Funny in Farsi Model Paper
When an Iranian family tries to fit into American culture, a little bit of conflict
arises. In Funny in Farsi, Firoozeh is faced with the cultural conflict since age seven. Her
problems lead to ruining her camp experience, wanting to change her name, and even
trouble on her wedding day. Funny in Farsi strongly shows how different Iranian and
American culture is.
Firoozeh’s problems start during childhood, one example being when she goes to
camp for the first time. Before she went she was more than excited to go, but when she
got there she realized how different it was than she thought. The one bathroom for all the
girls was open and very public. Because Firoozeh lived with a very modest family and
culture she refused to bathe. This conflict ruined her whole camp experience when she
“decided to minimize getting dirty by only participating in arts and crafts”(47) instead of
all outdoor activities. The kids made fun of her and the cultural conflict ruined what was
supposed to be the best time of her life.
Summer camp wasn’t the only time Firoozeh got made fun of. He named always
caused problems for her. Kids would call her things like “Ferocious”(63) because they
couldn’t pronounce it. She wanted a name that “didn’t draw so much attention”(63)
because it sounded foreign and no one knew anything about her country, Iran. This lead
to her changing her name to Julie. She even used the name on job applications because no
one would hire someone with a name like Firoozeh, especially after the Iranian
Revolution. Because Americans made up stereotypes based on the few Iranians who took
Americans hostage, Firoozeh was cursed with her name. She changed it to try and fit in
but it made her feel fake. The conflict led to a very unfair predicament for her in her
childhood and adult life.
Firoozeh’s adult life also brought about many more cultural conflicts. When she
wanted to get married she had her traditions to worry about plus her French, Christian,
fiancé’s. First, his family hated her because of her religion. It caused most of the
Gnoom’s family to not attend the wedding. They also had to find a church that would
wed two different religion people. They also had to have a Persian ceremony. The mixed
marriage took much longer to plan and was much harder to get all the necessary things
because no one in America knew about Iranian traditions. Even when they tried to get a
lamb for the reception the caterers gave them a “lamb carcass… on top of its skull was a
conical party hat… and a pair of sunglasses”(152) with it. Part of their wedding became
a disaster because of the conflict arising from ignorance of Iranian culture.
All of the differences between Americans and Iranians being about many cultural
conflicts for Firoozeh. Not only do foreigners experience this, but Americans do too. I
remember the first time went to an Asian market; my family and I were the only
Americans there. All signs were in Chinese, the announcer over the loud speaker spoke
Chinese and we felt completely lost. It’s really scary to be somewhere different. You do
not know what to do and you feel absolutely alone. We were lucky enough that the
cashier spoke English. Cultural conflicts can happen anywhere and can happen to
everyone. Funny in Farsi makes us realize that it is a major problem all over the world
and sometimes we can help by getting to know all cultures.