71 pages • 2 hours read
Firoozeh DumasIt Ain't So Awful, Falafel
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
America as a Land of Complexity and Opportunity
Content Warning: The source material features mentions of xenophobia.
In this novel, the Yousefzadeh family wrestles with what America means to them at a time when their relationship with their home country changes as a result of forces beyond their control. Ultimately, they embrace the United States as their newfound permanent home, but they are also aware of the complex relationship the country has with Iran and, therefore, with anyone from Iran living within the US.
Each family member has their own struggles with their insider/outsider dynamic. From the start of the novel, Zomorod makes it clear that she does not like having to be her family’s translator, and she feels like her family has not adjusted to life in the United States. Mo, while able to speak English and willing to drive to various locations, is fixated on the US’s relationship with Iran as a result of the oil industry. Nastaran, on the other hand, spends the first half for the novel—before the Iranian Revolution—missing Iran. Her attempts to cook the same food she would in Iran reflect how connected she wants to feel to her home country and her reluctance to try new things. Both she and Mo see the US as a place for Zomorod to be exposed to new things, showing they care about Zomorod’s future even if they are uncomfortable with their new surroundings.
They also appreciate the United States’ values of democracy and freedom of speech. Mo says, “[Y]ou don’t see tanks and guns on parade in America because democracy keeps the country together, not fear of the military” (88). This is much different from the shah’s use of fear for maintaining control in Iran. As a result, Zomorod doesn’t know if her friends can understand the importance of human rights. She wonders, “How can you appreciate something you have always had?” (107). These differences mean Zomorod can take advantage of rights and opportunities she wouldn’t have in Iran, but it also makes it more difficult for her to explain her country to her American peers.
Another aspect of complexity is the US’s role in the Iranian Revolution. In Zomorod’s life up until the revolution, the shah’s actions did not necessarily affect her, and his choice to modernize the country also led to more opportunities for women overall. Yet, the shah’s rise to power was facilitated by the American government deliberately interfering in Iranian politics, making the relationship between Iran and the United States precarious and complex. This fact is further manifested in the xenophobic behaviors of Americans toward Zomorod and her family after the revolution and hostage crisis. It leads to a cycle in which “some Americans are beating up Iranians in America because they’re mad at the hostage takers in Iran” (228), but the hostage takers are retaliating against Carter for allowing the shah to come to the US. If the United States had not involved itself in Iran’s politics in the 1950s, it is possible that the revolution would not have happened; however, the US played a key role in the development of the country. Zomorod still has to suffer when people commit hateful acts toward her and her family, even though they live in the United States and have nothing to do with the Iranian government.
The Yousefzadehs choose to navigate this complexity because, as Mo stalwartly believes, “[I]n America, you can become the best version of yourself” (240). He sees it as a land of opportunity despite the hardships. Zomorod also believes this, feeling that she’s in the right place when she attends the celebratory pool party at the end of the novel. However, she and her family have had to navigate a variety of hate-based crimes, showing the complexity of their relationship to their host country. Overall, they accept that neither Iran nor the United States is perfect, and that they are responsible for deciding how best to live their lives.
Being Yourself and Finding Friends
One of Zomorod’s main struggles at the start of the novel is making friends. She is familiar with being the new kid in school, but when she and her family move to Newport Beach, she decides to integrate with her classmates as well as possible. As a result, she learns the importance of being herself to find true friends. For Zomorod, doing so is particularly difficult because she feels so different from the other students in her class. By the end of the novel, she learns that her friends will accept her no matter what and that they are more similar than they are different.
Zomorod’s choice to change her name to Cindy is the clearest example of her trying to fit in. She explains that she does it because her real name “is not a good name here” (16). She is sad that no one knows or cares that Zomorod means “emerald” in Persian, and this leaves her in search of a new identity. She finds “Cindy” to be much more palatable, as it links her to an iconic all-American character, Cindy Brady from The Brady Bunch. Pooya and Pooyan also change their names, going by Italian names as anti-Iranian sentiments increase. Zomorod’s father goes by “Mo” instead of Mohsen to make his name easier for Americans to remember and pronounce. While Zomorod is ultimately comfortable with her decision to change her name, it is also a symbol of how unaccepting society can be of people whose names are unfamiliar to them. For Zomorod, “Being Cindy makes me so much more normal” (20).
At first, Zomorod continues to change things about herself in order to be accepted by Original Cindy, pretending to know the words to her favorite song and to enjoy tanning without going in the pool. She does these things because she wants to make friends, but ultimately, not being completely honest backfires, as Original Cindy grows bored with Zomorod. However, when it comes to Zomorod’s relationship with Carolyn, Carolyn immediately accepts her and goes out of her way to learn more about Zomorod, her family, and what is happening in Iran. Zomorod sees how this friendship is different, thinking that “only bookworms get excited over other bookworms” (69) because she and Carolyn have so much in common. Ultimately, Zomorod concludes the novel by recognizing that “[i]t was only when [she] stopped pretending to be someone else that [she] found my real friends” (360). She has found the balance she sought at the beginning of the novel to be herself while integrating into American culture.
The Danger of Uninformed Judgments
Much of this novel centers on the hostage crisis in Iran in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and, as a result, Zomorod and her family constantly have to wrestle with being judged for being from Iran. Even before the crisis begins, they are often judged because of their national identity. The novel tries to teach a lesson about the negative effects of these judgments.
Coming into a new school, Zomorod is aware of the snap judgments that people make about her because she is from Iran, even if those judgments are not informed by reality. For instance, Brock asks her if she owns a camel. These judgments ultimately lead to a focus that forgets that Zomorod is an individual person, and she expresses, “I just want people to ask questions about me when we meet, not about where I’m from. Why does that matter, anyway?” (16). She is grateful that Carolyn does not judge her for being from Iran, even after the hostage crisis begins.
Zomorod sees the variety of judgments that people make, and in Goodwill, she is struck by the notion of dignity when their guide tells them about workers with Downs Syndrome who play important roles in the factory. Zomorod thinks, “They show up for work every day, earn a paycheck, and have a chance to be a part of society. All of a sudden, I get it. That’s the dignity part” (164). This realization later foreshadows her own father’s employment, as Zomorod sees him robbed of his dignity when employers do not hire him because he is Iranian. She knows how much working matters to him, and he is not treated with dignity by those who are looking to employ engineers like him.
However, Zomorod herself is also guilty of making uninformed judgments in the case of Brock Vitter. She comes to recognize that he puts on a front for his friends, but he is actually intelligent. Part of this is due to the fact that his friends do not view intelligence as cool and because of the ignorant comment he made to her earlier in the year. Because she has a negative impression of him, Zomorod assumes that he won’t know what a metaphor is and won’t be a good writer. She is careful to correct these assumptions and praise Brock for his intelligence, encouraging him to be more independent rather than relying on his image around his friends.
The novel’s most serious statement about the danger of uninformed judgments revolves around the way Iranians are treated in America due to the hostage crisis, and it does not provide a true resolution on this issue. While the Yousefzadehs’ community rallies around them at the end of the novel, the negative effects of judging Iranians persist in the broader American society. The author imparts a message of kindness and resilience by providing a happy ending to the story of the Yousefzadehs’ experience in Newport Beach, but the novel remains realistic about the challenges Zomorod and her family will face during their lives in the US.
Related Titles
By Firoozeh Dumas
