun of for their names when they have no control over them? Firoozeh Dumas’ “The “F Word”” tells about how she gets made fun of for her name. It also is about how Dumas feels about her name. She uses many examples of times in her life when her name has caused problems and made situations difficult for her. Dumas is from Iran, but moved to America when she was young. Her name is “Firoozeh,” which is very different from American names, so many people couldn’t pronounce it. Many of the children in her classes made fun of her name and didn’t want to talk to her because it was so different.
In the memoir Dumas talks about the challenges she faced everyday by having an unusual name. When Firoozeh Dumas was going into sixth grade, she tried to resolve this issue by
Firoozeh uses social satire to substantiate that stereotypical behavior and close-mindedness hamper assimilation.“My name, Firoozeh, chosen by my mother,
What would it be like to grow up with no friends simply because your name was different from everyone else's? Firoozeh Dumas answers this question for all of her readers when she recalls the struggles of her childhood in her story, “The F Word.” Her story is not about the actual cuss word, but rather the struggle she had growing up in America with an Immigrant name. In her memoir, Dumas uses humor to talk about touchy subjects and to make her piece more enjoyable for her readers.
My name, Daryl Naquin, Jr., represents the fascinating social attitude that males are considered to be the carriers of the family legacy. I contribute to the trend that Virginia Postrel mentions of boys’ names changing slower due to the influence of custom. Unless I were to change my name in the future, which is highly unlikely, this social duty is something that I will inevitably carry out if I were to have a family of my own. I represent my dad, my family, our values, and our aspirations. Moreover, it is interesting to consider the belief across many cultures that one can “stain” the family
Firoozeh Dumas’s essay “The ‘F Word” is not what audience think it would be about. When the audience hears the someone mention the “F” word all sorts of ideas pop into their head. Yet, Dumas twists the meaning of her title into something the audience wouldn't think of when they hear it. In today's American Society people are judged by more than just the color of their skin, for instance in Dumas’s case it was by her name. Society has an image of what everyone should be like from their looks to the name they go by. In the article Dumas explains her experience as an immigrant from Iran to the US. Dumas shows how hard it is for someone to come to America and live with an unusual name. This is blatantly apparent during her childhood because the children would make fun of her and the rest of her family’s name. To counter this, Firoozeh decided to add Julie as an American middle name so strangers would not feel so awkward around her. Julie became the author’s middle name which caused her to play a “double role” in her life. This was because her family knew her as Firoozeh and her friends and coworkers that knew her as Julie. Later, when she became a stay at home mom Dumas decided to be called by Firoozeh again. This return caused her some uncomfortable situations since the “double roles” collided. Dumas states, “make room in the spice cabinet.” because she believes that Americans should be more opened minded to new pronunciations, sounds, and names.
Immigrants, since the mass immigration in the 19th century, have been changing their names to sound more American. Most feel that if they add an American name they will be more successful. Firoozeh Dumas’s excerpt “The ‘F Word’” was taken from Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, published in 2003. Dumas tells her story about what growing up with an Iranian name feels like. She came to America, at the age of seven, knowing that challenges would arise, but what she did not know was someone would change her name into a complete insult and judge her because of it. Hoping she would make it through these obstacles she stepped blindly into the United States. Dumas tells her story by writing with a precise style of writing; using irony, metaphors, and excellent word choice, making it easy to understand her arguments.
Culture is an invisible bond that connects people together. The literature, art, religion, food, and language of a community represent its culture. Navigating between cultures is not something impossible to do, but there are a lot of limitations and sacrifices to make in order to blend in with other cultures. To respond about the cultural navigation issues and benefits, Manuel Munoz, the author of “Leave your Name at the Border”, talks about the importance of the non-Americans’ names, especially Mexican Americans’ names, to their identities. Munoz wants readers (Americans) to give everyone the respect they deserved as human beings, starting with accepting and using people’s real names. However, Andrew Marantz, the author of “My Summer at the
When Firoozeh Dumas, who at the time of moving here, had her maiden name which she left unknown, she was taunted by other school children because of her hard to pronounce name. She failed to mention the twists people made of her name, unlike the amusing nicknames her cousins and brothers received. After coming up with her much more Americanized name of Julie, she was no longer an outsider. All of a sudden,
In the story, Funny in Farsi, the author Firoozeh informs the reader about her previous wars that she has gone through. The author relates to her to her internal conflict that she goes through during her lifetime.In the beginning of the story the author tells the reader about her struggle with her name and how people kept on miss pronouncing it. Firoozeh then decides to “...chose the name “Julie”...”(64) to help the people pronounce it with ease. She also changes her name to Julie, due to that fact that now people of the saw her as an American, and without the new name, “...[American] people would
I have normally regarded my name as simply boring. Samuel is easily pronounced, easily shortened, and incredibly ordinary. I understand my name holds sentimental value to those closest to me and I do identify with some of the characteristics embedded within it. While I know that names do not define personality, I cannot help but to find annoyance within multiple aspects of my birth-given label.Weirdly enough, I know my name fits me because no matter how hard I have tried, I cannot imagine being referred to as anything other than “Sam”.
At birth everyone is given a name by their parents. Your name is part of your identity and how you are addressed and recognized by the world. The different verities among the population created other names given to different races. These names are offensive, demeaning and are only used to refer to a person in a disrespectful manner. They can also cause a segregation among a nations people, these names are forced upon people weather they are rich or poor, old or young, male or female and are used to describe the same race of people. In the class reading "What 's in a Name? “by Henry Louis Gates he reminisces about a personal experience of his that he had with his father. In the story he describes his father was a hard worker and, because of this he was in high financial standings and, he was well respected and given privileges that at the time was rare for people of his race but he was still black and his name, his individual identity was not important instead he was given a racial identity, this is the only thing he was known as, this type of negative recognition is something many black Americans can relate to. One’s race is a predominant part of our identity and is what causes discrimination.
However, the end of the article lacks the same level of effectiveness in the appeals to ethos. For example, Martin notes that when blank do blank, they are considered to be “oppositional” to authority. The usage of the word Blank is jarring to the reader; unprofessional and immature, it is a shift from the researched, intelligent voice she has established and the reader is less likely to take the authority seriously. This damages the strength of his credibility and his argument.