Summary Of The F Word By Firoozeh Dumas

Firoozeh Dumas, in her article, The F Word, exemplifies the fear that Americans hold against new cultures and their stereotypical views about them. Although the F-word commonly corresponds to a foul word, in this case it is linked to the introduction of unfamiliar cultures into American life. Her argument states that even a foreign name can alter the likelihood of someone receiving equal opportunities to those with a common American name. Dumas’ purpose is to demonstrate the lack of encouragement that Americans hold but need, to try and familiarize themselves with foreign people and their customs. Firoozeh Dumas is able to express the biased treatment towards foreigners by Americans with the use of humor and testimony. She generates a bantering

Firoozeh Dumas writes her article with the intention of getting her point across without an aggressive approach. Being humorous, she begins her article with examples of distasteful names that are used to replace foreigner’s hard to pronounce names. Dumas states, “My cousin’s name, Farbod, means “Greatness”. When he moved to America, all the kids called him ‘Farthead’” (Dumas 605). She also mentions the change of her brother’s name from Farshid to “Fartshit”. Her examples show the arrogant personalities that Americans possess because they are reluctant to growing broaden their horizons. New names can become difficult to pronounce, yet in America, people assume it is acceptable to modify them only to be able to accommodate them to their lazy needs. This connects to the idea that Americans feel superior to those who come from different cultural backgrounds and harbor the thought in their minds that if an immigrant wants to live on American soil they have to assimilate completely to the culture of the “Land of the Free”. Moving on, Dumas compares Americans learning new tongue with kitchen spices. She gives the example of the sound of

Firoozeh’s name means Turquoise in her native language, Farsi. Although her name may sound lovely, she recounts the events back in elementary school when she was determined to give herself an American name. Dumas speaks for herself when she states, “I wanted to be a kid with a name that didn’t draw so much attention…”(Dumas 606). Her uncommon name caused unwanted attention that always seemed to be accompanied by offensive comments such as “Why do you speak English without an accent?” (Dumas 606). Firoozeh is American yet her family’s foreign culture causes others to look past that and forget that she is indeed an American just like them, regardless of her unique name. Later on in her life, after graduating college she began to look for a job but sadly could not get one single interview. Coincedently, she says “After three months of rejections, I added ‘Julie’ to my résumé...the job offers started coming in” (Dumas 606). This incident uncovered the prejudice the American country holds against immigrants, especially those with unfamiliar names. Dumas’ birth name set her apart from the rest of the people who had American names. That puts a negative outlook on immigrants overall. Rejecting any person with a foreign name is making a pessimistic generalization of that person’s entire race. Sort of how Donald Trump had claimed that all