Read Yes
Length 317
Quick Review A young girl’s transformation after leaving everything she’s ever known in Pakistan for the US. A look into immigration, religion, culture, society, and familial obligation.
Bapsi Sidhwa published An American Brat in 1993. It deals with a lot of issues, which are still pressing, if not more prevalent, over twenty years later. She writes with a sense of humor and insight into two vastly different cultures.
Feroza is the sixteen year old daughter of Zareen and Cyrus. She is part of an upper class, tight-knit family in Pakistan belonging to the Parsee ethnic group of the Zoroastrian faith speaking Gujrati. The year is 1979, and a lot is changing in Pakistan with the rise of Muslim extremists. Having raised Feroza with a strong set of morals, Zareen and Cyrus send her to spend three months with her uncle in the US. While she’s in the US, she decides to apply for university. Once she is accepted, she moves to Idaho for her freshman year at a junior college. She keeps in touch with her family, but begins to find herself while exploring American culture, traditions, and friendships. After her freshman year, she relocates to Colorado with her roommate to go to a bigger university, where she meets people with similar ethnic backgrounds. Feroza begins to find her place and way in her new life navigating social norms, religious differences, cultural influences, and trying to meet her familial expectations.
I thought it was funny Feroza’s family wanted to send her to the very liberal and different United States in order to keep her grounded in Pakistani, Parsee, and Zoroastrian traditions. I really enjoyed how the women were portrayed throughout the novel. Sidhwa has very strong female roles, which differs from how most Middle Eastern women are portrayed throughout history and in contemporary media and art. These women have strong senses of self with leading roles in their homes and social circles. They have vibrant social lives even though they are not seen out and about like in Western cultures.
The title is An American Brat. You’ll read it expecting one person to be the American Brat, but the brat is constantly changing depending on the section you’re reading. Although, the bratty behavior is usually explainable and sometimes understandable.
There is a scene portrayed towards the beginning of the novel where Feroza is getting off the plane in the US and has to go through customs. As a white girl, I have never had an issue with customs. I have, however, watched people of other ethnicities have issues going through security and customs. Reading Sidhwa’s depiction, I can’t imagine the emotionally devastating impact it would have on someone, especially someone so young, sheltered, and alone as sixteen year old Feroza is in the novel. She is harangued by security guards and customs officers accusing her of lying and trying to stay in the country illegally. She is treated as if she doesn’t speak or understand the language, which is false. Remember this was published in 1993, which was almost a decade before 9/11 and security crackdowns. I can’t imagine what it would be like now.
Feroza must deal with trying to make herself happy while also living up to familial expectations. Her family expects her to return to Pakistan and marry a Parsee Zoroastrian. If she does not, she will be kicked out of her faith and left out of many important cultural traditions. It is also important to note the impact her leaving the faith would have on a wider scale. At the time, there were only 120,000 people in the ethnic group, so there is a scramble to keep the young people in the faith. Feroza is also dealing with the fact she and her family are not Muslim living in a Muslim country and culture. They are having to deal with a cultural shift.
While in the US, Feroza starts to realize her position as a woman. Growing up, she was told freedom would come to her once she was married. Through marriage, she would gain happiness and freedom. It is a way of keeping young girls pliable while maintaining traditional values. Living in the US, she sees how all of those qualities are completely attainable without marrying. Her mother, Zareen, visits the United States and starts to question the position women have in regards to their religion.
I overall, loved this book. There are so many complex issues Sidhwa explores throughout the novel. I couldn’t recommend it more!
Memorable Quotes
“In Pakistan, politics, with its social brew of martial law and religion, influenced every aspect of day-to-day living.”
“Finding herself awash in this exhilaratingly free and new culture had made her forget the strictures imposed on her conduct as a Pakistani girl.”
“… in the short while she’d been exposed to the American culture, she’d grown shockingly brazen.”
“To acknowledge it would be to advert that she was the cause, the irritant, the inducer of the evil.”
“Nevertheless, the schizophrenia she perceived at the core of America’s relationship to its own citizens and to those in poor countries like hers continued to disturb her.”
“Feroza realized with a sense of shock that she had outgrown her family’s expectations for her.”
Author: Bapsi Sidhwa
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Copyright: 1993
ISBN: 9781571310057