Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas
Funny in Farsi is a memoir written by Firoozeh Dumas published in 2003 that chronicles her families move from Iran to California, it talks about why the family decided to move to America and it describes the differences between the two countries. The book is relatively short, but you get a good understanding of the author’s family and her experiences from the time the family first moved to America to present day. Firoozeh also briefly explains why the area of Iran that her family lived in was better off than the rest of the country due to the oil industry.
One significant event that happens which was memorable to the writer was her first day of school in California “Until my first day at Leffingwell Elementary School, I had never thought of my mother as an embarrassment” (pg.4). This is something very profound because it made the writer realize exactly how different they are to the rest of her classmates, and it has stayed with her even though it happened over forty years ago. This first day of school happened back in 1972 the same year that the deadliest blizzard in Iranian history happened killing roughly 4,000 people, thankfully Firoozeh and her family moved to California before this tragedy happened.
Thanksgiving, the time of the year that brings family together and we all get stuffed on delicious foods. In Firoozeh’s home this is an especially poignant moment when the family all tells what they are thankful for, Firoozeh’s father will say that he is thankful that he lives in a county where he can vote. “I always share gratitude for being able to pursue my hopes and dreams, despite being female” (pg. 75). This is extremely significant statement because Firoozeh realizes that if her family were back in Iran she would be prohibited from wearing what she wanted, studying what she wanted and marrying whom she wanted (amount other things).
The marriage of Firoozeh to Francois was a very memorable moment in the book because it brought to light all of the challenges people of different faiths face when trying to get married. With the groom being Catholic and Firoozeh being Muslim “ the tough part was finding a Catholic priest who would be willing to officiate at a mixed wedding” (pg. 145). They chose to have a Catholic wedding and a traditional Persian ceremony, this part showed just how much family means in the Persian culture while the groom only had four people attending the bride had almost a hundred in aunts uncles and cousins alone.
Firoozeh and her family moved back to Iran in 1974, in 1976 her father’s new job sent them to live in Newport Beach. This date is of great significance because during this second move the Iranian Revolution took place which made her stay in this country different from the previous stay. “Overnight, Iranians living in America became, to say the least, very unpopular. “(pg. 39). The Iranian Revolution which started in 1978 by students protesting in the streets and morphed into a vicious cycle of violence that ultimately escalated to Americans being held hostage and finally to a nation becoming a republic.
The visit of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to Washington D.C. in 1977 is something that Firoozeh and her family were invited to witness. This visit was something her father was really looking forward to despite numerous protests from his family. This is an event that was supposed to be a welcoming of sorts for the leader of Iran and his family, instead it turned into a violent attack against the Iranians that came to see the Shah. “The demonstrators had crossed the road; they were stampeding towards us waving sticks with nails driven into them.” (pg. 113). On one side of the street weapon tooting protesters stood while Iranians supporting the Shah on the other, this incident could have help to shed light on the problems in Iran to the American public unaware of what is actually going on overseas.
In 1908 oil was first discovered in Iran by William Knox D’Arcy of Britain, this discovery gave Britain exclusive rights to the oil in Iran which proved to be very lucrative for them. This first discovery would lead to one of the most well-known oil companies in the world “British Petroleum” which first started as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. This is also significant to the book because had it not been for this discovery Firoozeh’s father (along with hundreds of others) would not have had a job and they would not have had the opportunity to transfer to the United States.
