AN AMERICAN BRAT: NO HOMECOMING

Consisting of five major sections, this chapter analyzes the lives of four Pakistani immigrant characters of

An American Brat; Feroza, Manek, Aban and Zareen. The first part very briefly discusses the author and

her work. The second puts together the relevant details about the four characters’ lives through literary

Close-Reading as discussed in 3.1. It set forth the story and plot of the novel for a suitable interpretation,

understanding and presentation. Using 3.3, the third part shows the usage of IndE by various major

characters in tabulated as well as a graphic form to show the author’s appropriation of the language of his

origin for each character. It also shows how much each character maintains/negotiates his/her language

identity. The forth section mainly consists of the analysis of the data obtained through the set of questions

as illustrated in 3.4. It analyzes all the four characters one by one by comparing and contrasting them with

one another and bringing to light how all the four Pakistani immigrant characters manage their lives in a

‘foreign’ (British) context. Also utilizing the data from all the previous sections, this is the most important

section in that it brings before us very clearly how various characters maintain their multiple identities. It

also sets the ground for the fifth part which discusses the author’s view of different characters of various

genders and with varying worldviews.

6.1 About the Author

Born to her Zoroastrian parents in 1938 in Karachi, Bapsi Sidhwa, the Pakistani-Punjabi-Parsee writer –

is one of the most acclaimed writers writing in English and highlighting the Pakistani experience of

expatriation alongside other issues. Sidhwa’s fourth novel An American Brat (1993) centralizes the Parsee

Community and examines several themes of vital importance including the issues of identity, binary

oppositions of man and woman, quest for security, patriarchy and the cross-communal and inter-ethnic

marriages. The theme of inter-community marriage and adjustment of a young migrant Parsee girl to a

different culture is carefully and, yet, ironically delineated. She also wrote a play with the similar name

which was produced by Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston in March 2007. It played to full houses and
received critical acclaim. Her five novels: Cracking India, The Pakistani Bride, The Crow Eaters, An

American Brat, and Water, have been translated and published in several languages. Her anthology City

of Sin and Splendour: Writings on Lahore was published in 2006. Her novel Ice Candy Man (1991) has

been the subject of a Bollywood film, Earth (1998). To her credit, she is the first writer to pen down

about the lives of the Zoroastrians. Her writings reflect much of her biography. Among her many

honours, Sidhwa received the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe/Harvard, the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest

Writer's Award, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Pakistan's highest national honour in the arts, and the LiBeraturepreis

in Germany and the 2007 Primo Mondello Award in Italy. She was also on the advisory committee to

Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Women's Development. She has taught at Columbia University,

University of Houston, Mount Holyoke College, Southampton University and Brandeis.

Below An American Brat is chronologically discussed through various incidents and social

formations and situations as they occur in the plots of the novel. Various parts of the story have been

analyzed where necessary. However, throughout the novel itself, the language, the deeper meanings of the

surface structure inform the leitmotif and central assumptions under inquiry.

6.2 Close Reading of An American Brat

An American Brat a phenomenal novel by Bapsi Sidhwa unfolds a number of marvellous, intricate but

agonizing experiences of a Parsee girl, Feroza, who goes through a tough rather excruciating

transformation from one culture to an entirely new culture as a result of her up-rootedness primarily due

to her parents. Sidhwa has given a true picture of the psyche of a typical Parsee family and their norms

and traditions. She has depicted their religion, culture, family life, relationships, and communal practices

in such an eloquent manner that gives readers a deep insight into the Parsee community’s way of life.

Sidhwa holds the distinction of being the first writer to write fiction about the Parsees. It is a complete

voyage of an individual from an immature state of mind to quite a mature one. An American Brat is a

novel which reveals the transitional journey of the protagonist, Feroza from an ‘uncivilized’ Pakistani
Parsee girl to a ‘civilized’ American girl according to the will of her parents. It is quite ironical in a way

that she turns out to be a ‘spoiled’ girl in the eyes of her own parents in their efforts to make her a

‘civilized’ and mature girl.

The novel is written in third person narrative and it is the writer who gives various voices to all

the characters. She discusses all the characters in detail by delving deep into the psyche of every character

and giving the detailed description of the feelings and the thinking of the each character. She has given

the details regarding every character in such a manner that past and present get revealed simultaneously.

Unlike the last two novels, the plot and the narration of the novel are linear and with a very minute ting of

flashbacks to highlight the internal conflicts of the major characters. Sidhwa does not chose any character

with a complex psyche but illustrates all the factors which play their role in creating conflicts and

controversies in their live ultimately leading to their complex and distressed psyches.

The story opens with an intense argument between Cyrus and Zareen, the parents of sixteen-year-

old Pakistani Parsee Punjabi girl, Feroza. Her mother appears to be extremely concerned about her

daughter who is getting influenced by the prevalent socio-political atmosphere during Zia regime in 1978.

Her mother complains about her conservative attitude towards life. Feroza is portrayed as a part of

middleclass but quite a traditional Parsee family in Lahore. They clearly sympathize with Zulfiqar Ali

Bhutto as their leader who at that time is jailed by General Zia’s military regime. The deliberate selection

of the time for the story illustrates the fact that the writer wants to make it symbolic that it is a time of

confusion and chaos for the people of Pakistan at the mercy of the whims of a military dictator. The

radical Islamization perpetrated by Zia regime also adds to the confused state of people’s minds

particularly the youth to which Feroza belongs. Being a part of a moderately enlightened Parsee family,

her inclination towards Islam and Islamic ways is apprehensible for her parents since they think that their

daughter is being dissuaded from the Parsee ways of life and rather becoming radical in her ideas like

other Muslim girls. Concerned with the future prospects of her life, this is their obvious concern in the

beginning of the novel which they argue about with each other.
 Feroza’s mother, Zareen, carrying a dominant air in her personality appears to be a modern

woman of her time, wearing quite revealing saris and seductive dressing despite the fact that it is not

appreciated by her husband and her own mother. The way she treats Cyrus (her husband) reveals her

dominating personality and punitive temperament. She usually argues in belligerent manner with her

husband about the behaviour of her daughter who is increasingly becoming ‘conservative’ day by day.

Feroza criticizes Zareen’s dressing when she visits her school which makes Zareen infuriated as she

shares it with Cyrus in their argument:

‘She objected to my sleeveless sari-blouse! Really, this narrow-minded attitude

touted by General Zia is infecting her, too, I told her. ‘Look we are Parsee,

everybody knows we dress differently.’ (AAB, 10)

Zareen expresses her ‘grave’ concern on the fluctuating socio-political atmosphere in Pakistan.

She condemns Zia for his conservative approach which is ‘contaminating’ the young minds and snatching

the freedom of individuals particularly women. She appears to be a great supporter of Bhutto for his

enlightened and moderate approach who did not culminate the freedom of women in particular. He not

only gave rights to the minorities but also secured the women’s rights which moved Zareen greatly.

On the other hand, Cyrus appears to be more rational and composed in comparison to his wife in

their argument. He does not appear to be as much perturbed regarding Feroza’s attitude. He rather

appreciates her approach to adopt decency in dressing and understands the fact that being a part of

Muslim country. Living with her Muslim friends, Feroza naturally expects her mother to be dressed up

like the mothers of her Muslim friends. This, according to Cyrus, is not objectionable. His comments put

Zareen on fire and she criticizes him harshly for his drinking habit and the dressing style of his own sister

in reaction to his criticism on her dressing. She warns him that she will not tolerate his “mullah-ish’

mentality.” (ibid, 13) Her ferocious behaviour towards Cyrus reveals her dominating nature. After their

heated argument, Zareen gives a suggestion that they should send Feroza to the United States for a short
vacation to live with her uncle, Manek, who is the USA to pursue higher studies. This is meant to

inculcate moderation and enlightenment in Feroza. Although Zareen offers the suggestion quite

reluctantly but Cyrus’s agreement to her suggestion makes her surprised and relieved.

In fact, Cyrus himself appears to be quite concerned for his daughter’s life particularly after his

encounter with a young man in his house who came to persuade Feroza to act in a play being enacted in

Government College. He feels quite annoyed at the fact that the young man came in their absence, sat

quite close to Feroza and tried to persuade her for such a mean thing which he would never have preferred

for his own sisters. He, in his rage, throws the young man out which makes Feroza quite embarrassed.

After this particular incident he becomes quite concerned for Feroza’s future prospects. He calculates the

change of times and the ‘fact’ that it is almost impossible to keep the innocence of their daughter intact

from the influence of electronic media. So they decide to educate her up to an undergraduate degree to

make her capable of surviving in a better manner.

Their decision of sending Feroza to the USA is not accepted easily by Zareen’s mother Khutlibai,

who is a conventional old lady stringently following her typical Parsee Punjabi norms and customs.

Zareen, firm on her decision, tries her best to convince her mother and finally gets her hesitant consent.

The writer comments that Parsee families send their boys abroad for higher education but they are not yet

so modern to send their daughters as well. Feroza is so far the first girl of the family who is being sent to

the States although initially for a period of three months on a visit visa but this proposed action is not

acceptable for the family as a whole.

Zareen and Cyrus call up Manek to inform him about their decision. Manek’s behaviour, during

the call, reveals a lot about him. He is represented by the author as very casual in his attitude with a ting

of non-seriousness in his behaviour all the time. Another important factor is the five years age difference

between Manek and Feroza being uncle and niece. This age factor serves as an influence on the frankness

level between them. Manek’s behaviour on the phone call is quite taunting when he ridicules them for the
shouting on the phone. His behaviour reflects that he is very conscious about his origin, i.e., a ‘Third-

World’. He feels great satisfaction to criticize his relatives for their desperate behaviour on phone as he

comments about her niece in return to her shouting on phone; “‘Why do you Third World Pakis shout so

much?’” (ibid, 26) This shows how much he longs to shed his identity of belonging to the ‘Third World’

out of his complex to be a part of the ‘First World’. Feroza gives him an adequate reply to his

objectionable phrases by saying; “what do you mean, ‘Paki’? What’re you, some snow-white

Englishman?” (ibid) This again irritates Manek for he considers it her ‘gora complex’ and asks her to get

rid of it. This is quite ironical on Manek’s part because the way he treats Feroza shows his own complex

of being an Asian but desiring to turn American.

Feroza is presented as a young teenager full of life with a lot of fluctuation in her behaviour

which is most probably because of her age. Teenage is quite a problematic time period in one’s life as it is

full of a number of mutations, emotional as well as physical ones. Her excitement for going to America

illustrates the behaviour of a typical South Asian teenager who would as excited as she appears to be. She

dreams about “the land of glossy magazines, of Bewitched and Star Trek, of rock stars and jeans…” (ibid,

19) This reveals a typical fascination of an Eastern mind towards the West. This also reveals Feroza’s

immature behaviour towards the realities of life. She, on receiving her tickets from his father, asks them

out of her desperation that “Why am I a Paki Third Worlder?”(ibid) She questions her own identity

immediately after getting her ticket to America which shows her complex of being an Asian like Manek.

Incorporating the characters like Khutlibai, Feroza’s maternal grandmother, Sidhwa has

endeavoured to illustrate the conventional mindset of the aged people of the Parsee community replete

with superstitions. She gives a candid contrast by putting the three generations of a Parsee family with an

intention of illustrating their conflicting ideas and approaches. What is wrong in the eyes of the first

generation does not seem as wrong to the second generation and what is wrong even for the second

generation may be considered right by the third generation. These conflicts are embedded deep inside the

fabric of the novel by the writer. Apart from many other themes, An American Brat is an attempt by
Sidhwa to demonstrate how existing ties within the conventional Parsee families are deteriorating

gradually due to the changing times. The way Khutlibai expresses her fears and doubts about Feroza’s

matter reveals that the insecurities are different in different generations. She is apprehended by the fact

that Feroza is too young to be sent to America alone but, for Zareen, it is not a matter to be worried about.

This also reveals the conditioning ways of a Pakistani Parsee family. The people of this part of the world

consider the West especially the United States as dangerous place for their youngsters particularly the

girls because their minds are conditioned by the news that the West is the place of rape, drinks and drugs.

Khutlibai’s behaviour is quite conventional as she is the representative of the first generation. She

criticizes her daughter’s dressing on the prospect of Feroza’s going to America. She questions Zareen that

what kind of example she is setting for her daughter after being so much ‘modernized’. She also avoids

visiting Zareen frequently because it does not seem right for her to visit her son-in-law’s house frequently

as she follows the traditions set by her forefathers. Sidhwa intentionally brings forward the differences

between the three generations because by setting a strong economic background of the family, she intends

to bring forward the differences of the third generation to the first two to highlight the extent of Feroza’s

transformation.

Before leaving for America, Feroza visits the Shrine (Data Darbar) of a Muslim saint in Lahore

for the sake of prayers for her successful and safe trip to the United States. She performs all the rituals

wholeheartedly which illustrates the fact that she feels connection to the local religious rituals as well as

her family traditions. Her parents throw a feast before her flight and all of their close relatives gather at

their home to share the occasion with them. Such gatherings are very common in their family which

shows their traditions. All of them appear to be very excited expressing their emotions vividly by showing

their love and affection for Feroza. Other youngsters feel very jealous of her. Sidhwa also mentions their

behaviours when they hear the sound of the loudspeaker from a nearby mosque. They appear to be

disturbed and feel as if it would spoil their gathering. The maulvi (Muslim religious cleric) after making
an announcement starts singing religious songs which spoils their lunch. They decide to move inside not

to let their lunch being ruined by the noise made by the maulvi in the mosque.

The rituals performed by the whole family before Feroza’s flight to America reveals the fact that

their family is very conventional following their religious practices strictly. They send Feroza in the

complete protection of their God. All of them go with Feroza to see her off on airport. This brings out

another contrast of their traditional behaviour to the people of the United States where Feroza is going to

spend the rest of her life. Americans would have considered it an utter stupidity and emotionality to

gather and celebrate such thing as an occasion. All the girls of her age, her class fellows and friends

gather there to be with her. They enjoy being together a lot. Seeing so many girls together there are some

boys who start staring at them and the way their elders scold them is depicted in a hilarious and humorous

manner. It also shows the traditional conditioning of their minds. For example, some of the aunts gathered

there say; “‘Oye, shameless! Don’t you have mothers and sisters? Go stare at them!’” (ibid, 49)

Bidding farewell to all her loved ones, finally Feroza starts her journey by carrying bundles of

advices and wishes with her. She is shown quite optimistic overwhelmed with the fascination of America,

her imagined land of wonders and dreams. She is so much preoccupied and obsessed with the fact that she

is going to America that it becomes difficult for her to sleep and rest properly. She is feeling everything

on flight conscious of the fact that she is travelling alone for the first time in her life. She buys the items

demanded by Manek from duty free shops at Dubai airport during the waiting-time for the connecting

flight. After her second stay at Frankfurt airport, she switches to the other flight after seven hours. She

becomes quite worried as she feels herself helpless to handle her luggage which is too heavy to be carried

by a girl like her. A young man comes to her rescue but she feels quite hesitant to accept his help out of

her fear inculcated in her by the advice of her elders that never trust strangers. Being alone and

independent of her decision, she decides to get his help because she has no other option. Her real life and

learning begins from there when she decides on her own for the first time.
 Her arrival at Kennedy airport is not all a pleasant one. The unpleasant rather bitter experiences

which she has to go through reveal the reality and disproves her fascination of America altogether. Her

encounter with the customs officials is quite symbolic of the fact that immigrants are never welcomed on

a foreign land. The difference of attitudes shakes her from inside and her confidence shatters altogether

and she fails to satisfy them. At this difficult situation, Manek comes to her rescue and with his

confidence resolves the issue. The humiliation she faces there is unbearable for her and she realizes that

America is no longer a land of dreams rather one with bitter realities. She also realizes that the Americans

are least bothered about their looks unlike her; she, on the other hand, is very self-conscious in her

interactions with them. Sidhwa highlights the intricate details of the behavioural differences of the people

from the countries like Pakistan and those from the USA. She tries to make evident that people from the

marginalized places appear to be quite self-conscious because of bearing an inferiority complex to the

people of the First World who appear to be quite careless about their personalities. They are not conscious

of their appearances, behaviours and attitudes to others without having a sense of being superior or

inferior.

Feroza’s debauched experience with immigrant officials makes her quite down spirited and

eventually kills her excitement and fascination. Manek calls her stupid for her irrational behaviour at that

time and tries to make her remind the fact that she is now in the USA, a place where nobody would come

to rescue and help her the way it happens in Pakistan. There are no mummy and daddy, aunts and uncles

like in Pakistan who would come to take care of her. It is the land where she has to face everything on her

own confidence and bear a lot. But Feroza after facing so much humiliation particularly when that

immigrant officer ridiculed them by fishing out her mother’s ‘nighty’ from her luggage flares up on

Manek’s advice. She criticizes him for not taking any stand for the honour of her sister and Manek

banishes her by saying that there is nothing to do with “honor shonor” in America.

Once landed in America, Feroza goes through a lot of experiences which reveal to her the

differences and contrasting elements between Pakistan and America. These are entirely different worlds
bearing almost no resemblance to each other. Another important factor for the difficulties Feroza faces is

that of her age. She is too young to understand so many things on her own and she needs a proper

guidance and Manek tries his best to prove himself a good guide for his niece. She has been a pampered

child in her family and suddenly coming into an entirely different world shakes her personality. She

becomes even more confused and disoriented and Manek deems it very necessary to guide her properly.

Feeling his responsibility, he seems quite determined not to disappoint his family back in Pakistan which

has trusted him for such an arduous task.

The relationship of Manek and Feroza is shown as quite interesting. They seem more like friends

and age fellows than being uncle and niece. They have a very good level of frankness which also makes it

difficult for Manek to make her understand so many things which were quite important for her to be learnt

to live in America without any problem. The first thing which he points out to is her temper which he

wants her to improve and control to live in America. Feroza being a sixteen-year-old nearly immature girl

pays no attention to his advices. They treat each other in a very casual manner by incorporating Punjabi,

Urdu and Gujrati languages in their conversations which makes it quite interesting. As Feroza Says;

“Vekh! Vekh! Vekh! Sher-di-batian!” (ibid, 59) Manek calls her “Boochimai” as her pet name in Gujrati

which means a little girl.

They have been staying in YMCA hostel for a few days before going to Cambridge where Manek

lives being a student at MIT. He has planned to visit some places in New York with Feroza before going

to Cambridge. Feroza has some horrible experiences during her stay in YMCA. The very next morning

when she wakes up, she goes to bathroom where she encounters an Afro-American male who barges into

females’ bathroom which terrifies her a lot. She has not been accustomed to such an open behaviour of

men and she fails to deal with him properly, however, she successfully escapes from there. She

experiences quite odd behaviours of men in that building who pass obscene comments while passing by

her.
 According to the plan Manek takes her to explore New York. Feroza feels very excited and lost in

the charms of New York. She explores everything so keenly that she becomes unaware of the presence of

Manek with her. He feels quite agitated on her lost state of mind but she does not bother even for a

second. During their visit to a museum, Feroza is so lost that Manek feels quite irritated. Suddenly he

exclaims that there must be some ‘desi’ present in the surroundings and he can smell him. In his

excitement he starts searching for him and finally he finds at Feroza’s smelly overcoat. He comes to

Feroza and criticizes her for this smell calling her “smelly desi.” He denounces her for not using a

deodorant saying; “‘that’s the trouble with you desis. You don’t even know what a deodorant is and you

want to make an atom bomb!’” (ibid, 74)

Manek’s critical behaviour is quite ridiculously ironical even on his own part as being a desi

(native) how can he exclude himself from his desi background? This reveals the fact that his own identity

has been shattered deep form inside during the three years of his stay in America. Manek, being a part of

once colonized world, is now living in a world of colonizers and has gone through a rapid transformation

in thinking and attitude. Such colonized mentality does not resist longer enough to be transformed into an

entirely new one negating and challenging all the existing norms and traditions embedded in mind

through early conditioning.

Feroza has been exposed to so much of things so quickly that she gets a surrealistic impression of blurred

images in her mind of all the things she sees:

‘like a kaleidoscope of perceptions in which paintings, dinosaurs. American

Indian artifacts and Egyptian mummies mingled with hamburgers, pretzels,

sapphire earring, deodorants and glamorous window displays.’ (ibid, 76)

She becomes so overwhelmed with the impression of the things that she is completely lost in their charm.

This again is an important reason of a South Asian’s fascination towards such temptations of the West as
they have not seen such things ever in their lives and when they are exposed to such environment and

spell-bounding charms, they feel entirely lost and distracted like Feroza.

Manek, during the visit to a shopping mall, discusses with Feroza about the backwardness of

Pakistan. He shares his concern on being so backward but Feroza does not pay any attention to him being

lost in the charms of the things. Feroza’s behaviour is quite symbolic against the Manek’s serious

thoughts. This shows how immigrants lose their identity gradually by being lost in the charms of the First

World. He says that Pakistanis are lagging behind because they are not conscious of the importance of

time like American who consider time as money and value it accordingly. He criticizes Feroza so bitterly

for the habit of wasting her time. He says that Americans would never waste their time. It is only the

illiterate natives like you from the Third World countries who waste their time. Feroza agitates over his

calling her a “Third World” native. This is also an interesting fact that their own identity seems to them

like a swearing word which irritates them a lot within a very short period of time.

Feroza, after spending some time with Manek, realizes that he does not want to return to Pakistan.

He has adopted American life wholeheartedly and there remains no interest in his heart for Pakistan and

the life it offers. He feels a complete attachment with American life and culture and detachment from

Pakistani culture and society. His identity has gone through a kind of transformation from a Pakistani to

an American within the short time of just three years. He admires the life he is spending in America full

of challenges as well as facilities. Although his love for his family still survives but his love for his

country and nationality has been overshadowed with the desire of becoming a complete American. He

considers America as the land of opportunities which can change a person’s entire life.

One of the different experiences, which Feroza learns being in New York is their encounter with

eunuchs. While roaming in one of the places in New York they come across a group of eunuchs who are

quite professional, glamorous and different from the eunuchs in Pakistan. Manek also urges Feroza not to

stare at them as it was quite dangerous because they get annoyed for being stared at like this. They do not
tolerate people’s gaze and consider it an intrusion into their privacy. Feroza being unaware of the fact is

caught by one of them for staring at them and they escape from there with a great difficulty. There is a lot

which Feroza has to learn through her different experiences being in America.

Feroza also witnesses the poverty in America which to her seems far more horrible than the

poverty in Pakistan. People who used to come from the Third World with great fascination and

expectations get shocked to see the bare realities of the First World. Feroza fails to bear the horrible sights

of poverty stricken areas of New York which were quite different from the sights to which she was

accustomed to. All she has seen is so far so terrible for her that it disturbs her psyche and shakes her soul.

It appears to her like a symbol of callousness of the rich country that allows such savage things to occur.

She is panicked so much that she cannot control her emotions to experience such horrible sights in

America. The glossy image of America shatters so badly that it shakes her altogether. Manek tries his best

to console her by making her understand the reality that America is not just Saks and Skyscrapers. When

they come out of the place Feroza notices the sudden glare of light from the cinema advertising their

titles; “Lustful Lucy Bangs the Boys, Behind the Green Door, Virgin Lust, Deep Throat.” (ibid, 81) It

highlights the moral depravity of the First World. There are also some mysterious men who meet them

with their wrong intentions but Manek being aware of their reality quickly takes her away from there.

The next thing which Feroza experienced is her attitude towards a beggar which is highly

criticized by Manek afterwards. While sitting in the bus with Manek she notices a young boy begging for

money and she feels quite sorry for him and gives him a dollar bill which annoys Manek a lot. He asks

her very strictly to avoid such people because they are fake and undeserving. He makes fun of her

sympathy for the beggar by calling it her ‘gora complex’ and asks her to get rid of her complex otherwise

she would be turned into a beggar by these trashy Whites. He also mentions that once she becomes aware

of their reality she would not feel sorry for them. He questions her very sarcastically that would she give

the same amount to some ‘afeemi’ (drug edict) in Pakistan the way she gave to an addict in America. This

shows her complex considering the whites as superior to whatever category they belong to.
 Her experience of being trapped in the staircase is the most atrocious one she had being in

America. The true side of the picture is revealed to her through this experience. In this single incident

Sidhwa intends to illustrate the bitter realities faced by the immigrants on a foreign land. All the details

incorporated by her are quite symbolic and the images used by her shows her understanding of an

immigrant’s stay on an alien land. She being an immigrant herself highlights the intricate details out of

her own experience. Feroza, once coming back from her daily visits of the city, gets on the wrong

elevator out of her immature and casual behaviour. Considering it fun to be independent enough she

reaches on the wrong floor. There she is misguided by an American girl who apparently seems quite

reasonable and helpful to her. She describes the way to get on the right elevator by going down again

choosing the elevator of her floor but on noticing Feroza’s reluctance she pushes her to the staircase as an

alternative option. Feroza in her ignorance gets herself trapped in that staircase. She becomes highly

scared and panicked on the situation. Being unable to sort out her problem she runs down and down in the

hope of getting some outlet but her hopes die down soon and she later realizes that she is seriously

trapped. Nobody is there to help her and she is completely lost in the pit darkness of the staircase. The

staircase seems like a foreign land and the darkness is symbolic of the difficulties which an immigrant

faces being on the foreign land. She traces her way in the darkness on her own in bewilderment. She

regrets a lot for trusting an unknown American. It again gives her a contrast of the outer and the inner

worlds of America. The more it shines from outside the more it appears dark from inside. She experiences

the real hollowness of the land which once appeared so glossy and appealing to her. She starts praying in

her tense state of mind but it does not help her in the situation. She feels as if nothing exists out of the

stairwell; “America assumed a ruthless, hollow, cylindrical shape without beginning or end, without

sunlight, an unfathomable concrete tube inhabited by her fear.” (ibid, 90)

She is rescued from that trap by a Japanese man who is also an immigrant like her. Although both

of them were unable to understand each other’s language but she could easily understand his facial

expressions which were full of concern. He was feeling protective for her because of being an Asian.
What Sidhwa tries to illustrate the fact that had there been an American in that situation he would never

have felt as much concerned as that Japanese feels for her. He understands her pain in a better way than

any of the Americans because of the shared status. His advice for her reflects his concern for her; “‘Never

do that…Never! You could be murdered…no one would know. All kinds of shitty people…drugs!’”

(ibid, 94) The man appears to be more panicked to see her like this and he scolds her out of his concern

by saying that she should better leave New York if she is so dumb headed because nobody could survive

in the city like New York without being sensible enough. Sidhwa making a point here that it is quite

tough for the immigrants to live and survive on such a foreign land like America the way they used to

spend their lives in their own countries. As far as Feroza is concerned she being a part of a well-off family

has been coddled so much in Pakistan that it has become nearly impossible for her to survive alone in

such a cruel and fake world. Perhaps Feroza has to learn even more being in America than any other

immigrant because of her background and she after having a lot of harsh and bitter experiences transforms

into an entirely different girl. Despite having a lot of difficult experiences she suffers not as much because

of having a guide like Manek who tries his best to teach her.

After spending a few days in New York, they move to Cambridge where Manek used to live for

his studies being a student of MIT. He shares his living place with other students and the place is not of

very good standard. Feroza stays there with him in that small one-room apartment. Manek criticizes

Feroza for her heavy suitcases again calling her ‘desi’ and ‘memsahib’ for carrying so many things with

her and for hoydenish behaviours. Feroza being annoyed on his expressions behaves very rudely with him

and tells him that she knows very well how to behave with whom. She tells him that she kicked a man

between his legs in Pakistan who was staring at her. Her expression is so spontaneous that Manek could

not sort out how to react to such an odd detail she was giving even in presence of one of his friends.

Manek feels great embarrassment and ponders on the fact that if a girl being trained by nuns in convent

can act like that what would be the behaviour of other Pakistani girls. He cannot expect such boldness
from Pakistani girls. Feroza realizes soon her behaviour and understands the fact that she has gone too far

and she has forgotten her values being a Pakistani girl in this exhilaratingly free and new culture.

Manek, cognizant of the fact that he has the responsibility to guide her, takes care of her

everything by keeping an eye on her movements, behaviours, moods and attitudes. While guiding her, he

recalls his own bitter experiences when he was new in America, an entire alien and nobody was there to

teach or guide him what to do and how to behave. He suffered more than Feroza but he was more capable

to deal with the adversities that came in his way. Being concerned for his niece he wants to teach her each

and everything which he learnt through so many difficulties. Feroza used to take him for granted because

of her frankness level with him. Manek criticizes her for her inappropriate manners by labelling her as

‘desi’ again and again which makes her feel agitated. But he tries repeatedly to make her understand that

with her temperament she will not be able to deal and cope up with Americans who do not tolerate such

an obnoxious temperament as is hers. She has to sacrifice a lot even her own identity, her manners, her

temperament, her attitude for becoming a part of a foreign land like America. Feroza also notices the

changes which have become a part of Manek’s personality. Before coming to America, he was quite a

different person but three years in America have made him very humble and considerate.

Along with all her experiences she feels great change in her personality. She gets more and more

confidence and enjoys the freedom of being alone and unchecked. She enjoys a lot roaming in different

places with Manek. She keeps on making comparisons in her mind regarding the difference of

environment. In Pakistan, she was not allowed to wander so freely outside the way she is enjoying in

America with Manek. She also compares the difference of attitude of the common people. For example,

in Lahore people used to stare at one another making it difficult for women and others to move freely in

public places. She recalls that even the women with or without veil used to stare at one another. On the

contrary, in the USA, people appear to be so indifferent that nobody bothers and notices others’ presence.

They are least bothered about themselves as well as about others which for Feroza is quite different from

the attitude of the people in Pakistan. She also recalls the response of women to the men’s gaze. They get
emotional at once on such behaviours and start yelling at the men unlike the women in America who take

such things quite normal and take men’s gaze as a complement to their beauty. She even witnesses the

response of a few girls to Manek’s gaze when they smile back at him. Getting inspired by such reactions,

Feroza starts smiling at every woman she comes across but Manek asks her to avoid such stupidity

because people become suspicious and embarrassed considering it an intrusion in their privacy. Despite

all these things, she starts enjoying her stay in America and gradually starts feeling comfortable.

Initially Feroza’s parents send her to America just for three months on a visit visa with the hopes

of improving her personality. They are unaware of the fact that the time period of three months was not

enough to bring the level of improvement they wished in her. Manek who has gone through all the ordeals

understands the situation in a better way and he starts persuading her to get admission in a university to

continue her education. He is aware of the fact that she would experience the real and required

transformation in her personality when she would live in America independently for a purpose. As Manek

has gone through the cultural shock and after bearing all he has to, he emerges toughened and he knows

that without bearing all this she would not be able to succeed. He also considers it a kind of absurdity of

approach on her parents’ part to send their daughter far away just to bring change in her attitude. He takes

it as the limited approach of the people of the Third World who imagine in their usual vague manner that

a short visit to America would suffice to improve the personality of their daughter.

Analyzing the whole situation, Manek puts forward the suggestion that she should avail this

opportunity of being in America and get admission in some course most likely in the course of Hotel

Management. The reaction of Khutlibai, her maternal grandmother, is as conventional as always on the

news of Feroza’s admission in an American college. She appears to be concerned for her future that who

would marry a girl who would have spent such a long time period alone in America. Again her parents

agree to Manek’s suggestion and allow her to stay there and get admission in some course.
 Manek with the intension of making her independent in her decisions leaves the matter to her to

choice of college or university. She starts searching a library for this but eventually fails to make any

decision. Manek, like always, tries to show her the true picture and tells her that you would get nothing in

America without struggle. You have to work very hard to make your living unlike Pakistan where nobody

works in the real sense and every day is a Sunday for them. He highlights the difference in the lifestyles

of Americans and Pakistanis. In America, everyone has to work hard without wasting any time because

time is the real money for them. They have a very calculated approach and they plan their day around the

clock. They keep on working without wasting even a single second. Both husband and wife work equally

unlike Pakistan where men take the responsibility of the whole family. According to him, this is the main

reason behind the success of this country where people work like machines. If she wants to live in

America she needs to change her approach towards life because nobody would come to help her for

anything.

Manek after accepting responsibility of his niece spend all his efforts to improve her personality

but the more he focuses on one thing the more Feroza detaches herself from it. She gives him quite a

tough time but he does not lose hope and keeps trying. He takes her to a museum one day and like always

she becomes lost in the charms of the things so much that she refuses to leave the place on Manek’s

insistence. He decides to teach her a lesson and leaves her alone there and goes away. Feroza after getting

satisfied and being so sure of Manek’s presence goes out of the museum and then comes to know that she

has left her alone there. She becomes quite worried but keeps herself composed unlike her early

experiences. She discusses her problem with the security guard who stays with her while she waits for her

uncle. When it becomes too late he asks her to inform the police. She agrees to it and on her call cops

arrive there to help her. They ask different questions from her but she cannot recall the address of her

uncle. After sometime, Manek comes back to the museum and Feroza recognizes his car. During all this

trouble, she remains quite composed and confident of herself which is acknowledged by Manek later on

who tells her that he did so with the intension of teaching her a lesson. He feels quite satisfied on her
progress of handling the situation independently. He again reminds her that to live successfully in

America you rely on your own without depending on others.

After a long but careful search, Manek chooses a junior college in Twin Falls in Idaho for her to

get study for her degree in Hotel Management. He writes a long letter to her parents sharing all the

important details about the college and the place. He keeps the fact in his mind that a small town would

be safer and better for her to start her education and independent life. The environment was favourable for

her. The state has banned the prostitution and discouraged discos and all forms of provocative dancing.

Caffeine is also not allowed to be used frequently. Along with making a right choice for his niece he is

also concerned to make her learn things in shorter time so that she may not suffer in any case.

On joining the college in Idaho, the first thing which bothers her is that everybody calls it a school. It

irritates her as coming from Pakistan completing her school years she is mentally prepared to be admitted

in a college but when again there comes a school it annoys him a lot. Maneks explains to her that even his

university is called as school and there is nothing to be worried about. There she meets Jo who is her

roommate in the hostel. She does not leave any good impression on Feroza and Manek in the beginning

due to her large sullen face and a wary hostile air. She takes them as Mexican which makes Feroza happy

out of her complex and unconscious desire to be considered as American. After a short interaction with

Jo, Manek realizes the goodness of her nature and he shows his satisfaction to Feroza that she is lucky

that she has got an American roommate not Japanese or an Egyptian. He is quite hopeful that Jo would

teach her more about adopting American culture and life style and it would become easier for her to adopt

American culture more quickly.

A new phase of Feroza’s life begins from here when she starts living independently with Jo away

from Manek. During the time spent with Manek, she completely depended on him for everything. The

real learning and transformation begins from there. Initially both of them feel quite uncomfortable with

each other’s presence but gradually the level of frankness between them increases. Feroza being so
conscious of her own self that faces a lot of difficulties in developing a comfort level with Jo. She sounds

so mannered that it becomes quite difficult for others to talk to her freely. Another thing which restricts

her is her consciousness for her English. She concentrates so much on her pronunciation and syntax that it

becomes almost impossible for Jo to understand her. Understanding her problem, Jo comes for her help.

Once in a shop Feroza wants to buy a hair spray for herself. She asks the salesman in her typical style to

show her the spray but the shopkeeper could not understand her intention and misbehaves with her. Jo

comes for her help and condemns the shopkeeper for treating a foreigner so badly. She tells Feroza not to

behave in such an obedient manner as nobody understands such mannerism in America. All they want is

to come straight to the point otherwise they become suspicious.

Jo’s character is quite significant for Feroza’s development. She has played a very important role

in her transformation. Feroza loses her identity gradually and gets influenced by Jo more quickly than

Manek. Feroza in her complex follows Jo and tries to imitate her in order to adopt American culture. Jo,

on seeing her in need to be guided, seriously takes the charge of her life to make her understand the

American way of life. She teaches her how to behave and interact with the people. She tells her to reduce

the formal ting in her behaviour and try to appropriate her attitude accordingly.

Jo also focuses on her dressing because Feroza used to dress up in her Eastern style wearing ‘Shalwar

Kameez’ and dangling jewellery which looks quite odd in such casual atmosphere. Jo asks her in her

amazement that why she hides her legs and Feroza feels quite embarrassed on her question as she is not

accustomed to such bold things. Her mind is conditioned in quite a conservative environment in

comparison to American culture and it is quite tough for her to adopt a culture that is entirely contrary to

her own culture. She feels quite embarrassed to see the frank and open lifestyle of Jo in the beginning but

she starts getting influenced by her gradually, herself unaware of the change .Watching semi-naked

bodies all around her she starts becoming more conscious of them feeling an intense attraction towards

them with the desire of being held by them as well. This attraction is quite natural on her part because she

was not familiar to such exposure in her previous life. But she feels quite ashamed of the newly acquired
strange desires which are contrary to her upbringing and the initial conditioning of her mind. It is very

difficult for her to control her desires but recalling her values she becomes successful in banishing and

baffling her desires and the forbidden images.

Feroza also feels absurdity of the strange behaviours of her colleagues towards her Asian

background and her appearance for being brown skinned. She feels herself as an alien among them

because of their treatment with her considering her as the other. It also strengthens her inferiority complex

for being different from them. Her brown skin further strengthens her complex. She also faces a great

difficulty to understand Jo’s personality. There are a lot of differences between their personalities. Jo also

makes her learn different pronunciation of different things. For example she used to pronounce as ‘may-o-

neeze’ which was not understood by anyone and Jo corrects her it as ‘may-nayze’.

Feroza being influenced by Jo also influences Jo and Manek on his second visit to them finds her

more amiable than before. Jo has become quite frank with both of them and her behaviour with Manek

becomes more frank and open than their previous meeting. They spend a very good time together. In fact,

Feroza and Jo plan to change their residence from hostel to a private apartment and Manek has come to

help them. After shifting to their new apartment they enter into a new phase of their relationship. They

explore each other in a better way because they feel themselves quite independent living freely without

any restriction. Feroza comes to experience the real side of Jo’s personality. She finds her very social,

open and flirtatious by nature. She used to bring a lot of different men with her and gets benefits from

them like beer and wine. Feroza’s language has become more casual. She frequently starts using the

words like ‘shit’ and ‘ass hole’ and feels a kind of satisfaction in uttering such words being away from her

family. Similarly Jo tries to develop her taste like Feroza by eating eastern dishes with her although

occasionally she cannot tolerate the taste and the spices.

Feroza feels very strange to observe Jo’s frankness with different males, a phenomenon

unimaginable in Pakistan. She admires Jo a lot but she can never even think about being so frank with the
boys like her and she also regrets sometimes for not being able to interact with boys like Jo. She feels

herself quite inferior and avoids going outside with them under fear of spoiling their fun. Jo

understanding her problem asks her to increase her frankness with the boys to get rid of her fears. On her

insistence she starts going out with them. Being with them, she feels quite confident and less conscious of

her impression on others. Otherwise she used to feel tongue-tied out of self-consciousness. Gradually she

starts getting familiar with the boys and they begin to accept and enjoy their company. Another important

thing is that she starts drinking frequently while in the company of Jo and her friends. If she would have

been living in the hostel of her college she probably would never have become Americanized so quickly

the way it happened while living independently with Jo.

She feels guilty sometimes to think about her family back in Pakistan that what would have been

their reaction to see her like that the way she is living in America. This guilt and fear die down gradually

by losing her previous and original identity and adopting a new one. Her transformation makes her realize

the fact that the predictions made by Father Fib were true. Father Fib was the person who met her during

her stay with Manek in Cambridge. He predicted that she would gradually learn to fly on her own and

now after adopting so much she feels as if she has developed her own wings to fly. She wants to keep it

secret the sense of growth and discovery she is feeling for herself and does not want to share it with

anyone, not even with Manek. Out of her obsession for adopting American life style she commits a

cardinal sin according to her religion when she takes a few puffs of cigarette while she is with her friends.

Since she is a Parsee and worship fire, therefore, smoking is not allowed in her religion but she out of her

modesty smokes just to be a part of them. Back from there, she recites her holy book to reduce her guilt of

what she has done.

Feroza goes through a lot of fluctuations during her stay in America like all other immigrants who

face a similar kind of problem. The cultural clashes are not so easy to be handled by most of the

immigrants and they in order to make their stay comfortable and convenient seem so eager to adopt a

foreign identity leaving the previous behind. Feroza being young, immature, emotional, and most
importantly alone on a foreign land adopts that life style very quickly and eagerly. Although she has

changed a lot but still she does not muster up courage to interact with a boy independently in solitude

which reflects the strong conditioning of her mind particularly done by her grandmother. On the other

hand, Jo appears to be so inconsistent that she changes her boyfriends in routine. This brings out a

contrast of the two girls of almost the same age, living in the same place but having differently ethnicities

and backgrounds. Their minds are conditioned in different ways and different cultures.

Feroza coming from a socially and economically affluent family has a strong understanding of

politics as well. She, like her mother, admires Bhutto a lot and keeps his poster in her room. Influenced by

Feroza, Jo also starts taking interest in politics. They share their opinions with each other. She also starts

watching news with Feroza on TV and finds out the biased approach of the Western world for the Third

World countries and the way they are represented on Western media shocks both. Feroza and Jo soon

develop a very good understanding and Feroza acknowledges the fact that she is lucky that she has got a

friend like Jo in America otherwise it would never have been possible for her to survive and adjust in

such a country alone. She has been a great help for her. As being with Feroza, Jo gets some understanding

of the political system of Pakistan, similarly Feroza begins taking interest in the political system of

America, its foreign policy, etc. Sidhwa wants to highlight that even though she seems to be taking

interest in Pakistan, the circumstances lead her to lean towards the United States.

The relationship between Feroza and Jo can be termed as a symbiotic one in which both benefit

from each other and both become essential for each other’s existence survival. They have been so much

dependent on each other that it becomes impossible for them to get separated. They share everything,

cook together for each other. Jo cooks so well because of having a culinary background and has inherited

cooking genes from her family.

Feroza’s parents are quite satisfied about the future of their daughter after her admission in a

college. They have been living their normal social life attending and arranging so many parties. Back in
Pakistan, in one of the gatherings, Zareen meets an American who appears to have a diplomatic

background. He meets her as the latter has obsession with Bhutto. This was the time when Bhutto was

imprisoned. He treats Zareen in a very demeaning manner questioning her like a CIA official. She feels

quite offended when he calls Bhutto stupid person again and again but she cannot react the way she

wanted to. His tone makes her agitated and could not understand his biasness for Bhutto. She calls him

cynical later on being alone with Cyrus in her bedroom and expresses her feelings that how she valueless

and genderless she felt in front of him because of his humiliating behaviour. Exactly after one month of

this meeting, they get the news of Bhutto’s hanging which they are unable not believe.

The peaceful life of Jo and Feroza becomes suddenly disturbed when they face a lot of problem

together. The upper portion of the apartment which they have been renting was free but then suddenly a

family starts living there. They begin to give them such a tough time that they get fed up within days.

They are extremely stubborn and do so much physical activity that the paint of the ceiling starts falling

down which troubles them a lot. They try many times to talk to them but they don’t bother to pay

attention to them. Feroza experiences a new type of Americans who are very ill mannered and stubborn.

In this tough period she gets the news of Bhutto’s death which disturbs her a lot. She utters the words

while shouting like “assholes”, “douchebags”, “fools”, “donkeys” to show her emotions by using all the

vocabulary she has learnt after coming to America. Jo also gets equally disturbed on the news as she also

has developed a kind of an affiliation with Bhutto because of Feroza. She consoles her a lot and all her

friends who get to know about the news feel sorry for her to see her so much distressed. It is quite

difficult for her to believe in the news for so many days as her mind is unable to accept that her hero

would be hanged like this.

Following this, another incident happens which brings more troubles for them. One evening when

Feroza returns home she finds out that their house has been robbed and a lot of items go missing. She

becomes terrified and runs away to Jo who used to work in a restaurant in the evening. After she has told

her about the trouble, Jo calls the police for help. They feel so much scared that it becomes difficult for
them to stay in the house for the night; therefore, they decide to stay in a hotel to sooth their nerves.

Police after investigation tells them that it is done by someone who knows them well because there were

no signs of any kind of intrusion in the house. Feroza later on figures out that it could be Jo’s boyfriend

Mike who had the key of the apartment. Her doubts soon prove correct by Mike’s unreasonable behaviour

with Jo. He himself admits that he did the act of burglary. He also attempts to attack Jo to kill her during

their fight which terrifies Feroza to death. Jo finally quits her relationship with him and leaves him

forever.

During the spring break Feroza decides to visit Jo’s family in Boulder while Manek has gone to

Pakistan after four long years having completed his education to get married with a Parsee girl and then to

bring her back to America with him. Following their traditions, the entire Parsee community of Lahore

gets together at the airport to welcome him. To their amazement, Manek comes out wrapped in white

bandages. This makes everyone worried for him. Khutlibai becomes so much worried for her son that she

is unable to understand anything. On their way back home, Manek unwraps the bandages from his face

and tells them in pure Gujrati that he does not want to speak English anymore. This makes them relieved

all of a sudden and they start laughing.

In the gathering of his relatives Maneks starts talking about America telling them minute details

of his experience of American life. He appreciates and admires American lifestyle a lot by making

comparisons with the life in Pakistan. He exaggerates a lot by telling them that even the poor in America

are far richer than the people in the Third World countries. They eat chicken, baked beans and hams every

day; “What the Americans throw away in one day can fill the stomachs of all the hungry people in

Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan for two days.” (ibid, 197) He further elaborates that there is

plenty of electricity and water and you can use them excessively by taking tub baths ten times a day or

whatever you want to do. Everybody used to keep the lights and air conditioner on all the time and the

bills are being paid by the landlord. There is no trouble of summer and winter as there are centrally

heating and cooling systems.

 The description given by Manek impresses everyone a lot but they start questioning him about the

moral values of Americans. They ask him the typical questions that come in the mind of the people of the

Third World that Americans have no moral values and everybody is involved in the free sex and rape.

Manek tells asks them that they should not believe of what they used to hear from others. The reality can

be much different and one can live morally or immorally equally depending upon one’s own choice. He

defends America in such a way that everybody believes in his every single word.

As far as the matter of his marriage is concerned he seems to be hot cake for the Parsee families

there because of his high profile and particularly the attraction that he would take his wife to America

along with him. All the girls were trying their best to win his heart. He selected a few girls and out of

them Aban is chosen for him. He gets married to her in a very traditional manner and then leaving her

there for a few months he returns to America.

Feroza’s stay with Jo’s family is quite a unique experience. She enjoys a lot being with them. She

finds out so many different things in Jo’s family which never existed in her family. She naturally draws a

number of comparisons particularly between Jo’s parents with hers. They are not at all conscious about

their daughter like her parents. They give maximum space to Jo and Feroza finds out the reasons of Jo’s

so casual behaviour. She finds a great difference between the concern of her aunts and uncles from that of

Jo’s relatives. She feels that her relatives behave and feel the responsibility of being concerned in a very

oppressive manner like a duty. On the other hand, she finds out Jo’s unrestrained behaviour is due to her

parents’ non-intervention never meddle in their children’s affairs. All this was quite refreshing for Feroza.

She also thinks that although her family claims to be modern and enlightened (in Pakistani

setting) yet they are rigid and expect unquestionable obedience on certain matters like meeting different

people and interaction between the boys and girls. They behave still in a very conventional manner. She

also thinks that it is never possible to adopt such things by her family in Pakistan because the

environment is different.
 Coming back from vacations Jo and Feroza decide to transfer their courses to Denver University

as they don’t feel comfortable in Twin Falls anymore. This time Feroza takes her decision on her own

without Manek’s help showing a sign of maturity and being independent enough. She likes the place

because there she finds a lot of different Asian students like her. There she meets Shashi an Indian student

who is senior to her but they become good friends and she also joins their group. She enjoys the company

of Shashi and other friends. She feels a new freshness in herself and feels like stepping through “Alice’s

wonderful mirror.” (ibid, 214) It is like exploring herself altogether again. She begins to explore a new

world of knowledge as well. She is introduced to a number of new writers like Naipaul, Bertrand Russell,

Styron, Desai, Plato, etc. She feels that she has gone through a great deal of transition which started from

her stay with Manek, then with Jo in Twin Falls and now in Denver exploring new people, places and

ideas. All this she counts has played an important role in her transformation. Otherwise she would never

have been able to withstand the pressures of a foreign land because of her shyness and immaturity. She

also starts doing job along with her studies to meet her expenses without depending on others which is

also a part of her Americanization to think like American individuals.

Shashi’s character often reminds her of Manek. The way he used to exploit Americans for getting

help from them by pretending to be a flood victim not having received money back from home. He

gathers a lot of money by pretending this way and she recalls the dinner which Manek arranged for her

when she was living with him. He did amazing acting so that he does not have to pay the bill. Although

they faced a lot of humiliation but Manek told her that this is the way to exploit Americans. Shashi also

behaves in the similar manner. She was unable to understand Manek’s point of view at that time but now

she can understand Shashi’s perspective as he receives very less money from his home and this is the best

way to live in a country like America. This is totally Sidhwa’s prerogative to depict the two South Asians

in such a negative and disparaging way. She included this perhaps as such concepts sell best which show

South Asians characters in such a mean light.

 Jo suddenly decides to leave her studies and to live with her new boyfriend who works in

American air force. Feroza strongly protests against her decision but Jo tells her that she does not need

any degree as she already has the proper knowledge and she has to run her family business. Feroza then

shifts to a new place where two Americans girls, Gwen and Rhonda, become her roommates. She

develops a good understanding with them in no time and lives comfortably. She finds Gwen very

attractive and beautiful black girl but quite enigmatic for having a mysterious kind of a boyfriend who is

never seen by any of them. They can just guess that he might be a very rich man of quite a mature age.

She sympathized with Gwen after knowing her miserable status being a black poor girl living alone far

away from her family. Since she belongs to a poor family and does not want to live in poverty, she leaves

her family and starts living independently. But she claims to support her family as well. Through the

introduction of these girls, the writer want to underscore the freedom that Gwen is free to make her

decisions and one’s family never restricts an individual. To Pakistani readers, Gwen’s living alone and

having a relationship with a mysterious man represents a cruel picture of American society.

Feroza’s relationship with Shashi is quite an intimate one but they hardly feel romantic and

passionate with each other. Shashi’s behaviour is comparatively more casual than her as being an Eastern

girl she feels some kind of romance in her heart for him having such an intimacy. She also feels jealous

with Gwen when Shashi gives her attention whenever he visits them at their apartment. Although Gwen

never pays any attention and treats him very casually, yet Feroza feels too insecure to control her temper.

Gwen realizes her problem and treats her in a very rational manner without losing her temper with her.

She tells her that she should not mistake her feelings for Shashi because he is not of her type. She

consoles her a lot and makes her understand the fact that she has mistaken her feelings for him which is

nothing more than an infatuation. Feroza, later on, feels very much embarrassed for her over-reaction with

Gwen. She also realizes that Gwen has assessed her feelings rightly because she finds out that neither

Shashi nor Feroza feels so intensely for each other the way she has been thinking as she says; “‘It’s like
being bruised by the breeze. The guy just circulates…he can’t help it any more than the breeze.’” (ibid,

232)

Shashi has also understands her feelings for him but he does not feel or react like her. Gradually

by his calculated behaviour she makes her realize that Gwen was right and then she restricts herself and

continues a good friendship with Shashi. They share so much knowledge with each other that she

apprehends that they would never share romance the way they share knowledge. After her term exams,

she decides to spend her vacations in Lahore with her family after such a long time. In the meanwhile,

Manek completes his doctorate and gets a job in NASA which is a great achievement even by American

standards. He finds himself in the process of acquiring green card to settle permanently in the USA.

Feroza feels quite excited going to Pakistan and meeting her family after a long time. She is

welcomed there like Manek with full traditional protocol by breaking coconut and putting the red paste on

forehead by pressing rice in it. She goes through a lot of religious and traditional rituals on her arrival to

Pakistan. Khutlibai circled the tray seven times around her head to banish the envious eye and tipped its

contents on either side of the door. These rituals reveal the fact that her family is quite conventional and

superstitious.

On visiting Pakistan after a long time Feroza notices so many changes which make her realize

that a lot of time has gone by. The people and the relationships she preserves in her memory goes through

a number of alterations. She feels quite hurt to see that both her grandmothers have grown ominously

older. She feels this way because living in America the concept of age has changed for her. She has seen a

lot of people who even in their old age keep themselves so fit and active that nobody can consider them as

old. When she shares her adventures in America they enjoys a lot and Zareen feels very strange to see her

daughter with so much alteration. Zareen used to feel guilt in her heart for sending her daughter in

America but now finding her so much confident and altered and to see Cyrus satisfied she feels quite

relieved.
 Feroza notices that people have forgotten Bhutto so early and nobody seems interested in

remembering him. There are a number issues running under Zia’s regime. He has introduced Hudood

Ordinance and a lot of controversies have been going on at that time and particularly females have been

suffering a lot. There are a number of cases of love marriages which have been reported under this

ordinance and all are considered as an act of adultery by the Zia government and the couples were

sentenced to death by stoning. The controversies rise even more through the case of Safia Bibi who is a

blind girl and gets pregnant as a result of rape. She is declared as adulteress and imprisoned for three

years. Although she is not punished later on, yet, a lot of people protest against it in which Zareen also

participates.

Feroza also feels quite agitated and frustrated to find out such injustices in the society where the

girl who is the victim of such heinous act has been punished but rapist survives and remain unaffected.

She feels so much perturbed to witness all this being in Pakistan that she asks Zareen that she should have

sent her more details about all this in America as this is her country and she belongs to Pakistan. Her visit

reminds and revives so many things to her which have been overshadowed and faded away being in

foreign land. But Zareen feels quite amazed to think that being a minority how far this claim is justified to

own a country like Pakistan which has been taken in the name of a religion to which they do not belong. It

is also a fact that the zealous Islamisation fostered by General Zia was not acceptable for the people who

marginalized the minorities like them and made their situation more petty and pathetic.

Feroza finds out the real change in her friends. Nothing has remained the same with them. Some

of them get married and some get admission in Kinnaird College and other colleges of Lahore. The topics

which they discuss are of no interest to her. They discuss their children, husbands and in-laws which she

is unable to understand and follow with interest. Feroza feels the difference in their brought up and

difference of the environments in which she has been living for past years. Similarly her friends are

unable to take interest in her discussion of an alien land for them and they can hardly make any sense out
of her discussions. She discusses the conditions of poverty in the USA but they cannot find any interest in

her discussion as to them the meaning of poverty is quite different.

Later on to see the condition of the poor in the ‘jhugees’ (makeshift huts and tents when those

who live in abject poverty in Pakistan) near the Cantonment Board area, she understands their reactions

because every kind of poverty in America had no parallel with this abject poverty found excessively in

Pakistan. For her, it does not mean that poverty is less cruel in America but she realizes the fact that the

concept of poverty is relative for everyone. She also makes it clear to her friend, who has shown her a

poverty stricken area, that she cannot even ignore the miseries of those areas with less poverty. She also

emphasizes that having car in America does not mean that one is rich but it is like being crippled not to

have one as it is so easily available to everyone as a part of the basic needs.

Feroza defends America in front of her friends and family as intensely as Manek used to do on his

visit to Pakistan. It seems as if they have become Americans in their minds and hearts and they cannot

bear the criticism out of their affiliation which they have grown with a foreign land.

It is quite strange as how quickly the immigrants from the Third World develop this affiliation to

the First World, rich countries such as the United States. It happens because of the fact that the fascination

of the First World so deeply embeds in their minds that it overshadows their previous affiliation and the

spirit of nationalism within their hearts. When they become a part of the countries like America, they

adopt its life styles quickly out of their fascination forgetting about their own cultural identity. This

happens with Feroza and Manek but in different ways due to their different genders, ages and status. They

find more opportunities to spend a happy life full of material benefits. Feroza defends America as if she is

an American by birth ignoring the fact altogether that she is a born Pakistani. By highlighting such

inclination on part of Feroza and Manek, Sidhwa tries to point out the fact that may be the conditioning of

the immigrants’ minds is so superficial that it can be distorted very easily and quickly. The question of its

causality will be addressed in the next chapter in the analysis of the two immigrant characters.
 This transformation is a gradual process because Feroza appears to be so critical for America in

the beginning of her stay that she hardly bears anything good about it. It is because of the fact that when

she goes there she has a strong conditioned mind having a strong sense of her Pakistani ethical values

which she has brought with her but gradually after witnessing so many differences she starts thinking in a

varied manner realizing the fact that things were the way she used to take them. With the passage of time

she becomes less critical and more inclined towards the American culture following it both consciously

and unconsciously. She even starts appreciating the fact in front of her American friends that there is

hardly any country but the USA which welcomes the destitute of the world. She feels herself a misfit in

Pakistan, the country in which she once felt herself so befitting. She admits that she has become an alien

on her native land as she has been mentally detached from it.

Feroza also faces the pressures of her family to get married particularly by her mother and

grandmother because they witness some radical changes in her. She refuses their suggestion by declaring

that she has to do graduation. Her mother gets annoyed and asks her, “‘what is this graduate-shaduate

non-sense’” (ibid, 240) Feroza gets agitated on their insistence and urges her mother to let her complete

her studies and only then she will get married but the way she discusses the matter with her mother makes

Zareen apprehended. She tells her that nobody would respect her if she would not complete her education

and she would not be able to do job and experience its thrill. Zareen becomes more worried to notice her

tone and the selection of words. She allows her to complete her education but after a long argument.

While returning to the United States from Pakistan, she has been given a lot of gifts and money

from her relatives who bid her a traditional farewell. She feels quite moved to experience the warmth of

their love but despite this, she is quite eager and excited to go back to Denver to her friends. She counts

the money in her flight and becomes extremely happy to find out that they have given her around seven

hundred dollars. She plans to buy a decent second hand car with the money on getting back to America.

When she reaches there she is warmly welcomed by Gwen and Rhonda and they exclaim with joy that

they have lost the hope of her return as she extended her stay there. Feroza herself expresses her
excitement by saying again and again that she cannot believe that she is back. She quickly unpacks her

luggage and shows them the gifts she has brought for them from Pakistan. Later on, Shashi also meets her

with great excitement to see her back in university sharing his doubts that she would never come back as

her family would have married her to somebody as it usually happens with most of the girls from South

Asia.

Shashi tells her that his brother along with his wife have come to America for the sole purpose of

the childbirth to his sister-in-law. Through this incident, Sidhwa finds an opportunity to lash out at the

South Asian communities who want their children to have green cards at whatever cost. Having fewer

resources, they plan to cash the deliveries of their babies in countries like America. Shashi’s brother

comes with the same intension to get their baby delivered in America to get him American nationality

which would help them in future. This is the maximum they can do for their baby to provided with the

imagined resourcefulness. Shashi takes Feroza along with him to meet them. She likes to meet them

particularly Mala, Deepak’s wife. Mala’s health is not very good. She delivers a pre-mature baby girl

after a few days and gets admitted in the hospital for around one month. They are thoroughly shocked and

terrified when they receive a bill of fifteen thousand dollars. They try to explain their problem to the

hospital management but when they cannot get an affordable concession, Deepak leaves the baby with

them and goes back home. Mala’s condition becomes worse to know that he has left the baby in the

hospital. Shashi shares his problem with Feroza and her roommates Gwen and Rhonda. Rhonda comes to

their rescue by finding out some resources. She talks to the doctor to reduce the bill to one thousand

dollar. By narrating this incident Sidhwa tries to illustrate the difficulties faced by the couples who visit

the United States with such prospects. It is significant that Feroza’s white American friend rescues them.

A reader of the novel would ultimately deduce that the whites are more resourceful and ultimately helpful

in their capacity. The episode is narrated in a very hilarious manner where the Indian family is portrayed

very mean and destitute in American setting. This is one among many episodes which provides the writer

an opportunity to draw the South Asians’ portraits in a very despicable light.

 Feroza’s decision of buying a car leads her life to another very important phase. She renews her

driving license and starts browsing ads to buy a second hand car. Finally she plans to inspect a two year-

old Chevette stick shift. The man who is selling his car through this ad is David Press. She goes alone to

meet him on the given address. When she reaches there and faces him she becomes quite confused and

loses her confidence to see such a handsome man and that too in shorts and without shirt; “He looked

incredibly handsome to Feroza like a golden, languishing god.” (p. 254) Finding her getting embarrassed,

he quickly puts on his shirt and makes himself presentable. But Feroza gets so overwhelmed by his

personality that she fails to gather her confidence completely. He also appears a little shy but he starts

explaining the features of the car. When they go on the test drive, it becomes even more difficult for her

to drive properly. She becomes so much self-conscious that she fails to properly concentrate on her

driving. David offers to have a drink in some restaurant. While sitting there together, they become more

comfortable with each other. David begins to tell her the reasons for selling his car such as his financial

problems, unconscious of the fact that they were meeting for the first time. Both of them feel something

unusual within their hearts. His personality is so overwhelming for her that she compares him with

Jamshed Mehta who is the religious figure in their community with similar charm in his personality. To

see the beautiful eyes of David, she recalls the phrase of her grandmother Khutlibai that “one could not

face the power of his eyes.” (ibid, 248) Feeling very shy, she is unable to look up in his eyes feeling.

Both of them gather their confidence gradually and start feeling comfortable in each other’s

company. Talking to him, she begins to feel freer and lighter while telling him about her family

background and her past life. She suddenly feels as if she has taken a leap across some cultural barrier and

finding herself on the other side of it makes her realize that nothing has changed and everything is still the

same. She feels quite strange to see that she could ever trust a stranger so easily but all that happens in a

trance like situation and both of them flutter away in their emotions. She is unable to sort out how, when

and why her heart is won by David but she only knows that something has got changed deep within her

heart. She is also unsure of her feelings for him as whether they are temporary or have some depth but the
way she is feeling for him is never felt for anyone before. She buys the car from him but loses her heart in

the way. She also knows the fact that David has also felt the same for her. They share a lot with each

other just in one meeting and get quite intimate.

They begin meeting frequently and David starts visiting her apartment regularly. Both Gwen and Rhonda

also become quite familiar with David and they have become good friends. Feroza feels a new life in her

after meeting David and feels herself lighter than air all the time; free of worries and full of joy. She

experiences the happiness of love and being loved:

It was one thing to love. But to be loved by a man who embodied every physical

attribute of her wildest fantasies, with whom she could communicate even

without speech, who understood the sensitive nuances of her emotions that were

so like his own insecurities, was a kin to a transcendental, fairy-tale experience.

(ibid, 255)

Their relationship is strengthening with every passing moment and they look into each other’s

eyes so intensely that the blue and yellow colors of their irises merge into one and they start thinking that

nobody would ever have felt for each other the way they feel. They are so overwhelmed with the intensity

of their emotions that it becomes impossible for them to avoid their physical intimacy. Feroza is swept

away so much under the charm of her love that she cannot resist under the pressure of her previous

restrictions which she kept on her when she had feelings for Shashi while both of them appreciated the

reserve in the other, a definite sexual restraint. While in this case, both Feroza and David avoid being

naked in each other’s presence so openly. They dress up immediately after having sex. David sees her

naked just for brief moments while the image of her voluptuous nakedness is imprinted on his mind;

“Both were intrigued by the otherness of the other—the trepidation, the reticence imposed on them by

their differing cultures.” (ibid, 256)

 David comes from Hebrew family and Feroza meets his parents Adina and Abe Press who live in

Boulder near the residence of Jo’s parents. They welcome her but meet her with a definite reserve in their

attitudes. They are quite close to David and she can understand their love for David as he is their only

hope and happiness. She goes there with David on a Sabbath meal and notices the way of their worship

and finds in many ways similar to her own religion. Adina has also questioned her about her religion but

in a seemingly reserve manner. This is for the first time that she is confronted by the reality that David’s

religion is different from her. A lot of questions come in her mind about his parents that what impression

they would have got of her. She wants to share all her troubled thoughts with David but since they have

got so much tired, therefore, it is not an appropriate time for a serious talk like this.

They share their tastes of everything with each other exploring each other’s choices. David

introduces Feroza with the Western classical which enjoys a lot. She loves listening to Beethoven’s Fifth

and Ninth Symphonies with David feeling a new joy transcending in her soul and recalling all the places

she used to visit in Pakistan.

Feroza plans to spend her Christmas holidays of 1981 with her uncle and aunt, Manek and Aban,

in the outskirts of Houston. He has bought a house by getting loan from his office and the rest from

Aban’s money. In his casual manner he explains to Aban that in case of their divorce, she would get half

of the house according to American law. It disturbs her so much that she cries, prays and is unable sleep

that night. She can never even imagine of divorce as she has a very typical South Asian mindset that a girl

can only leave her husband’s house only after her death. She feels very strange and awkward to see how

easily Manek has said all this to her:

Such ill-omened words could not help but attract misfortune. Jinx their

marriage. If this was what being in America meant, Aban wanted to have

nothing to do with America. (ibid, 259)

 Aban is a typical Pakistani girl full of suspicions which have been deeply embedded in her mind.

She becomes extremely terrified to hear all this from her husband. Manek apologizes her for saying such

things and the matter is settled down by the time Feroza arrives at their home.

The first thing which Manek shows her after picking her from airport is his business card. She

finds nothing important to be shown like this in the beginning but suddenly she finds out that Manek has

changed his name from Manek to Mike. This change in name would facilitate him to pose himself as

American and get benefits. She reacts spontaneously and asks him the reason for changing his name. He

explains that it was a difficult name for his colleagues to pronounce so he decided to change it to Mike for

their convenience. This is a significant example to see that to what extent an immigrant compromises his

identity to get himself adjusted in a foreign land.

Feroza notices another change in Manek regarding his temperament. He has grown decently

mature and stable. He finds him a man who is on his way up the American ladder of success in the pursuit

of happiness. Aban has also a pleasant personality with a candid nature. Feroza develops a good

understanding with Aban. They usually go out very frequently for dinners and outing and enjoy a lot

together. Manek, now capable of affording an expensive dinner anywhere, takes them at the most costly

places. Aban used to speak so much as she feels herself very lonely after coming to America. She

complains that she never knew that she would become so lonely after coming to America:

‘He always says I talk non-stop. Who else can I talk to? The walls? I’m alone

all day. I didn’t know I was going to be so bored and lonely in America.’ (ibid,

262)

Feroza spends quite a memorable time with them but she has still not shared her interest in David.

She feels hesitant to share her interest for a Jewish boy and it is prohibited in her religion and she is aware

of the fact that her family is quite a conservative one. She shares it with them on the last day of her stay. It

is quite shocking news for both of them as they were not expecting it from her. They take some time to
absorb the shock and then Manek discusses the issue in a very rational manner that he can understand that

such things happen in one’s life living in a country like America. But he tells her that her strict and

conservative family would not understand her interest. He also suggests her that she should give some

time to this matter and her feelings for David so that she can batter understand the intensity of her

emotions and to go for a logical decision about her future. He could also understand that he is probably

the first man in her life and it can also be a kind of her infatuation for him. It is very important for her to

understand her own emotions. Feroza feels quite relieved on Manek’s behaviour and appreciates his

sobriety regarding this matter. He also assures her that he would be there for her. Manek appears to be so

considerate because of the fact he has been living in America with a changed mindset in comparison to

the rest of the family in Pakistan. Besides, his moderate reaction can also be interpreted as a wise action

since a harsh and stubborn attitude may cause problems for Feroza as it occurred when her mother

intervenes later in the story.

Feroza decides to shift in the apartment with David on his suggestion which he used to share with

the two other girls Shirley and Laura. Although she feels a little guilt in her heart for sharing an apartment

with David but her excitement overshadows her guilt soon and she shifts with him without any burden on

her conscious. It is quite an exciting for her to be with David all the time together. It influences the level

of their intimacy and augments the intensity of their feelings for each other manifolds. She can see him at

any time of the day or night whenever she wants to and this liberty gives her an immense pleasure. Once

she sneaks out from David’s room to her room with her shoes in her hand and feels very strange about her

wondering whether she is the same girl who was once lived in Lahore and was the student of the Convent

Sacred Heart.

She finally decides to inform her parents about her interest in David by writing a letter. She sends

David’s picture along with a letter to them. It is like a bomb blast on their heads and nerves of her parents.

Received by Zareen at home, the contents of the letter utterly shock them all; the photograph of David

makes her mother almost unconscious. In her panic she calls Cyrus who rushes home from office and
comes to know about Feroza’s letter. He feels equally shocked and alarmed on the situation. He has never

imagine that his daughter would give them such a big shock. David’s photograph in his shorts and long

hair do not leave a good impression on him. The first thing which comes to his mind is that he cannot

even afford a good nice pair of pants. The casual selection of words on their daughter’s part for breaking

such news also hurts them a lot. The news soon breaks out in the whole family and all decide that Zareen

should go there to save their child.

Sidhwa incorporates this matrimonial matter to bring to light the strict customs and norms of the

Parsee community that they are very rigid and inflexible and do not tolerate mixed marriages. They all

appear quite concerned on the situation and want to change Feroza’s mind at any cost. The issue is not as

trivial for them as it seems that Feroza wants to get married to an American. The grave part of their

concern is that a girl of their religious community was going to defile Parsee religious norms as a girl is

not supposed to marry outside her religion. Their number is already very less in strength and such mixed

marriages would even reduce their strength. They have made very strict laws to prohibit such marriages:

‘Mixed marriages concerned the entire Parsee community and effected its very

survival. God knew they were few enough. Only a hundred and twenty thousand

in the whole world…Parsee were a gravely engendered species.’ (ibid, 261)

With the passage of time, the mindset of the young generation is changing and they have started

thinking it quite normal to get married out of their community. There is a stark contrast between the

responses of the older generation and the young generation. They do not react so seriously on Feroza’s

decision the way their elders do. According to Sidhwa, this change is also stimulated by the movement of

the young generation to the New World that is flaring their thinking. The reaction of Bunny one of the

young cousins of Feroza is quite significant in this regard. She exclaims; “‘For God’s sake! You’re

carrying on as if Feroza’s dead! She’s only getting married, for God’s sake!’” (ibid, 268)
 Zareen, on the consent of the whole family, decides to go to America to handle the situation. She

is guided by the whole family that she has to change Feroza’s mind to save her from the cardinal sin she

is going to commit and to treat her with love so that she should not become rebellious. Cyrus has also

given her ten thousand dollars as bribe money to use it to distract David from Feroza. She is advised that

she should treat her very calmly. And, in case, it does not work, she should try ‘honey’ to solve the issue

means she should spend a lot of money.

Zareen arrives there within a few days after receiving Feroza’s letter. Feroza comes to receive her

with David and when she sees him she feels him quite different from the photograph because he is

dressed up in a decent manner with short hair wearing steel-rimmed glasses. He appears quite nervous to

meet her for the first time. Zareen greets him in a very calm manner and meets Feroza very warmly and

feels quite excited being in America. Feroza, in her excitement. whispers in her mother’s ear that he has

been dressed up like this for her and cut his hair on her demand. Zareen decides to postpone any thinking

about the matter for which she has come there and comments on Feroza’s complexion that she has grown

very dark and that her grandmother would not like her. She advises her to bleach her face before meeting

her next time. David in order to develop some frankness with her starts telling her about the surroundings

and the buildings present there. Zareen’s behavior with him is very calculated and reserve.

On reaching their apartment, she is shocked when it dawns upon her that Feroza lives with David

in the same apartment. But Feroza tries to make her relax by telling her that there are two other girls also

who share the same apartment with them. Zareen does not like the place from outside since in Lahore

there are very big houses with thick and huge walls. That apartment made of cardboard and wood, in

comparison, appears ridiculous and absurd; she, however, is impressed by the interior of the apartment

which is done lavishly. Feroza gets worried to know the remarks of her mother about David but she says

that we would discuss the matter tomorrow.

 They discuss the issue the very next day when Zareen gets freshened up after sleeping well.

Zareen tells her that there are some good proposals waiting for her in Pakistan. Feroza on the other hand

discusses about David’s family that she has met them and they have accepted her as a part of their family.

She tells her that they are not financially very strong and this gives Zareen an opening to object as she

says; “‘You’re too precious. We’re not going to throw you away on the first riff-raff that comes your

way.’” (ibid, 277)

Zareen feels the disappointment in her daughter’s eyes but she continues that whenever a

proposal comes, a proper investigation is conducted about the family and everything is considered before

taking any decision like the family background, the financial status of the family, their reputation, their

living standards, etc. She asks her what she knows about David’s family other than his parents. She

knows nothing about his family’s antecedents and this makes Feroza startled and Zareen explains that she

should know about his ancestry that his family should be ‘khandani’. On understanding her point Feroza

calls it pedigree instead of ancestry and tells her that such things are absurd in America and nobody cares

about them and people will laugh at you if you would inquire about their pedigrees. Zareen threatens her

that she would be thrown out of the community as this is strictly prohibited in the religion to marry like

this. She also quotes a few examples of the girls who married out of their religion and give details of the

way they were excluded from the community. She threatens her that she too would be thrown out of the

family and the community for her entire life.

Feroza tells her mother that she and David have planned a civil marriage in a Unitarian Church

where marriages for men and women from different religions are arranged. In this way, both of them have

to set aside their respective religions while marrying one another so that none’s religion may come in

one’s way. But Zareen rejects her logic by telling her that the priests would never accept their civil

marriage. She also tells her about the miserable condition of her father and the whole family that she had

never seen her father so grief-stricken and depressed. She calls her selfish for thinking just for herself and

not about her family which is involved in the matter. Zareen teases her saying that she is robbing her
parents and family’s happiness and their right to share her happiness by taking such a decision because

neither David’s nor her family would ever get mixed up with each other. Feroza tries to bridge the gap of

understanding between them by saying that things are quite different in America and she would feel and

understand this difference gradually. Zareen rejects her statement again by reminding her that this is not

her culture and she should act according to her own culture rather than adopting a foreign one:

‘And you’ll have to look at it in our way. It’s not your culture! You can’t just

toss your heritage away like that. It’s in your bones!’ (ibid, 279)

After a long argument Zareen feels a rebellion in her daughter’s eyes and she reminds herself the

advices of the family and changes her mood and cools down and starts talking to her with affection and

starts crying. Feroza is unable to bear to see her mother crying in front of her. She appears so helpless that

she gets confused and in a fix as she really loves David a lot. Zareen exhorts her daughter that love with

the opposite sex should be felt only after marriage. Therefore, she would be happy only after making her

family happy by marrying a right man with the consent of her family. Being exhausted from their

argument, Zareen finally declares that she has become an American brat under the influence of American

culture; “‘Look what it’s done to you…you’ve become an American brat.’” (ibid)

Zareen tries her best to make her daughter realize that she is going to make the biggest mistake of

her life and fears that she would not be able to face her family and friends. But Feroza, in a style of real

American Brat replies; “‘I don’t care a fuck what they think.’” (ibid, 279) Zareen is astonished to see her

daughter so open-mouthed and the crude violence of her language further shakes her terribly.

Noticing the stubbornness and loudness of Feroza’s behaviour, Zareen is quite perturbed and

disillusioned. She had never imagined that she would become such a spoiled young woman after coming

to America. She regrets a lot for her decision to send her there for her ‘grooming.’ She comes to know the

reality very late that her decision has further ruined her daughter’s morality from Pakistani Parsee
standards rather than doing any good to her. Their argument has made both of them quite frightened of

each other. They decide to give some space to each other.

Feroza and David plan to take Zareen on some excursion. Feroza tells her that David has a good

road sense and Zareen likes the idea and they go out. On their way, she tells her mother about David that

he is financially independent. Even being a student, he earns by himself and does not burden his parents.

Zareen appreciates his approach by saying that this would make him independent. Zareen also appreciates

David graciously and feels good for him which makes Feroza very happy. But, a little later, she thinks if

she believes in her daughter’s opinion, “David had the brains of a genius, the temperament of a saint.”

(ibid, 281)

Zareen faces some problem in the time adjustment and is unable to sleep so early. Although gone

to bed, she remains awake thinking about her husband and the life in Pakistan. She misses the mosque

stereos which used to disturb her a lot while she had been there and the insufferable rackets of rickshaws.

The voices of her family rustle in her ears, “Be brave. Be firm. We must not lose our child.” (ibid, 282)

After spending some time with David, Zareen finds out that he is not a bad choice and he

possesses all the good qualities that the community could ever have wished to for in her son-in-law. The

more she spends time with him, the more she appreciates his goodness but even then she has a strong

belief in her heart that he must be having some hidden wickedness within his heart which would be

troublesome for her family.

She goes on outing with them on weekend and feels the thrill that after all she is in America and

she should enjoy every moment of her stay despite all the tensions. David wants to pay the bill being at a

restaurant but Zareen seeing the bill which is quite an impressive one declares that when she is with them

she would pay the bills being the eldest of all. She enjoys a lot visiting so many places and tasting so

many different dishes. David gathers his confidence gradually after spending some time with her and he
tries to be a very good guide by telling her all the details of the places they have been visiting. His

knowledge of the places impresses Zareen a lot.

Along with outing Zareen starts shopping and she gets so much excited to be at the shopping

malls in Denver that she spends the whole day there. Feroza drops her there every day and picks her up on

her way back from her university. She has been shopping in a way as if she would buy everything. She

has also been using the ‘bribe’ money given by Cyrus. She is extremely excited to be there in the New

World enjoying its beauties. After roaming a lot, she feels as if she has just touched the tip of the iceberg

of consumer goods. She feels so overwhelmed with the charms of this New World that she has almost

forgotten the purpose of coming there. David’s presence around her full of obedience and alertness to

please her makes her quite dependent on his opinions that she could not think anything against him. She

starts feeling so close to him that many times she wishes if he would have been a Parsee or her family’s

religion would have permitted the selective conversion to their faith. She also feels quite agitated of the

fact that the Parsee religion permits men to get married to a non-Parsee woman but it does not give any

such right to a woman. By incorporating Zareen’s temporary infatuation with David, Sidhwa justifies

Feroza’s love for David. The author want to point out that it is only the pressure of family, community,

culture and Parsee religious norms which insist Feroza not to marry with David.

David and Feroza have been trying their best to impress Zareen. David follows Feroza’s

instructions by keeping him timid and neatly dressed even avoiding smoking in front of her and they are

extremely careful not to give her even the slightest hint of their physical intimacy. Zareen also develops a

good understanding with Shirley and Laura. Zareen meets David’s and Feroza’s friends who are

Unitarians and she finds them quite reasonable.

In the third week of her stay in America, Zareen receives a mail from Pakistan including letters

from the family reminding her about her purpose along with two pamphlets of ‘WARNING’ and

‘NOTICE’. One is from the Athornan Mandal, which is the Parsee priests’ association in Bombay and the
other is from Bombay Zoroastrian Jashan Committee. Zareen starts trembling after reading them all and a

terrible fear for her daughter grips her heart. It revives her purpose of coming to the US and she becomes

quite disturbed and depressed knowing that she has to do something to save her daughter.

She believes in David’s goodness but she knows that he would ruin her daughter’s life by drifting

her away from her family and religion. He would deprive her daughter of her heritage, her faith and her

community. She would be considered as an adulterous and her children would be considered illegitimate.

All these fears regarding her daughter’s future change her opinion about David.

Feroza and David eventually feel the change in her mood and attitude. The fragility of their

happiness makes them feel depressed. Zareen calls Manek out of her frustration but his calm behaviour

further increases her frustration. Manek being rational enough tells her that Feroza is a mature girl and if

she wants to get married to this guy, nobody can stop her as she has spent four years in America and she

is free to take her decisions. He suggests that it would be the best thing to accept her decision as David

seems a reasonable man.

Zareen in her frustration calls David who has been avoiding her after understanding her mood.

Shoving his legs into long pants, he comes in quickly and sits in the kitchen. Zareen argues with him in

her harsh mood and asks him that whether he really wants to get married to Feroza or not. David admits

that they want to get married but Zareen says that he should only talk about himself. She asks him if he

knows that he is demanding such a big sacrifice from her daughter. David denies if he is asking for any

sacrifice from her. According to him, she is an adult and can take her decisions independently. Zareen

rejects his argument by saying that both of them are not mature and rather selfish enough to make so

many people suffer to fulfil their desires. She tells him that she can only see misery in Feroza’s future

with him. David feels quite helpless to handle this hedonistic lady and asks her to discuss the issue later

on and goes out. Feroza overhears their conversation while returning home and she has a hotly talks with

her mother on this issue. Zareen criticizes her for becoming so selfish and senseless unable to differentiate
between right and wrong. Feroza becomes so much irritated that she asks her mother not worry about her

virginity as she is the only twenty year-old virgin in the whole America. But, Zareen refuses to accept this

as she has not found her in bed at three o’clock at night a few days back. Feroza asks her to believe in

whatever she wants to. If she does not trust her and also asks her to examine her if she wants to for her

satisfaction.

Feroza leaves her in the house without talking to her after their argument and does not come

home for the whole day and stays with a friend for the night too. Zareen starts feeling shattered and lonely

without her. It shakes her so badly that she goes on the verge of accepting her decision. Feroza comes

back the next evening with a very fresh mood and Zareen decides to cook spicy pora (a South Asian dish)

for her. She tells her daughter that she has decided to accept their decision of getting married but she has

one request that they should get married in Pakistan. Feroza gets so much excited to know about her

mother’s decision but she feels reluctant to accept her demand of arranging marriage in Pakistan full of

Parsee rituals. She tells her that David feels very frightened of rituals and ceremonies as he is a very

private sort of person. Feroza suggests that she had better talked with David.

David comes there in a very shabby outlook looking very tired and grim. Zareen feels that he

quite resembles with the photograph shared by Feroza through letter. She is shocked to see him like this

while he is smelly with the smell of beer. Zareen shares her decision with him by expressing her desire

that they should get married in Pakistan. She informs him that her family would love to invite his whole

family there and would celebrate their happiness according to their norms and traditions. She could see

the expression of frustration on David’s face. She starts elaborating even more about her plans for their

marriage which is startling and confusing for him. Getting strength from his condition and reaction,

Zareen keeps on talking about their traditions ignoring even the signals given by Feroza. She shocks him

by informing him that even in the face of the unwillingness of his parents, they would like to follow all

the Parsee traditions.

 In moments of his deep frustration, David exclaims that his parents too are not happy with this

marriage. He further discloses that it is his luck that they are Reform Jews otherwise they would have

disowned him by declaring him as dead. Although his family also follows its norms and traditions, yet

they will miss them all due to the way he and Feroza have decided to get married. He tells Zareen in his

anger that he belongs to an old tradition too and it is not so easy for him as well to leave this all. He reacts

according to her expectations as she wants to make him conscious of the conflicts which exist between

their religions. She succeeds in evoking his hidden and repressed consciousness for his rituals. Zareen

also tells him that Feroza’s grandmother is the president of their Anjuman, which David could not

understand and Feroza in her precision tells him that she is kind of their tribal chief. Zareen feels irritated

on her daughter’s funny explanation of the word but when she notices David’s queer reaction, she

remains silent and kind of satisfied for Feroza’s mistake. He gets terrified to know about it because he

just know that tribal people are quite savages, inhibit jungles and mountains. Zareen keeps on explaining

the details of their rituals and Feroza clearly sees the bewilderment in his eyes.

Zareen refers towards Shirley and Laura as an example for Feroza living alone without any

boyfriend but to her utter shock, Feroza tells her that they do not need boyfriends as they are lesbians.

Zareen is unable to bear such a big shock and feels very uncomfortable. Feroza further explains that some

women just prefer women for themselves who can satisfy their sexual desires. She further tells her mother

that American boys are used to change their girlfriends every month unlike her David who is consistent

for his interest in her. Zareen feels quite shocked to see her daughter so much confident to share such

facts so openly to her. It leads her to more depression that her daughter lives with her boyfriend and two

lesbians. This information is so depressing and queer for her that she would never be able to with her

husband:

How could she face the disgrace of nurturing a brat who looked her in the eye

and brazenly talked about bodily juices? She tried not to show how hurt she

was. (ibid, 300)

 Feroza feels her helplessness regarding her mother’s behavior towards David and she can sense

that her mother has spoiled their happiness by mentioning diamond saris and their superior Parsee ways.

She is deeply hurt to see everything ruined right in front of her eyes. She sits alone in the kitchen thinking

about her ruined happiness in the hands of her own mother feeling very hurt and woebegone.

When only a few days are left for Zareen’s departure, David starts calling Feroza ‘ZAP’ which

means Zoroastrian American Princess which is innovative spin off on JAP, i.e., Jewish American

Princess. But then suddenly David begins to call her Apple of Mommy’s eye which makes Feroza very

much annoyed. In this way, their relationship starts cracking which becomes visible in the dim yellow

luster of her eyes. Zareen, finding Feroza so much disturbed, starts burning jalapeno pepper on fire and

moves them around her head. Feroza gets awfully annoyed on her act but Zareen keeps on moving it

around her. Feroza expresses her disappointment expressing her disbelief that her mother still believes in

such things. Zareen ignoring her protests keeps on uttering hodgepodge of incantations.

‘May the mischief of malign and envious eyes leave you, may the evil in my

loving eye leave you, may any magic and ill will across the seven seas be

banished, may Ahura Mazda’s protection and blessings guard you.’ (ibid,

303)

David becomes astonished to see Zarren doing things like this. He being unable to understand her

act asks her whether she is a witch or something similar. Annoyed on his comment, Zareen behaves very

sternly and asks him to get lost. Feroza and David go to see off her at the airport and when Zareen looks

at them she finds out David in his genuine casual style appearance demonstrating his state of mind very

clearly. Feroza stands beside him looking pale, disappointed and disillusioned truly representing her

pathetic state of mind and broken heart. Zareen, unable to bear the pain of her daughter, turns away

quickly and leaves them shattered and disoriented.

 During the flight to Pakistan, Zareen reads the warning notice which clearly declares that a girl

who marries outside her faith would be disowned by the community and would be considered an

adulterous and her child an illegitimate. Zareen feels very hurt as well for hurting her daughter so much

and she considers these warnings very harsh and rigid based on mindless current fundamentalism which

has been prevailing in the whole world like plague sparing not a single religion in the world. Knowing all

these facts she cannot do anything for her daughter other than saving her from making such a blunder.

She is quite hopeful that her daughter would survive from this ordeal and would find her way in these

dark times of her life. She considers that it is her daughter’s destiny and she has to suffer and bear the

pain as she cannot do much to save her from this pain. Her family can protect her from every other

misfortune but not from her destiny. She is quite optimistic as she knows her daughter who can fight for

herself and such ordeals of her life.

There is a stark contrast in Zareen’s character in the beginning of the novel and at the end of the

story. In the beginning, she seems an open-minded and least religious lady annoyed by the Muslim

religious radicalism propagated under and patronage of Zia regime. On the other hand, during her three-

week stay in the United States she seems very religious, narrow minded and totally disapproving the

freedoms offered to her daughter by the American society. After challenged by the openness of American

society, in a state of helplessness, she invokes the fundamentals of her religion, Zoroastrianism. This is

how, the identity of Zareen’s character is multiple in the novelistic plot.

David leaves Denver at the end of the term after completing his degree. He quits the relationship

with Feroza by understanding the fact that each of them comes from a different world and would never be

able live together. He moves to California. Feroza comes back to the same place to live with Rhonda and

Gwen. It is the toughest time Feroza has to go through. She suffers a lot and bears the pain of her breakup

with David from the core of her heart due to the fact that he was the first man she loved for the first time

in his life. She feels badly hurt and emotionally disturbed. Being quite young, sensitive and away from

her family, she faces a great difficulty in collecting her shattered self. She feels David’s presence
everywhere around in form of illusions making her even more depressed. She is unable to believe that all

this would have ended so quickly in such a bizarre way. She becomes insensitive to everything around her

which once she loved so dearly.

Feroza’s friends play an important role in revitalize and revive her interest in the normal life.

They understand her pain and share it with her to normalize day-to-day things. Aban and Manek have

their fair share of contribution in this. They console her through their phone calls. David also calls her

occasionally from California. Shashi consoles her the most and tries his best to make her capable of

facing the hard realities of her life exhorting her not to consider it the end of life and that she would soon

be able to overcome this pain. He sings a few lines from the Urdu ghazal sung by Iqbal Bano ‘Ulfat Kee

Naee Manzil Ko Chalay’. Feroza appreciates him by saying Wah-wah wah-wah and enjoys his

expressions a lot and nostalgically starts missing the land of the poets and ghazals, her friends from

Convent of the Sacred Heart.

She knows very well that a lot of time has passed and that she has felt the change in everything

including herself during her last visit to Lahore. She is also conscious of the fact that the sense of

displacement and alienation would have been much stronger in America but she also knows that it would

be easier for her to stay in America where a lot of newcomers like her come and get adjusted. Another

important factor is that she, like Manek, has got used to the life of the First World full of freedoms,

resourcefulness and facilities. She is also aware of the disturbed socio-political condition of Pakistan. She

has also become accustomed to an independent life in America which she does not want to sacrifice at

any cost. Therefore, she decides to stay in America for her future.

After having her own experiences she starts fully agreeing with Manek’s experienced opinions.

She now feels that he rightly used to advise her that “time is money.” She also thinks that the intact

privacy in the First World is the greatest blessings where no one can interfere in one’s personal life unlike

what happens in the Third World. She has come to realize that the availability of the facilities of servants
in Pakistan is also a kind of a great responsibility. It is far better to have the facilities of machines to

replace the servants instead. It makes life easier and more comfortable. This feeling resembles with that of

Ashima who feels it very difficult to do different things alone but gets accustomed to do all kind of

domestic tasks with the help of machines later on.

She is also aware of the fact that she is not alone in her desire to have privacy and facilities in her

life; rather around half of the world is striving for the same. A great thirst for knowledge is ignites in her

heart. She knows that the facilities she can avail to acquire good education and opportunities for future

can never be accessible in Pakistan. She does not want to lose this chance and spoil her future. Unsatisfied

with her degree in Hotel Management, she decides to choose Anthropology out of many subjects for a

degree from the University of Arizona. She plans to manage her life according to her own desires. During

these days, Gwen leaves their place to go and live somewhere else. All her friends get worried for her and

later on find out that she is killed probably by WASP, a mysterious criminal.

Manek and Aban have been insisting her to visit them as she has not gone to see them on their

first baby’s birth and now she is again pregnant with another time. Aban complains Feroza that nobody

from Pakistan visited her on Dilshad’s birth from Pakistan and not even her. She really feels for her and

decides to visit and live with them for a few days. She comes to know about another bitter reality of her

life to see the relationship between Aban and Manek. They get so much changed that she cannot believe

that they are the same old couple. They appear tired of their tough routine and responsibilities. She finds a

lot of changes in Aban’s appearance and behavior. Her beautiful voice has now acquired a harsh tone.

Manek seems quite frustrated. They used to quarrel frequently. She is witnesses entirely the other side of

the picture.

The feelings which Aban shares with her are quite symbolic which makes the readers realize that

it is an intentional attempt on writer’s part to highlight such bitter realities which otherwise appear so

fascinating. She tells her that their married life has never been the same since the birth of their first baby.
She shares her feelings with Feroza that coming to America was such a big fascination for her that she

used to consider herself like a princess whose prince charming would take her to the fantasy world of her

dreams. She tells her that everybody in Pakistan considers her very lucky but she has become tired of

living this life. Sidhwa has tried to reveal the miseries of the immigrants living in America. Aban says

that nobody is there to take care of her daughter. She says that she misses her friends and family so much

that she strongly wishes never to come back again. But Manek tells her that once she goes back she would

miss the comforts of life that the USA offers and would not be able to live longer in Pakistan.

In this way, like Lahiri, Sidhwa also highlights the dilemma of some of the second-generation

nostalgic immigrants who become rolling stones between the two countries unable to decide which one to

choose to live permanently. Both Aban and Manek argue over the issue of living in America or in

Pakistan. Aban tells him that she wants everything in Pakistan and Manek tells her that she would not be

able to have such facilities in Pakistan. He asks her if she would be able to wash dishes and diapers of her

daughter all the time. To it, she answers that she would wash the dishes and the diapers of the whole

world to be with her family and friends. Aban starts growing so miserable that the land of her dreams

seems to be turning into a kind of the land of nightmares.

Feroza has become very much disillusioned to see the miserable state of their relationship. She

wonders if this is the result of parenthood, she would not at all be prepared to bear the burden of such

arduous responsibilities. She thinks if had got married to David, would they also have been arguing in a

similar way. She feels quite frightened to see the married life of her uncle. She also feels quite relieved

that being in the United States, she has the freedom to think so freely like this, i.e., about her future. Had

she been in Pakistan, she would not have been able to think like this because of different pressures, social,

familiar, etc.

She returns from there with a change in her mindset. She spends some time in doing worship,

reading holy books and then laying calmly in her bed thinking about her future. She has realized the fact
that David would never come back in her life and there would be a different man with whom she would

have to spend her life. She decides never to let anyone interfere in her life decisions irrespective of

whoever he is. She even does not care as to what would be the faith of that man as for her all human

beings are equal with no distinction as they are all the children of Adam and Eve and nobody can even

snatch her religion from her. She suddenly recalls the image of Father Fibs whom she met in Manek’s

attic. She recalls his words with accuracy even after four years have gone by. She wonders whether she

has developed her wings as he mentioned in his predictions for her. She still feels afraid and worried for

her future that whether she would be able to fly again in her life after falling down. Her break with David

still hurts her a lot and she is not sure whether she would be able to make herself stronger enough to

spend her life independently without any pain.

Sidhwa ends up the novel open-ended leaving so many questions in the minds of the readers. The

uncertainty Feroza’s mind is also very symbolic which reflects the minds of so many South Asian

immigrants like her living with their own uncertainties with so many doubts and fears on a foreign land.

The novel gives different perspectives of different people on the psychological turmoil of the immigrants.

Feroza’s life is full of ambiguities and challenges she faces in the process of her up-rootedness. She goes

through a lot of changes during her stay in America and she appears to be an entirely new and different

being after spending only four years on a foreign land. Through her characters, Sidhwa has tried to show

the problems faced by the youngsters in America being alone and away from their families. It can also

serve as a criticism on the parents like Zareen and Cyrus who leave their children on their own to make

them better human beings from their own standards. It also slightly suggests that the responsibility of the

parents to be with them and spend proper time with them rather than sending them on a foreign land on

their own. If Feroza has turned out to be an American Brat, as her mother considers, this is not at all her

fault and it is quite natural on her part to act and behave the way she does. It has brought forward various

aspects of American life through the lives of all the characters in the novel. Sidhwa has not only

highlighted the miseries of a Pakistani Parsee young woman but she has also pointed out towards the
miseries of married couples. South Asians, who consider the United States the land of their dreams, on

facing the reality, become completely disillusioned like Aban who comes there with a lot of dreams and

fantasies.

It seems that Sidhwa has written this novel to demonstrate the miseries of the South Asian

immigrants in her mind. It is not an easy job to become a part of a foreign land, leaving behind everything

like culture, identity and memory and compromising on everything. Every immigrant has to pay a heavy

price for his or her decision of living abroad. They even compromise their identities in the course of time

making them extremely vulnerable to inevitable realities. This compromise leads them to develop

different, varied and multiple identities in various situations which are internalized by them to become a

permanent feature of their lives.

6.3 Sociolinguistic Analysis

The analysis of the portrayal of multiple identities of immigrant characters and how they are maintained

and negotiated in the course of the novel is self evident as different events in the novel unfold and as

described above using the sociolinguistic tools of tellability and literary close-reading. However, this

analysis is substantiated by separating different languages as used by various characters in the novel.

Mainly the novel’s matrix is English, however, there are several words and expressions which pertain to

Gujrati, Punjabi and Urdu and variously used by the two major characters, Feroza and Manek. The data

are classified, separated and then represented according to the methodology discussed in Chapter 2

(methodology) which has brings forth the following results. Using the tools of 3.3 methodology, the data

is represented in tabulated as well as graphic form below. There are a lot of words, sentences and

expression used by Feroza in her first phase which point out towards her linguistic identity. The data is

carefully classified into three phases (much the same way as that of Émigré Journeys). Each phase covers

around one-third text of the novel. The first phase is defined by three factors, namely, Feroza’s life in

Pakistan where she has been interacting with her Pakistani, Parsee Punjabi parents, friends and relatives

who also speak Gujrati, Urdu and Punjabi and follow the respective cultural ways. Secondly, in this
phase, she is totally alien to American education, culture, life, slang and the ways of behaviour. Thirdly,

this phase is marked by her excessive code-switching and concepts and phrases related to her native

culture. In other words, the data demonstrates that the more a character uses the language of his/her origin

(referred to as IndE in data collection), the more are the chances of his/her being a follower of his/her

original (South-Asian) culture. On the other hand, if a character is gradually moving away from his/her

identity, it is demonstrated through the decreasing usage of his/her language of origin.

Character PhaseI Phase Phase

(five II (two II (two
months) years) years)
145 70 100
pages pages pages
Feroza 10% 6% 4%
Manek 15% 13% 0%

TABLE 6.1: The exact percentage of the usage of IndE features in three different phases of the
major characters’ dialogues.

The second phase is marked by her admission in an American college in Idaho, her introduction

to her first American friend Jo who teaches her American ways of life, dressing, mixing with boys,

drinking alcoholic drinks, etc. In this phase, Feroza hardly uses any native words or expressions. Rather

she learns to fluently speak American slang. This phase instils in her a great confidence to enjoy the

freedom of living in the USA quite unlike her life in Pakistan.

The third phase is a complete departure from her native culture, language, food and her parents’

expectations of a life that they think their daughter must live. Therefore, it is also reflected in her

language shift representing usage of only four percent of IndE in her speech. To buttress this point-of-

view through 3.4, she not only spends nights (rather two whole years) with her boyfriend at his apartment

and loses her virginity but also she uses an insolent language with her mother and refuses to go back to

Pakistan. In other words, she completely disregards the life of a girl in Pakistan.
 In case of Manek, the sociolinguistic data does not show much different in both the phases

although he has visited Pakistan also in the second phase. In the third phase, the data regarding him does

not reflect any use of language of his origin. This is due to the fact that he speaks only a couple of

dialogues and Feroza too uses mostly American English in her utterances. In this dialogic situation, if his

dialogue data reflects zero percentage, it would be mistakable to be interpreted to state that his language

identity is completely compromised and negotiated. In many ways, he seems to be totally americanized.

For example, he calls his niece a “Third-World Paki”, “Smelly” and “Backward” several times in the first

phase. He also excessively praises the American lifestyle when he visits Pakistan in the second phase. He

changes his name from Manek to Mike and does not mind his niece’s affair with a White American Jew

in the third phase. But, on the other hand, he marries a Pakistani Parsee girl from Karachi who becomes

his (house)wife; he wants to raise a Pakistan-styled family; he lives in an American city where several

Parsees also reside. In this way, he maintains multiple identities but with almost no psychological,

physical or emotional conflict. He is a practical American of Pakistani origin whose only goal is to find

ways to progress and prosper in the American society.

16%

14%

12%

10%
Phase I
8%
Phase II

6% Phase III

4%

2%

0%
Feroza Manek
FIGURE 6.1: Percentage (the left bar showing 0-16) of the seventeen IndE features for two characters in
An American Brat grouped by classifying the time of the novel in three phases as they occur in the central
character, Feroza’s life.

6.4 The Analysis of Pakistani-American Characters

6.4.1 FEROZA

Looking at Feroza’s character through the lens of 3.2, we learn from the text of An American Brat that she

is born in Lahore in Pakistan in Nov 1961 to her Parsee parents, Cyrus and Zareen. She is introduced in

the novel while she is sixteen years old and about to appear in her matriculation exams as her mother says

while talking to her husband; “I think...she’ll be taking her metric exams in a few days.” (ibid, 14) Until

now, she has studied with mostly Muslim Punjabi girls at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a school that

caters to the educational needs of the higher middle class. After twenty years of the publication of this

novel, Convent schools in Pakistan even today enrol the students mostly from higher middle class.

Several other examples also illustrate that she belongs to an affluent family. For example, most of

Feroza’s friends join Lahore’s elite educational institution, Kinnaird College when they complete their

secondary school studies; her family has got a car and telephone connection in 1970s and attends parties

at Lahore Club; her uncle Manek studies in the USA through family finance; Feroza goes to the USA on a

visit visa just for exposure and later on, her mother also visits the USA where during shopping she spends

thousands of dollars (twelve thousand and five hundred to be exact).

In this way, Feroza is from the most affluent family than all the other characters of the two

immigrant fictions discussed in Chapter 4 and 5. Parveen is the daughter of a lower middle class, parents,

who is born in Pakistan and migrates to England at an age of five when his father gets the status of legal

worker in Britain. In comparison with Gogol too, her parents are more affluent than his. Gogol’s dilemma

of his namesake emerges due to the fact that his grandparents do not have a phone at their home in

Calcutta when his father wants to name him in consultation with his parents in India as per Bengali
tradition. The letter he posts does not reach them too. Gogol is born a decade earlier than Feroza’s arrival

in the USA.

Therefore, her quick assimilation in American culture must also be seen due to her economic

status as the affluent, educated and coming from religiously moderate class, as her parents are from,

which is considered a little closer to the Western culture. We come to know about Cyrus who remains

worried about her daughter since she “seemed, somehow, more sexually ripe” because of the onslaught of

American and British movies on Pakistani television. (ibid, 17) The readers become cognizant of the fact

that she is a regular cinemagoer in 1970s Pakistan. Except for Manek, politically, she and her family are

staunch supporters of Pakistan’s only liberal socialist Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who is later

hanged to death by the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq through a controversial court trial.

Although Feroza starts liking the American society and culture, yet, she does not accept them as it

is. She rather very critically observes the richness, prosperity, progress and harmony which is earned by

the USA, which is “strangely paradoxical nation that dealt in “death”, that sold the world’s most lethal

weapons to impoverished countries.” (ibid, 313) Sidhwa also puts her in contrast with the White

American girl, Jo who takes all news broadcast on TV and radio as gospel. On the other hand, Feroza sees

all such news with a grain of salt and brings it into the notice of Jo that the news by American TV, radio

and press about Pakistan are biased and lopsided. Feroza has learned to question news and opinions from

her relatives, friends, servants and parents.

Feroza moves to the United States when she is only sixteen on her parents’ wish as they want her

to be transformed into a ‘civilized’ and mature girl from an ‘uncivilized’ Parsee girl. She has spent her

growing years in her parents’ home in Lahore. In the beginning of the story, her mother seems very

concerned about her ‘backward’ and conservative attitude owing to her inclination towards Muslim girls

and their attitudes towards the dress code. The story begins with her mother’s complaint; “She is

becoming more and more backward.” (ibid, 9) Showing some skin, her mother’s half-sleeve sari is not

welcomed by her daughter when the former visits her school; “Mummy, please don’t come to school

dressed like that...” To it, her mother responds, “Look we’re Parsee, everybody knows we dress
differently.” (ibid, 10) This episode leads her mother to conclude that her daughter is getting influenced

by the more fundamental Muslim culture in the school than her parents’ moderate Parsee culture. On the

other hand, her father, who thinks differently than his wife, tries to justify her daughter’s dress code by

commenting about Feroza’s upbringing; “She probably feels she has to conform, be like her Muslim

friends. There are hardly any Parsee girls her age. She wants you to be like her friends’ mothers.” (ibid,

12)

Coupled by the context of her living environment and upbringing, the above unique aspects about

her character not only distinguish her from the protagonists from other two novels under study but also

serve as motives to send her to the United States on a visit visa of two months for exposure to American

culture. While in Lahore before moving to the United States, she participates in Muslim festivities in

Lahore. For example, she visits a Muslim saint’s shrine in Lahore with her mother. It further throws some

light on her personality and her family’s moderate religiosity and pluralistic attitude towards other

religions. They, however, do not approve of the intrusive influence of any other religion or ideology on

her daughter or their lives.

In the United States, she does not much miss the life of Pakistan or her friends during her stay

except after her relationship with her boyfriend breaks down when she has lived in the USA for around

four years. She develops good friendship with a semi co-ethnic friend, Shashi, an Indian Hindu young

man from New Delhi after two years of her stay in the United States. She associates with him and shares a

similar culture in many ways. At the end of the novel, he is the one who helps her rescue from the

emotional shock after her separation from her lover, David. Although she does not associate herself much

with any of the co-ethnics, however, she is introduced to some other South Asians by Shashi.

In the first two months of her stay, she interacts only with Manek and his co-ethnic friends. The

next two years with Jo, she does not have any interaction with her co-ethnics except occasional phone

conversations with Manek. In her second and third year in Denver University, she lives with a black and a

white roommate and also has a close interaction and a mild love affair with Shashi, an Indian from New

Delhi. In the fourth year, she goes to live with her white American Jewish American boyfriend. At the
end of the novel, she returns to Shashi and stays shortly with Manek and his family. Therefore, she has

had infrequent interactions with her co-ethnics.

With Manek

During the first two years of her four years stay in the United States, her maternal uncle, Manek

and her White American female friend, Jo, serve as the main sources who prepare her for entering the

new world of the United States. Otherwise, she has been very shy and unable to mix with the Americans

on her own; “...it was as if her combat with Manek and his efforts to instruct her, her year Twin Falls, and

her exposure to Jo, were a preparation for the way her new life was unfolding. Otherwise, she would have

been too shy to embrace the new encounters, too timid to delve into unexplored ideas or grasp the

opportunities suddenly falling about her like gifts from the sky.” (ibid, 215) In the third year, while she

experiences the life of United States independently at Denver University, Shashi becomes the source of

her introduction “to his spiralling circle of Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Tibetans, Pakistanis, Indians,

Middle Eastern, Black and White friends.” (ibid, 214)

Although Feroza does not have any interaction with neighbours as such, however, she has had

interaction with her maternal uncle, Manek with whom she lives first two months of her stay in the USA.

She is once described in the beginning with her uncle wearing Shalwar Kameez. When she goes to get

admission in Idaho College, the female admission officer “looked admiringly at Feroza’s embroidered

shirt and came round her desk to examine it. “Now isn’t that pretty?”” (ibid, 146) Although the above

incidents show no impact of American culture on her identity, however, her uncle encourages her to use

deodorant and wear jeans which she does while touring different places of New York.

She is introduced with the American fast food by Manek as soon as she arrives in the United

States; “After a leisurely hamburger lunch at McDonalds, which left Feroza struck with wonder at the

quick service and the quantities of fries, ketchup and the ice in the coke.” (ibid, 72) In this way, she is

introduced with the American fast food. She keeps on eating such food delightfully throughout her first

two months in the USA.

Feroza relishes in American food such as “can of cocktail sausages, baked beans or sardines,

sprinkled them with lemon juice and red pepper, and, to prolong the delight, ate them in tiny nibbles. For

dessert, she licked spoonfuls of condensed milk – and a can of peaches.” (ibid, 112) She is not at all rigid
in her eating habits. She eagerly accepts experimenting to eat American food. She, however, disapproves

eating South Asian (Pakistani) food continuously. For example, when her uncle tries to give her a treat,

she responds as “not if we are going to live on ‘daal’ and rice for the next two weeks.” (p. 142) She

appears ambivalent towards food throughout the novel; “Manek observed Feroza licking the rice off her

fingers in an Indian restaurant. He looked at her until she became aware of his gaze. “You’ve got to stop

eating with your fingers – it makes them sick.”” (ibid, 145)

Manek, coping with the expectations of her family, sends her to Idaho for her studies where “it

banned prostitution and discouraged discos and all forms of provocative dancing. Caffeine even in its

most innocuous form like tea or coffee, was not served in most restaurants...He was sure he was close to

the mark. His letter would go a long way to assuage family fears and phobias.” He also assures them that

“a community that forbade even coffee was not likely to permit promiscuous sex. Manek concluded the

letter by reiterating that Twin Fall was a small, safe, conservative town...the letter had a soothing effect”

on her parents and they allow her to extend her stay in the USA. (ibid, 139)

During the two months, she spends with Manek, she is only introduced to the American food,

American metropolitan life and instructed by him to improve her mannerism, her eating style, her being

too noisy, interrupting, quarrelsome, her desi smell and staring at strangers. There is nothing that may be

termed as a remarkable change in her way of life, beliefs, values, habits or her interests. Therefore, this

time serves only as a means of basic information about the USA, entertainment of roaming about and

dining at American restaurants.

With Jo

When she gets admission in Southern Idaho College in Twin Falls, she lives for around one year

and a half with her White American friend Jo. In the third month of her stay, she once faces ethnic and

racial discrimination by a saleswoman at Walmart due to her Pakistani dress, appearance and her speaking

style. Jo makes her realize “you don’t have to always tell the truth, y’ know!” and “you can’t talk like

that. They’ll stomp all over you.” (ibid, 150-51) In her early days during her stay with Jo, she has been

wearing Pakistani dress Shalwar Kameez and jingling bangles; “On such occasions, Feroza wore her
loose Pakistani garments and jingling bangles and played her part by distracting the saleswomen with her

exotic finery and exhaustive inquiries. She also carried a large sling bag, its dimensions made in

conspicuous by the drape of her embroidered shawl.” (ibid, 157) While she lives with Jo in private

lodging, her living style and the household articles depict her as a peculiarly Pakistani girl; “Feroza

brought out the small onyx tortoises and elephants, brass knickknacks, and framed family photographs

Zarin had put into her suitcase...Bhutto’s poster continued to enjoy pride of place in her bedroom.” (ibid,

157-58) At this stage, she is close to her parents and South Asian lifestyle since she wears Shalwar

Kameez and cooks desi (South Asian) food. She does not wear shorts or skirt despite Jo’s efforts to make

her show her legs.

When Feroza and Jo move to a private lodging, Manek comes to help them. “He crammed the

kitchen shelves with Indian spices, rice and lentils.” (ibid, 156) The food is mostly cooked by her

American friend Jo as she is expert in doing so since her father has a restaurant in Colorado. Feroza keeps

on trying on the Pakistani Parsee recipes through the recipe book provided to her by her mother until she

becomes expert in them. She, however, has to start using less red pepper when her roommate screamed

due to them while eating Pakistani food.

When Jo asks her to wear shorts, Feroza shies away giving Pakistani perspective by recalling a

Punjabi film preview in a cinema where “when the prancing heroin had tantalizingly lifted her sari to

mid-calf and, after a coy look, let it fall, the entire audience had burst into a chorus of whistles and

catcalls.” (ibid, 152) Here her feelings resemble with those of Ashima in hospital gown and Parvin in

British school uniform. Feroza feels embarrassed to use the common bathrooms shared by many women

at one and the same time. Having seen it once, she plans to use the bathroom when no one is around

during “unearthly hour of the night, she rarely bathed during the day.” (ibid) Whenever Jo invites her new

boyfriend (to spend time in her bedroom), he is usually accompanied with another boy who has to stay in

the TV lounge also attended by Feroza somehow or the other; “...she still became self-conscious and stiff

when she found herself alone with a boy.” (ibid, 165) She is accustomed to the company of girls only in

Pakistan, this is why, in boys’ company, Feroza asks for a glass of wine instead of orange juice so that the
dizziness may allow her to feel less guilty. In this way, “Feroza discovered that she became less self-

conscious, more comfortable, and that it mattered less what impression she made, whether she spoke or

was tongue-tied.” (ibid, 163) Although she moderately indulges in boys’ flirtatious company, yet, she

feels guilty of doing this all since it is against the norms of her family and the cultural expectations she

has learnt at her home:

Feroza never quite got over her feeling of guilt...every time she went out with Jo

and flirted modestly with strange young men, her dusky face blooming and

warm with the wine, her eyes bright, she wondered what her family would have

to say of her conduct if they knew. At the same time, she felt she was being

initiated into some esoteric rites that governed the astonishingly independent

and unsupervised lives of young people in America. (ibid, 163)

In her second year, she chooses a minor job at the registration office on the Southern Idaho

College in Twin Falls. She chooses this job as she is a foreign student and cannot find any job outside the

campus. Although she does not need a job to support herself, yet she does it to support the food and care

of a pet cat abandoned by Jo. Later on, she continues this job despite the fact that the cat goes away; “She

found she needed the extra income to pay for the occasional glass of wine or some minor treat involving

her new social life with Jo.” (ibid, 163) She, therefore, starts drinking without any regret of violating her

cultural expectations. Although men enjoy some exceptional rules of ethical conduct, Parsee women are

not at all supposed to drink or involve in any such ‘immoral’ activity. She feels as if Jo frees her from the

cultural and psychic clutches which have been gripping her heart and mind from the beginning.

Living with Jo, they usually watch TV in their private lodging. Feroza remains mostly interested

in TV news about Pakistan. It is through television that she comes to know of the death of Prime Minister

Bhutto through hanging verdict of the Supreme Court in 1978. (ibid, 171) She remains connected to her

origin through her interest in news about Pakistan and letters; for example, she comes to know about the

establishment of Shariat Court, implementation of Hudood Ordinance, etc, through TV news and letters
from Pakistan. She thinks about Jo that the latter would be hardly concerned about the news in Pakistan or

Afghanistan unlike her; “Regardless of what happened in Vietnam or Afghanistan, or how many refugees

wandered the world – like the three million Afghans who, by 1979, had already begun to pour into

Pakistan and devastate its ecology and its social fabric...Jo was concerned when Feroza pointed out that

the news about Pakistan and other Third World countries was one-sided. Under Feroza’s influence, Jo

started watching the news on her TV.” (ibid, 170) This occurs only in the first two years. Later on, there is

no hint whether she was interested in any news or not. When she visits Manek after three years in the

USA and his family, the television is playing Star Trek, an American science fiction series. When Manek

offers to watch some other channel, Feroza does not express any interest.

Jo keeps her training and teaching her ways as to how to live in the USA or how to be like

Americans. She teaches her how to enjoy boys’ company, how to drink, teaches her true American accent.

She helps her overcome her language barriers. Her pronunciation of words and absence of American

accent became problematic for her:

One evening in the dining room, Feroza asked someone where the “`mayo-

neeze” was. No one understood what she wanted, until she found the glass jar

on the counter. Jo spent the next Sunday afternoon improving Feroza’s

pronunciations and taught her to say mayonnaise as “may-nayze” and mother-

fucker as “motha-fuka”, with the accompanying curl of nose and emphasis. She

made Feroza practising “gimme a lemonade. Gimme a soda”, and cured her of

saying, “may I have this – may I have that?” Pretty soon Feroza was saying,

“Hey, you goin’ to the laundry? Or gitme a coke! (ibid, 154)

On Jo’s invitation, she visits her family in Colorado. Having seen a typical American family life,

“Feroza found Jo’s parents preternaturally understanding and unobtrusively hospitable. It was refreshing.

(ibid, 208) She abruptly compares their hospitality with that of her quasi-educated aunts and uncles in

Karachi and Bombay. She inadvertently thinks how superficial, over-sweet and oppressive is their attitude
coupled with their burden of duty to advise the young visitors on how to conduct every aspect of their

lives. Her feelings are much the same way similar to those of Gogol when the latter visits his girlfriends

parents. On the other hand, Jo’s parents do not interfere in their children’s affairs or impose any kind of

restriction on them.

Jo’s company makes her learn to speak American slang, wear jeans, drink alcohol, enjoy the

company of boys and eventually making an Indian boyfriend (Shashai), etc. She learns to appreciate

American living style when Jo arranges her visit to her family home. Jo also introduces her with the forty

top American music albums. Therefore, her one and half year with Jo helps her drift a little away from her

Pakistani Parsee culture. Since, she eats South Asian food, wears Pakistani dress, maintains her

continuous contact with her uncle in the USA and her family in Pakistan, takes interest in news about

Pakistan and also feels guilty of doing many of the things American, it is safe to assume that she

maintains her Pakistani Parsee identity with some incursions of American culture on her personality.

With Shashi

Shashi, on the other hand, gives her exposure to various co-ethnic and foreign students from Latin

America, Middle East and Far East and also Black and White students. He helps her in studies such as

giving assignments, notes and loaning books, etc:

For Feroza it was like stepping through Elice’s wonderful mirror. Each day

brought the gift of her tentative new friendship, a provocative bit of knowledge,

a mad burst of pure laughter. It wasn’t that Shashi or his friends were so funny;

rather, something locked within Feroza opened up, allowing her access to

happier places within herself...And this shift in perspectives was taking place in

her mind as well. (ibid, 214-15)

In return, she also helps Shashi in his studies. According to Sidhwa’s comments in this context, it

“was not too rare, among the Pakistani and Indian students at least.” (ibid, 215) They also get engaged in

a romantic relationship; “his relationship with Feroza was more Romantic than sexual...and this restraint
was also supported by the taboos that governed the behaviours of decent unmarried girls and of desi

men.” (ibid, 230) She learns dances while she is a good friend of Shashi. She is encouraged by him to do

the job as a bartender which would not have been acceptable in Pakistan; “Feroza would have found

working at these profession in Pakistan intolerable.” (ibid, 216) She does this job due to “expanding

social commitments” and it was “also costlier to live in a big city.” (ibid, 215) He is a source of her

exposure to different co-ethnic friends from South Asia.

Finding the job of bartender, she realizes that there is no stigma attached with a girl’s job in the

United States whereas in Pakistan even her slightest move would have been noticed and would have

drawn comments. While she is doing job, the author evaluates her career and life in the States and equates

it with marriage in Pakistan which “seems to all the girls to be the ideal condition of existence. Their

marriages would unshackle them, open their lives to adventure and knowledge of the world, give them the

freedom that is each individual’s due.” (ibid, 219) It is surprising to note that during all her jobs, she has

good working relationship and caring and considerate attitude towards her American co-workers. She

doesn’t come across any cultural or racial friction or discrimination during this time.

At times, she feels that her Indian friend, Shashi, who not only gives her company also loves her.

He is the one who comes to her rescue at the end of the story when she is destroyed because of her lover’s

cold attitude. However, Sidhwa does not give any clear indication. Yet, it seems as if it would be Shashi

who would prove her future support in one way or another.

With Ronda and Gwen

After Jo leaves her to get married, “Feroza moved into an apartment with Rhonda and Gwen, one

white, the other black...the dusky girl, Gwen, was older, almost twenty-five.” (ibid, 225) Feroza lives with

them for around one year and a half. In the third year, “she finally mustered up the courage one sweltering

noon to get into a spare pair of Rhonda’s short. Both her roommates applauded and assured her that she

looked just great.” (ibid) She, therefore, overcome her earlier embarrassment. In this way, her roommates

Gwen and Rhonda also help transform her ethnicity by appreciating and encouraging her putting on shorts

for the first time.

 While she is living with them, she sympathises with Gwen when she listens to her story of

struggle and love affair with a White boyfriend; “Feroza saw much less of Rhonda than she did on Gwen,

and their relationship was consequently less complex and more affectionate.” (ibid, 227) While Shashi’s

brother is caught in a trouble due to a very expensive medical treatment of his wife, Rhonda comes to his

rescue when Feroza’s asks for her help. One of Rhonda’s uncles is a senior doctor in Denver who uses his

influence to exonerate the doctor’s fee. It is significant that Feroza’s white American friend rescues them.

A reader of the novel would ultimately deduce that the Whites are more resourceful and ultimately could

prove more helpful in their capacity.

With David

In the fourth year, Feroza goes to buy a car after reading an ad on a newspaper. She falls in love

with its owner, David Press, at the first sight; “he was too dazzling to look upon...incandescent being...”

(ibid, 247) Soon they develop a love affair and Feroza shifts at David’s house which is also shared by two

white American lesbians. In the fourth year of her stay, Sidhwa portrays her bathroom shelves and

dressing room which abounds in with cosmetics and the related items. When she newly arrives in the

USA, she did not have even a deodorant with her; “dressing table and bathroom shelves blossomed in a

dizzying array of perfume bottles and cosmetics, the level of the floor of Feroza’s two long closets rose

by at least two feet in a glossy flood of plastic packages containing linen, China lamp shades and gadgets.

The hanging spaces were jammed with Zareen’s new blouses, pants and jackets. Feroza discretely moved

her clothes to David’s closet.” (ibid, 286) At this stage, she is neither close to her parents, nor South

Asian friends, however, she is close to her White American boyfriend, David.

Sidhwa uses very rich adjectives to describe David’s appearance like “incandescent being”, “gold

streaked hair”, “vivid blue eyes”, luminous sapphire-like eyes, broad-shoulders, the compact muscular

body, sun-drenched hair, his neck like reined-stallion. (ibid, 245-46-47) She goes to the extent of saying;

“he looked incredibly handsome to Feroza like a golden, languishing god.” (ibid, 254) This is something

without any doubt how the novelist’s mind is conditioned in colonial terms. The author’s portrayal of
David’s skin and colour show the dominance of her mind with the belief that the white skin is godly,

attractive and hence more likely to be liked and loved.

While sharing her family’s background with David, she feels strangely very comfortable; “She

was amazed as how comfortable she felt...sentiments, his aspirations, were so like hers and those of her

family. And yet it was as if she had taken a leap across some cultural barrier and found herself on the

other side of it to discover that everything was comfortingly the same, and yet the grass was greener.”

(ibid, 251) She visits a bar with him as a first date where they also dance. “She feels grateful to Shashi for

teaching her to dance.” (ibid, 252) Unlike with Shashi, she opens up readily with White American Jew,

David; “the instinct that had guarded her before, now let her go as David released her from the baffling

sexual limbo in which Shashi’s cooler rhythm and the restraint of their common culture had set her

adrift.” (ibid, 256) She, however, feels that both have approvingly observed a restraint with one another.

Although both are fully sexually involved with one another, they, however, do not roam naked in front of

one another. Sidhwa attributes their reserve attitude to one another to their different cultures; “David

never saw her, except for brief moments, naked, and then her voluptuous warm nakedness, her swelling

breasts, were imprinted in his mind as the essence of desirability. Both were intrigued by the otherness of

the other – the trepidation, the reticence imposed on them by their different cultures.” (ibid, 256) While

she is living with her boyfriend, she feels guilty and “she wondered if she was the same girl who had

lived in Lahore and gone to the Convent of the Sacred Heart.” (ibid, 264)

Feroza’s first interaction with David’s parents occurs while the latter are observing Sabbath Day;

“David’s father had worn a yarmulke; she had never seen David wear the cap before...Edina had covered

her head with a lace scarf, lit the candles lightly covered her face with the palms of her hand and silently

prayed.” (ibid, 257) Feroza is reminded of her own religion at this point. She wishes that David had

prepared her before encountering his parents especially at such a day. Afterwards, David’s mother asks

her about her religion very politely. At this moment, she feels very nervous and reserve as “[i]t was the

first time that Feroza had been seriously confronted with the fact that David’s religion was different from

hers. So far, she had refused to think about it. She wondered what David’s parents had thought of her and
what they might have said to their son. How would her family react when they found out? Her mind dwelt

on these questions and she wanted to share her troubled thoughts with David.” (ibid)

While she lives with David in her fourth year, David introduces her to Western classical music.

Before it, Feroza’s experience with Western music has been limited to the forty top albums she was

introduced to by Jo. Since Bob Dylan has been her favourite, Shashi gave her a thick book of Dylan’s

poems; “But every music paled in comparison to the way Beethoven’s Fifth and Ninth Symphonies

affected her at this moment of love.” (ibid, 257) In this way, Western music starts dominating in her mind

in comparison with the Pakistani music.

David Press is the source of greatest changes in her life as Feroza starts living with him after they

have developed a love-affair. She does not mind living in the same house where two lesbian tenants of

David’s house also live. She is introduced to the Western music by David. She starts listening and

appreciating Beethoven and Bob Dylan instead of listening to the cassettes of Pakistani music of Nayra

Nur with Faiz’s poems, Tahira Saeed, Medhi Hasan and Abida Parveen which she has brought from

Pakistan. During her mother’s visit to the USA, she even scolds her in American slang using words such

as “I don’t care a fuck what they think.” (ibid, 279) Such kind of a language is seen highly offensive by

her mother. Feroza now believes in love before marriage unlike her mother. She plans to get married in a

church with David.

She interacts with her family back in Pakistan through letters. It is done only when some

important issue props up. Apart from her one month visit to Pakistan in the third year and her mother’s

three week stay in the fourth year in the USA, she is portrayed as corresponding three times during her

four year stay. This she does at the time of admission to college, Bhutto’s hanging and at the end she

sends a letter with a picture of her boyfriend.

General Analysis

Back at home, her family has many expectations that she should spend her life according to the

Pakistani Parsee Punjabi ways. Before her departure, she is criticised for her backwardness. Her mother is

concerned for her inclination towards radical Muslim ways whereas her father approves of them; “I’d
much prefer she stays narrow-minded and decently dressed than go romping about looking fast and

loose.” (ibid, 12) While in Pakistan, she has not only to conform to her parents’ aspirations but also her

maternal grandmother’s. She is expected of maintaining her Pakistani Parsee Punjabi way of life in the

USA. For example, she is advised to stay away from strangers, not to accept anything from anyone that is

edible, not to smoke, not to drink alcohol, not to engage in any emotional attachment with anyone, etc.

Her parents want her to get married when she visits her home in Lahore after three years of her stay in the

USA. Her mother discourages her to continue her job as her job helps lose their control over her. Parvin,

in Émigré Journeys, also wanted to do a job to get free from the clutches of her father’s control. In The

Namesake, Ashima also does job but not to get free from anyone but to while away her time and make her

busy.

As a woman, she is not supposed to do things or talk and behave in ways as the Pakistani Parsee

Punjabi men might do. For example, her uncle Manek is allowed to study in the USA and there is no

bickering either about his living in the USA, or studying there. But for Feroza, they have to deliberate for

many weeks and have to discuss and argue with one another. Feroza’s family have different expectations

from Manek and her; both are raised with these stereotypes. For example, Zareen says that “Manek will

guard her like a lion! You know how strictly we have brought her up.” (ibid, 121) Her maternal

grandmother remains disagreed to the proposal of her studying abroad. Her grandmother says, “He is a

man; he can get away with a lot. But who’ll marry a girl who’s been up to God–knows–what? Our elders

used to say, keep the girls buried at home.” (ibid)

She is not only unable to meet her parents’ expectations rather she severely violates them. For

example, she starts drinking, smoking, enjoying boys’ company, having sex and living with her white

American boyfriend, wearing shorts, jeans, developing affairs with an American White Jew and a non-

Parsee Indian, living with lesbians, spending nights and dancing in clubs and using American slang

openly even with her mother and deciding to get married with a non-Parsee. And she has been doing most

of the things which her parents would not have approved.

 Overall, she is South-Asian American with almost equally contesting identities. For example, she

does not go to ultramodern American parties and resists, feels (increasingly less) guilty of smoking,

drinking and having a love affair and sexual relation with an American Jewish boyfriend. She, however,

does not feel guilty of having relations with Shashi rather she feels very comfortable when she returns to

him in the end. But her quick learning of American ways, American dresses, food, staying there

permanently shows that she has also imbibed American culture and likes to be somewhat American. Had

the novel moved on, her Americanness would have furthered. The above conclusion might well be

buttressed by author’s paradoxical statement through Feroza after having visited Pakistan; “Although the

sense of dislocation, of not belonging, was more acute in America, she felt, it would be more tolerable

because, it was shared by thousands of new comers like herself.” (ibid, 312) In other words, she would

have felt dislocated in Pakistan as well due to her American training during the last four years.

The activities she engages in during these four years depend on who she is with. When she is with

Manek, more code-switching occurs in Urdu, Punjabi and Gujrati but its degree of occurrence lessens

with the passage of time. With Jo, she mostly tries to learn about the American culture. While she lives

with her Black and White roommates, she feels herself closer to the Black roommate, Gwen after she

shares with her bitter experiences of her life. It is remarkable that she feels closer to Gwen as Parvin feels

closer to British Jamaican girl, Jenney or Aisha (in Chaudhry’s study) to an outcast in her class. Although

she has been emotionally attached with an Indian Hindu young man, Shashi as well as a White American

Jew, David but a clear difference is made to be felt by Sidhwa in the relations with the both. Shashi’s

“relationship with Feroza was more Romantic than sexual...and this restraint was also supported by the

taboos that governed the behaviours of decent unmarried girls and of desi men.” (ibid, 230)

On the other hand, in her relations with David, she let loose all her passions and crosses all limits.

“David never saw her, except for brief moments, naked, and then her voluptuous warm nakedness, her

swelling breasts, were imprinted in his mind as the essence of desirability. Both were intrigued by the

otherness of the other...” (ibid, 256) It is also important to note that she does not find any solace in the
Western music or poetry she likes the most when she is intensely emotionally perturbed rather she finds it

in Pakistani music and poetry.

When Shashi recites Ghazals before her, she appreciates Shashi’s recitation of Ghazals in a very

traditional manner of an audience attending a ‘ghazal mehfil’. She quickly becomes nostalgic and misses

the life in Pakistan; “But she could only do the healing right here, in America. For even in her bereft

condition, she knew there was no going back for her, despite the poets and her friends.” (ibid, 311)

Therefore, the author does not leave her any way top back to Pakistan and to live under the strict control

of her family.

While living with Feroza, Sidhwa vividly describes the hesitation in their initial conversations

which were inserted with long pauses. Both of them judged each other’s gestures and facial expressions to

know the exact connotation of their expressions:

Every time, Jo spoke, Feroza looks at her with startled, anxious eyes. Jo

sounded as if she were either quarrelling or stolidly holding the lid on her

irritation. Feroza took extra pains not to interrupt when Jo was talking – which

sometimes led to complex and baffling pauses. Sensing that she might be giving

out the wrong signals, Jo took care to keep her expressions neutral. This gave

Jo’s deadpan face an inscrutable quality that made Feroza even more

nervous...On the other hand, when Feroza spoke, Jo wondered if Feroza was

being sarcastic or pulling her leg by mimicking some fancy British actress on

public television. She couldn’t believe that people actually said things like, “Do

you mind if I turn off the light?” or “Is it all right if I read? I wouldn’t want to

disturb you.” (ibid, 148-49)

The author describes Feroza sounding mannered even to herself sometimes. She is helpless

unable to speak otherwise as is the only way she knows to speak English with the English speaking

foreigners. On the other hand, the kind of English she spoke to her friends in Lahore was very informal
because it had abundant code-switching to Urdu and Punjabi words to stress different intended meanings.

While she talked to Manek, her accent and intonation of different words also changed but it was

interspersed with Punjabi, Urdu and Gujrati idioms and words. This is why, when she is immediately

exposed to talk with Jo, she can hardly speak the way she did with Manek; “Jo would understand neither

the syntax nor the pronunciation and would find her even more “foreign” and tedious than she perhaps

already did. It was almost like learning a new language, and both sometimes wondered if the other knew

enough English.” (ibid, 148-49)

She feels very uneasy in her ethnicity even in Pakistan such as feeling other’s gaze, family

pressures on her personal life. However, she has also internalized many Pakistani and fundamental

Islamic ways of life while at school. That is why, her mother who is wearing half-sleeves sari was not

welcomed by her daughter. She does not allow a young man to help her when she is unable to carry loads

of her luggage at airport. She is very self-conscious in the beginning which the writer suggests is because

of her ethnicity. She feels full of constraints and surrounded by advices of her elders while she is in

Pakistan but finds them removed when she arrives in the USA. Manek points out towards her demeanour

for being too noisy, interrupting, quarrelsome, desi, smelly and staring at strangers. She wears Shalwar

Kameez in the first three months with her uncle, speaks in desi English, licks her fingers while eating,

however, she cherishes American food.

She feels ashamed of her cultural background on many occasions but in a quite subtle way. When

she gets the job of a bartender she thinks that in Pakistan it would have been impossible to do so. When

she compares the living styles of Jo’s family with hers she thinks that “the hospitality of aunts and uncles

in Karachi and Bombay could become cloying and oppressive...to offer up advice on how to conduct

every aspect of your life, undeterred by lack of qualification, expertise or experience.” (ibid, 208) She is

very self-conscious about her brown colour; “At about this time, she also became aware of her different

colour and the reaction it appeared to have on strangers like that rude saleswoman, and on some of her

classmates. Not that her classmates were discourteous. A few tended to avoid her...she senses she was not

accepted as one of them. Dismayed by her own brown skin, the emblem of her foreignness, she felt it was
inferior to the gleaming white skin in the washrooms and the roseate faces in the classrooms.” (ibid, 182)

Overall, she disapproves, dislikes and is ashamed of the lifestyle that the young women of her age have in

Pakistan. The freedom to move, to act and interact freely that the American society offers her belittles

most of the things Pakistani society has to offer.

It is her very arrival on the American airport that makes her strongly feel that she is from

Pakistan. Her uncle, Manek, further intensifies her feelings by pointing out to different things which he

criticises and advises her to exclude or to correct. For example, he castigates her eating style, her

mannerism to interact, her smell, her habit of staring strangers, etc. She carries her ethnicity in every

episode and event of the novel. For example, her interactions with Jo, using excessive red peppers in

curry, etc. Her ethnicity is accentuated when her mother visits the United States while she is living with

David. She celebrates Parsee customs in glorious tone when her mother mentions them. But knowing

David’s puzzlement and confusion about these customs, she relinquishes praising and even mentioning

them and also beseeches her mother not to elaborate them in front of David.

She does not at all want to maintain her heritage. Her love with David and decision to marry with

him is a strong indication to this effect. Besides, at the end of the novel, she decides that she would marry

anyone whom she likes irrespective of her future husband’s religion, nationality or ethnicity as all human

beings are the descendents of Adam and Eve. While she lives with David, she does not bring in her

ethnicity, language, or her religion. In discussions with David, she becomes ready to leave her ethnicity

and culture completely in order to live with him in harmony.

Due to her ethnicity and inclination towards American culture, she has been facing tension

throughout the novel. Whenever she tries to become a ‘true’ American, the tension props us. For example,

when she goes in the boys’ company; when she drinks and smokes; when she sees her brown body among

pink and white bodies; when she interacts with the shopkeeper in highly formal/bookish English; when

she does a job as a bartender and, when she lives with David and two lesbians. She deals with the tension

by reciting verses from Parsee’s holy book when she has smoked cigarette. Smoking is most strictly
forbidden among Parsees than anything else since fire is Parsee’s Goddess. At another time when she

enjoys boys’ company for the first time, she tries to lessen her self-consciousness by drinking a glass of

wine. While she is doing the job of bartender, although she feels some tension but it quickly vanishes

away when she feels the freedom to do it as she cannot do in Pakistan.

At the end of the novel, she feels herself to be mostly American as the novel is aptly titled as An

American Brat. Immediately before the conclusion of the novel, she misbehaves with her mother, uses

‘vulgar’ American slang with her and describes the lesbians’ nature of relations to her mother very lucidly

that is very unlikely of a Pakistani Parsee girl. But despite this all, her Pakistani Parsee aspect is still an

inevitable part of her personality which does not let her become complete American. The relationship

between her and David breaks away due to the fact that their religious and ethnic backgrounds turn out to

be very incompatible. Although she starts believing in love before marriage but, unlike most American

youth, she still believes in the institution of family through marriage which she had earlier planned with

David to conduct in Unitarian Church. She does not care performing Parsee rituals and formalities on

their proposed marriage which is not materialized later. She decides not to return to Pakistan at the end of

the story rather prefers living in the United States. She also feels a little aversion to the family life that her

“overworked and irritable” uncle and aunt are spending with one child and expecting another in a few

months. But at the end of the novel, she is found with Shashi and her maternal uncle’s family followed by

her Parsee ways of prayers before Parsee God, Ahura Mazda which shows her partial return to her roots

but this partial return is possible only in the United States. She will never be the Feroza that the readers

see in Lahore’s setting. She is the one entirely transformed in language, culture and her worldview.

6.3.2 MANEK

He was born in Pakistan around 1955. Since he is Khutlibai’s son and Zareen’s brother, he is from the

second generation of the Parsee family portrayed by Sidhwa in her novel. As a nineteen-year-old young

man, he moves to the United States in 1975, i.e., three years before Feroza for graduate and postgraduate

studies followed by doctoral research in Chemical and Structural Engineering at MIT, Cambridge. He
grows up in Lahore, Pakistan. Arrived at the Kennedy Airport to receive Feroza, he is introduced in the

novel when he is twenty-two years old and has already been living in the United States for around three

years. He has attended his school and early college in Lahore, Pakistan where he grew up among the

Pakistani Punjabi Muslim and Gujrati Parsee community. However, he does his graduation and PhD later

at MIT, Cambridge during the course of the novel.

We come to know about his previous life through the glimpses when he shares the related

information with his niece on her arrival. He is seen in four episodes. In the first, he is the one who

introduces Feroza with the metropolitan life and landscape of the USA apart from training her in

American mannerism, eating styles, etc, while living in a hotel in New York. In the second, he takes her

to his dormitory where he shares his accommodation with a Pakistani friend while some other South

Asians neighbouring his accommodation. He is the one who convinces his and Feroza’s parents about

securing admission in a college in the conservative Christian American State of Idaho with prescriptive

rules and religiously controlled environment. In the third episode, he visits Pakistan for his marriage. In

the fourth and last episode, we see him with his wife Aban when Feroza visits them twice first during the

Christmas vacations of 1981 and then after her breakup with David the very next year.

Before Feroza’s arrival, he shares his room with a Turkish student at MIT dorm in Cambridge.

Afterwards, “he had moved into the attic of a large, drafty, two-story three-bedroom house in a seedy part

of Somerville in Union Squire. He shared the house and its one and half ancient bathrooms with five

others shivering Pakistani and Indian students.” (ibid, 96) He usually interacts with his Pakistani friend

Jamil at the dorm. In his residential neighbourhood, he is portrayed mostly with different Pakistanis. After

his marriage in 1981, he starts living in the outskirts of Houston in Clair Lake, an area near his place of

work at NASA in Houston. When he comes to Pakistan he “looks comfortable in a starched white shalwar

and kurta-shirt that Khutlibai had kept ready for him.” (ibid, 196)

Manek’s character is very subtle in that in his first appearance, he seems to be a Pakistani trying

to turn into a pure American. But gradually when various knots about his character are untied, he comes

in the clear light especially when he meets with Jo, visits Pakistan and gets married with his co-ethnic
Parsee cousin, Aban. He has an acute sense of humour. He tries to maintain a sober look after his

marriage which is eventually damaged in a comic episode when both his niece and his wife unravel his

mischief to befool the restaurant owners solely to eat free food. He has been very practical in reaping

benefits that the USA offers.

He does not participate in any ethnic organization, however, he sells Bible in the United States

during his student years because he is unable to make both ends meet with the funds he gets from his

parents in Pakistan; “How impossible it was to live on the income the State Bank of Pakistan allowed a

student. Manek knew that at the conversion rate of fourteen rupees to the dollar, it was a princely sum by

Pakistani standards...He was living like a pauper.” (ibid, 199)

Having completed his PhD in Chemical and structural Engineering, he finds a job in NASA. His

relationship with his boss and co-workers seems good. This is why, his boss gives him a strong reference

letter when he applies for the American Green Card. He also changes his name from Manek to Mike as

“...the people I have to deal with at work find it hard to remember Manek. It is too foreign, it makes them

uneasy. But I am one of the guys if I’m Mike...He had changed his name from Manek Junglewalla to

Mike Junglevala.” (ibid, 260)

Form the above evidence, it is clear that he does not want to be felt by others as a Pakistani or a

South Asian at work. Sidhwa comments about his practical approach as “a homeowner, a breadwinner

and a man on his way up the American ladder of success in the pursuit of happiness.” (260) The writer

sometimes seems bent upon portraying him negatively. For example, Manek twice quarrels with the

restaurant staff (once with Feroza and another time with Aban) just to get him absolved of any payment

for the dinner.

He tells his friends and family in exaggerated terms about the “wonders of America” such as

plenty of delicious and nutritious food for all irrespective of rich and poor, “the inexhaustible supply of

gas, purified water and electricity.” (ibid, 197) He excessively praises the life in the USA full of facilities

of life. America is a paradise for Manek. He defends the American lifestyle and anything that is
considered objectionable by his relatives in Pakistan. He also expresses his disdain for the “middle-aged

and muddle-headed desis” living in the United States; “When you’re young and get your higher education

there. It’s difficult an old dog to learn new tricks.” (ibid, 199) He describes the hard life of America in

appreciative terms. He gives the account of the humiliation and privation that Pakistani students face in

the USA. He is ambivalent towards Americans’ non-interestedness and non-interruptive behaviour.

His sister Zareen expects him to be very polite, considerate and enthusiastic on hearing Feroza’s

arrival in the United States but her “heart sank. She had counted on his three years in the New World to

change him. He hadn’t changed one bit.” (ibid, 25-26) Manek is Americanized in a way that he does not

bother much about Feroza’s serious involvement in David. When Zareen tries to make him realize the

seriousness of the matter, he answers very politely and in a manner that seems to be his indifference to

Zareen.

When he sees Jo with “a large, sullen face and a wary, hostile air”, he becomes cautious and

suspicious about the big girl Jo and asks his niece to “watch out for your valuables. Be careful with her.

You don’t have to be rude, but don’t get too cosy right away. She could be a bad influence.” (ibid, 147)

On the other hand, he also advises his wife to interact with the four hundred members of Parsee

community that lives in the same vicinity to dispel her boredom. In other words, he realizes the

importance of the interaction of his wife with her co-ethnic acquaintances; that is why, he approves of

this.

Although he likes to dine in American restaurants but he also manages to have the ingredients of

Pakistani food such as rice and lentils. He goes out to eat American food at American restaurants:

Not that he cooked anything as fancy as prawn-patia or Dhansak lentils. But given the

bland taste of the fair available to them and the steady and relentless diet of canned

foods and pizza, Manek’s cooking tasted as good as Kalay Khan. (ibid, 114)

All of them can be seen eating Pakistani Parsee food in the middle of the story before Feroza discloses her

relationship with David before her uncle:

 Aban who was an excellent cook like her mother, outdid herself. The prawn-

patia was delicious and spicy enough to make their noses drip, the fragrant

saffron and lentil rice that went with it light and fluffy, each kernel of the long

grained Basmati exquisitely separate. They ate with their fingers, licking them,

smacking their lips in satisfaction. They chewed the food with silent

concentration, reaching for the roasted Bombay-duck, mango pickles, and

pappadoms as if performing a sacred rite. (ibid, 261)

He is depicted as conversing with his family back in Pakistan twice through phone, twice through

letters and once through a visit. He also engages in talk with her wife. In the phone conversation, Feroza’s

parents inform him about her plans to visit the USA. Manek’s tone is very bland, devoid of any

enthusiasm for his niece’s visit plan. When Feroza is able to get admission with Manek’s help in Idaho

College in October 1978, Manek informs his sister and Feroza’s mother about the conservative state of

Idaho governed by the Mormon Christians who do not allow promiscuous sex, alcohol, coke and even

caffeine and coffee. The contents of the letter satisfy her parents except her maternal grandmother,

Khutlibai, who “maintained a noncommittal and disquieting silence on the subject.” (ibid, 139)

When he visits Pakistan after four years of his stay in the USA, he feels himself fed-up of

English; “speaking this wretched English all the time has worn away my jaws. Don’t anyone dare talk to

me in English.” (ibid, 196) He also expresses his future plans to marry a Parsee girl and take her with him

to the USA. The family appreciates him. In this way, he is considered a living example for the youngsters.

When Feroza discloses her relationship with David, Manek is unable to speak for a while. Unable

to look straight into her niece’s eyes, he talks with her while looking down on his shoes and saying; “I

suppose these things are bound to happen when one lives here for long. But I don’t think the family will

understand that...it all seems wonderful now, but marriage is something else; our cultures are very

different. Of course I’m not saying it can’t work, but you have to give it time.” (ibid, 263) In this way, he
seems to be considerate about the problems of a young Pakistani girl living in the USA without her

parents.

When he marries to a Parsee girl, Aban, he meets the expectations of her family. He also meets

the expectations of her family when they believe in his story of living a balanced life in the USA where he

does not indulge in promiscuous sex, etc. By his senior relatives and friends, he is referred to as a role

model for his young relatives living in Pakistan.

His relatives have more special place in his life. He feels a kind of mix. His response that he

needs the girl to marry with and not the saris and jewellery is “attributed to his education at MIT were

repeated with gusto among his relatives and friends.” (ibid, 222) His shortening of Feroza’s father’s name

as Cy is attributed by Feroza as Manek’s Americanness. Manek responds, “...when in America, be

American.” (ibid, 223) On Manek’s name change from Manek to Mike, the same sentence is repeated in

chorus by Aban and Feroza when they funnily recall this lesson instilled in their minds by Manek.

He occasionally meets with his co-ethnics but it is not clear how much or how often. His co-

ethnic friends are form Pakistan and India and also from his religious background. As soon as his niece

arrives at Kennedy Airport, he relishes speaking Gujrati. “Manek had not spoken Gujrati in so long. He

relished each word and enjoyed the sound of his voice uttering the funny little phrases...” (ibid, 68) Here,

he invokes the Gujrati vocabulary while talking to her. He also switches to a couple of Urdu words while

talking to Jamil, his Pakistani friend living in the same apartment with Manek. His complex about White

Americans for which he blames Feroza most of the time ironically can also be traced in his alacrity to be

frank with the White Americans such as Jo:

Feroza was more surprised though by Manek’s blushing unease in Jo’s presence

when he took them both to lunch at a small Mexican restaurant. He was

diffident and embarrassingly anxious to make a good impression on large,

unsmiling girl...Jo began responding to Manek’s question with more than just a

monosyllable. And when she cracked an unaccustomed social smile, Manek

 became so touchingly pleased that Feroza realized the dimensions of the gora

complex that constantly challenged his brown Pakistani psyche and he’d been

so prompt to accuse Feroza of her awe of the Whites! (ibid, 147)

He thinks that there is no reason for Pakistan’s backwardness but “it is because we squander time!

It is the single most precious commodity besides money and we act as if we are millionaires in

eternity...only illiterate natives like you from Third World countries waste time...” (ibid, 77) He realizes

that if the South Asians (Pakistanis like him) start valuing time, their problems would be resolved. He has

many interesting concepts about Pakistan. For example, he thinks that in Pakistan some people get

everything for nothing (i.e. without any work) which does not happen in the USA where you have to

struggle hard even to find a suitable institution for admission. He says that in Pakistan, everyday is

Sunday as compared to America. He gives an elaborate detail to Feroza about how hard both husband and

his wife have to work to make their lives comfortable.

He tells Feroza about an incident when he was lying on a road injured after a car hit him. Nobody

bothered about him laying there despite many cars passed by him. He had to walk six hours in that

condition to reach hospital. On another occasion, he holds his Pakistani attitude responsible when he was

coldly treated by one of his university teachers:

Manek recalls the stony expressions of professors as they looked away

whenever he tried to correct someone who was giving wrong answers in class.

How icily they had looked down their noses at him afterwards. Nobody had told

him that Americans so strongly about interruptions...If the one thing Americans

won’t stand, it’s being interrupted. It’s impolite. It’s obnoxious. (ibid, 100-01)

He appears to be ashamed of his culture. This is why, he usually calls his niece “you Pakis”,

“Third Worlders” and “you desis”. (ibid, 101) While calling Feroza as ill-mannered, he tries distancing

himself from his own ethnicity. He tames Feroza accordingly so that she should not feel ethnic. He seems
to to dislike the kind of politics is going on in 1970s Pakistan as he rebukes his niece for displaying the

portrait of a populist Pakistani politician;” Manek’s eye caught the poster of Bhutto that Feroza had hung

from a nail on the panelling...”If you hang that socialist bastard on my wall, I’ll tear him to bits,” Manek

said in a level voice that scared Feroza.” (ibid, 100) He considers Bhutto and the followers like Feroza as

“lazy communists.” (ibid, 124)

He regularly follows the news only about his family. For example, he writes a letter of

condolence on the death of a relative. However, he does not follow any news about the country, e.g., he is

least moved on Bhutto’s hanging or Zia’s taking over. His ethnic background means to him a lot. This is

why, he marries a Pakistani Parsee girl. He, however, does not like many ways he himself associate with

Pakistanis such as sluggishness, eating manners, whiling away time in doing nothing, etc. He, however,

considers immigrants from South Asia as far better than Egyptians or Japanese. (ibid, 148)

Although he does not feel ashamed of his background, however, he thinks very critically about

the people of the third world who need to change themselves into hardworking people like Americans.

Unlike Feroza, he wants to maintain a heritage. This is why, he marries with his co-ethnic, Aban; also, he

comments that the relationship between Feroza and David would not succeed. Strangely he does not feel

any tension between his Pakistani Parsee identity and American one despite the fact that he changes his

name from Manek Junglewalla to Mike Junglevala just to feel more American. The way he tries to train

his niece in American ways shows his practical approach towards living in the USA. Overall, he feels

himself to be an American of Pakistani origin. In this way, he is a unique South Asian immigrant

character among all discussed in this as well as other two novels.

6.3.3 ABAN AND ZAREEN

Although Aban and Zareen’s characters are minor and of secondary import for the plot of the novel, yet

they throw some useful light on how the author has conceived her South Asian women characters in the

American setting. Sidhwa has given the both quite a similar type of representation. A great resemblance

can be noticed in their attitudes, behaviours and fascination for visiting the First World followed by their
longing for their country of their origin. Both visit the USA in later years of their life although in different

situations but the way they behave is quite similar. Their stay in America appears to be cyclic in a way

that both of them go to America in high spirits but gradually their excitement dies down to be transformed

into disillusionment-cum-disappointment and, at times, they lament due to their stay.

Sidhwa has revealed their fascination for the First World during their short stay in America. As

far as Aban is concerned, she gets married with Manek in Pakistan. She has been portrayed as the luckiest

girl among many candidates aspiring to be Manek’s wife as the latter is depicted as the most attractive

option for the Pakistani Parsee families in Pakistan due to his American qualification and the prospects of

living in the USA after marriage. Like all other girls, Aban also appears to be quite excited for going to

America.

Zareen, on the other hand, visits the USA in a different situation. Like her other family members

in Pakistan, she is faced with a problem due to her daughter Feroza who wants to marry an American boy

after her four years stay in the USA. In other words, she is sent by her family to rescue her daughter.

Although she has come to America in a crucial situation yet she appears to be equally excited when she

reaches there.

Unlike the young protagonist, Feroza, both Zareen and Aban are married and mature. As

mentioned above, an interesting fact highlighted by Sidhwa is that both of them appear equally excited to

visit America but eventually get disappointed after spending some time. The first shock of disappointment

Aban receives is from Manek who discusses the option of divorce in a very casual manner. She cannot

absorb the shock so quickly and starts comparing her present with her past. She is apprehended of the fact

that such ill-omened words could affect their marriage badly. She feels a sudden disgust in her heart for

America; “If this was what being in America meant, Aban wanted to have nothing to do with America.”

(ibid, 259)
 In 1981, while Feroza is with her uncle’s family to spend Christmas Vacations, in his casual

manner, Manek explains to Aban that in case of their divorce, she would be entitled to half of the house

according to the American law. It disturbs her so much that she cries, prays and is unable sleep that night.

She can never even imagine of divorce as she has a very typical South Asian mindset that a girl can leave

her husband’s house only after her death. She feels very strange and awkward to see how easily her

husband has said all this to her; “Such ill-omened words could not help but attract misfortune. Jinx their

marriage. If this was what being in America meant, Aban wanted to have nothing to do with America.”

(ibid, 259)

In the beginning of her stay, she appears to be happy and satisfied when Feroza visits them. They

spend a very quality time together. Aban shows no regrets of her coming to America although she

expresses herself that she feels quite lonely after coming to America. Nobody is there to talk to her and

this is why, she appears to be quite desperate to talk continuously with Feroza on getting an opportunity;

“I didn’t know I was going to be so bored and lonely in America.” (ibid, 262)

As some time passes and Aban faces the realities of the First World, she changes her mind and

becomes more inclined to her past. She also shares her feelings with Feroza when the latter visits them in

Houston for the second time. Things do not appear the same to Feroza on her second visit. Her

“nightingale voice had turned shrill and contentious...” (ibid, 315) Feroza finds Aban with a lot of regrets

when she meets her again. She expresses her disappointment clearly and feels herself deprived of all the

love of her family and friends. Missing the charms of her life in Pakistan, she appears to be tired of the

life she has been living in America. She is ready to sacrifice all the facilities of the USA for being closer

to her relatives and friends in Karachi. She very ostensibly expresses her feelings that how with high

hopes she had come to America but all her hopes have now ended in regrets and disappointments:

‘I thought coming to America was such a big deal, so wonderful…my prince

charming carrying off to the castle of my dreams. Everybody back home thinks

I’m so lucky, but I’m tired of coping, tired of doing everything on my own…Oh
 I miss home. I’m longing to see my family and my friends and longing to talk to

them…Sometimes I wish I’d never come here.’ (ibid, 315)

Aban’s character also resembles with that of Salma and Ashima in many ways since the latter too

spends most of her time weaning and crying while missing her relatives back in Pakistan. Both are

housewives with the only duty to tend to their children. Both long for the life back in Pakistan but are

unable to do so due to domestic and spatiotemporal compulsions. It can be assumed from both these

examples that the open and free interaction with the American society does not create any problem for the

South Asian men. It is only for the women who live in the four walls of their homes and maintain

identities particular to their origins. If they are exposed to the social environment like Feroza they might

become comfortable unlike Aban, Ashima and Salma.

Although Zareen visits America in a difficult situation, yet she feels herself to be lucky to fulfil

her dream of getting an opportunity to visit the “First World.” She feels quite excited when she reaches

there. She appears to be divided into two selves, the one obsessed with the tension of her daughter’s

future and the other full of excitement for being in America. She makes herself realize that although she

has come there in a tense state of mind yet she should fully enjoy her stay in the USA. She visits so many

places with Feroza and David and gets impressed every moment. In the beginning, she appears to be

highly concerned for her daughter but gradually she gets involved rather trapped in the charms of

America like her daughter and she also starts liking David as she spends some time with him.

The strong and quick impression of the First World on Zareen’s mind is quite symbolic. It shows

author’s mind as to how an individual from a country like Pakistan quickly let him-/herself lose in the

charms of the “First World.” In the beginning she appears to be very consistent in her ‘cause’ for which

she arrives in the USA but gradually she develops leniency in her attitude towards David. She finds him

quite reasonable and begins to appreciate him for so many reasons. She strongly wishes that he would
have been a Parsee; in that case, he would have been a perfect choice for her daughter; “Zareen wished

David was a Parsee…or that the Zoroastrians would permit selective conversion to their faith.” (ibid, 287)

Although she misses Pakistan many times but she appears to be lost in the charms of America.

She spends all her day in the shopping malls of Denver where Feroza drops her in the morning and picks

in the evening. Considering her visit a lifetime opportunity, she wants to buy everything from there. She

also experiences a new kind of freedom to which she has never been accustomed to and she enjoys it

every moment. She buys so many Western dresses and wears them freely instead of her saris; “The

hanging spaces were jammed with Zareen’s new blouses, pants and jackets.” (ibid, 286)

Zareen is so much lost in the attractions of the First World that she completely forgets her

purpose of coming to the United States which Feroza and David wanted desperately. They have

intentionally made her busy in such activities that she forgets about everything else. With every passing

day Zareen indulged herself more in American life:

‘Zareen was as happy as a captive seal suddenly released into the ocean…Her

heart pulsed to the seductive beat of the New World, and her ears, throbbing to

the beat, stopped hearing the counsel of her distant Lahori relatives. The plotted

course was forgotten…’ (ibid, 286)

Zareen’s increasing liking for David ends suddenly when she receives a mail from Pakistan.

Along with the letters of her family, her sister has also sent two important papers which make her alarmed

and remind her of her ‘mission’, i.e., to dissuade Feroza from marrying David. The one is the WARNING

and the other is the NOTICE from their priest that the one who would marry out of the Parsee community

will be thrown out of the community forever. All her fascination for David and America quickly vanishes

away and she decides to rescue her daughter from a future – that she thinks is devastating – at any cost.

She suddenly starts feeling herself an alien on a foreign land.

 Both Zareen and Aban appear to be in a similar state of mind during all their time in America.

Although their situations are quite different but both being married and having so many responsibilities

get fed up from the life in America unlike Feroza who is young, unmarried and unmindful of so many

responsibilities her ethnicity and marital status demands. They feel a lot of attraction in the beginning but

soon they realize the reality that they can never get themselves adjusted in the life that is entirely different

from the notions of life in Pakistan. Although Zareen does not wean like Aban, yet, she eventually misses

the life in Pakistan. The things which used to irritate her in Pakistan now become her fantastic nostalgia.

To sum up, Aban and Zareen being housewives understand the reality of the United States

differently than Feroza. Feroza, who is an independent, free and Americanized girl without any (binding

matrimonial) bond to any South Asian of her origin, feels quite differently than Zareen and Aban. Unlike

Feroza, the latter two come to America with so many dreams in their minds but soon they realize their

situations which are is far more different, painful and tiring than the mere appearance. Although both of

them have less painful experiences in America in comparison to Feroza yet they appear to be more

inclined towards the culture and life of their origin. They understand the importance of their country and

lament their decision of coming there in comparison to Feroza who celebrates it.

It may also be inferred from the three women characters’ lives in the USA that the author

suggests that the USA offers a life of pleasure, freedom and progress to only those South Asian women

who come to the USA to embrace its life and culture as it is. Those, who keep on sticking to the past and

their traditional duties, are bound to suffer in American setting.

6.6 Ideology and Identity of the Author
An American Brat is basically a story of a young Pakistani Parsee girl whose parents dispatch her for two

months to the United States for an exposure to the American society so that she may shed the extremist

religious views which she is gradually acquiring with her contact with the Muslim girls during early Zia

regime. But most of the story is filled with the depiction of Lahore, the ways of life, rituals and language

(Gujrati, Punjabi, Urdu and English) of Parsee community in Lahore and Karachi, the actions of General

Zia’s military regime, hanging of Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, etc. All of the above

images reveal a lot of information about the author as well that she is Gujrati and Punjabi-speaking Parsee

from Lahore. Her novel is enough to say something for sure about her political ideas that she preferred

Bhutto over Zia due to the fact that the former was liberal (much less religious than the latter), more

sympathetic towards women, democratic, etc. In this way, if we see the author closely, we might easily

find her most of the time behind the facade of her Parsee (Gujrati, Punjabi, Urdu and English-speaking)

character Feroza who is borne in Lahore, likes Bhutto and his ideology, the United States (but also

Pakistan but in a different way), wants to get mostly Americanized, etc.

Through personal communication with Sidhwa in August 2012, I asked her the following

question; which one character from Manek and Feroza is closer to your personal worldview, views about

the USA, Pakistani immigrants, Parsee community and the life and politics of 1970s Pakistan? She

responded to this question very precisely, “Feroza would be much closer to me and my views.”

Like other two novels discussed above, An American Brat too is full of the rituals, customs and

traditions of the author’s origin. Born and grown up in Pakistan, Sidhwa carefully, gradually dips her

character in American culture to later give a dominant American version of the same girl who in the

beginning preferred everything that is Pakistani. The way Feroza is Americanized and become ‘an

American Brat’ for her mother only in four years is unprecedented keeping in view her uncle Manek and

all the characters in other two novels. Although the author portrays Feroza as totally bewitched by

American culture and American way of life, she is a little disillusioned when she is left by her Jewish
boyfriend. Sidhwa wants to prove that although Feroza embraces the USA completely but the USA does

not embrace her the same way. Although she does not develop any apparent aversion to Pakistan, but she

develops a dislike of the ways of living Pakistanis have. This is why, she prefers staying in the United

States than returning to Pakistan. This is what the author did too in her life.

Feroza is sixteen-year old when she arrives in the USA in 1978. The story of the novel ends by

the mid of 1982. The author first visited the USA around the same time. The conception of Feroza’s

character in this backdrop reveals how the author conceived Feroza to represent her own identity and

ideology.