Summary Of Firoozeh Dumas's Essay The F Word

In American society the “F” word has been deemed a cuss word, a dirty word. It’s a simple, four letter word that shouldn’t be used. In Firoozeh Dumas’s essay, “The ‘F Word’”, she give it a new light to a different “F” word with the same meaning in our culture. Firoozeh Dumas uses her Iranian background to help her criticise the American ability to adapt to different and unfamiliar cultures through humor, empathy, and metaphors.

She begins by drawing people to read her essay merely with her title, “The ‘F Word’”, and its implied meaning that comes to most people’s minds at first glance. It brings humor that draws in people who wouldn’t originally be open to learning an opposing side to something they believe in. Then she starts by using “F” names such as “Farbod… kids called him ‘farthead,’” and “Farshid… became ‘Fartshit’” (Para 1). The simple beginning gets readers laughing and eases them into the subject without outright stating her argument and turning people away. It hooks people onto the subject as well, making them want to read more and become more susceptible to understanding and

How “Firoozeh… means ‘Turquoise,’” but “In America, it means ‘Unpronounceable,’ or ‘I’m not going to talk to you because I cannot possibly learn your name and I just don’t want to have to ask you again and again because you’ll think I’m dumb or you might get upset or something” (Para 4). Then once she changed her name to Julie, a simple American name, she still felt like she was living a double life. With her past still looming around her, it made her life seem fake in spite the fact that she was finally getting what she wanted, to fit in. She shares her troubled childhood due to her name which increased her knowledge about her argument for American acceptance to uncommon and unfamiliar names from foreign countries and to evoke empathy from from her audience, giving them a better