Lahore College Women University

Assignmnent An American Brat

Submitted to Ma’am Aneeqa

Submitted by Ayesha Gulzar 161651017

Sunain Arif 161651082

Saba Nazir 161651068

Rabia Imtiaz 161651063

Rida Maryam 161651065

Subject World Literature

Class BS (III) Semester 6

Section A

Date 3/25/201
Diaspora and its Features in Bapsi Sidhwa’s Novel ‘An American Brat’

The term “diaspora” comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to scatter about.” The
definition of diaspora is the dispersion of people from their homeland or community formed by
people who have exited or being removed from their homeland like the petals of dandelion
blowing un the wind. Since World War II the idea of diaspora has proliferated to an
extraordinary extent. One reason for this development was decolonization, which forged
translational bond of solidarity among globally scattered populations, notably those of African
origins. It also led to the expulsion and forcible remigration of many groups, especially those of
Asian origins.

Consequently Diasporas have been associated with loss and exile – two words that denote
suffering and tragedy. Another group of people the Africans were forced to move away from
their homelands because of slavery in Colonial America. Hence multitude of Diasporas have,
occurred globally due to religious, social, political, economic and even natural forces.

A diaspora includes both emigrants and their descendants. While some people lose their
attachment to their ancestral homeland, others maintains a strong connection to a place where
their ancestors have left generations ago. Diaspora communities make vital but often
unrecognized contributions to the progress of their countries of heritage. They share goals with
governments, business and NGO’S. Almost every diaspora, involves the idea of return.
Sometimes the return is literal and physical. The gathering is one example of recent movements
by governments around the World to reach their Diasporas establishing new networks of
commerce and culture and tapping into enormous financial and political resources. Many
governments have special divisions and departments dealing with diaspora affairs.

In particular undergoing diaspora means to reexamine the meaning of home, its different
senses of what, where, how. Diasporian people find themselves restricting, expanding (mixing
and matching) their old and new homes, their old and new lives and identities.

Types of diaspora:

Victim Diaspora: A class of people who have been banished from their place of origin and sent
to another land. Usually the result of traumatic event, like conquest, persecution, enslavement,
genocide or exile. Examples: (Africans in the North Atlantic slave trade).

Trading Diaspora: A community often members of an extended family that goes abroad to
conduct trade in a host society. The “family firm”. They receive permissions from the host
government, learns local language and customs but don’t assimilate. Examples: Jews, Chinese,
Indians.

Imperial Diaspora: Migrants who go to another land that has been conquered by their own
nation and enjoy higher status on account of their ethnic ties to the ruling power. Don’t adapt to
customs, locals adapt to their customs. Examples: The Spanish and Indians, Mexico’s cast
system.
Labor Diaspora: Indentured servants and labor migrants. Examples: Colonial America.

Diaspora and Post Colonialism

Post-colonialism is a form of critical thought that investigates the cultural history of

colonialism and analyzes its legacies and continuities in the present. It refers to the period after
the colonialism and furthermore signifies the relationship between the colonizers, the European
countries and the colonized, the Third World countries. Postcolonial literature often addresses
the problems and consequences of the decolonization of a country, especially questions relating
to the political and cultural independence of formerly subjugated people, and themes such
as racialism and colonialism. Colonialism was the era when the European nations took control
over the Third World countries and exploited people’s lives in numerous ways. Colonialism
stepped over people’s social freedom, shook their psychological states and crushed their
cultural identity and beliefs. People were like slaves on their own motherland. The colonizers
used to decide the guidelines for the colonized to live by and there were strict punishments for
those who disobeyed. People were utterly at the mercy of the colonizers. A strong product of all
the previous tensions is highly evident in Post-colonial literature in which the colonized
presented their dissatisfaction out of the effects of the colonialism and their resistance to and
struggle to survive under such impacts. The usual themes depicted by most of the Post-colonial
writers are the fight for freedom, national values, cultural identity, nostalgia and detachment.
The writers from the countries which were once or still are the colonies of European nations
often tend to satirize the colonizers for their efforts of justifying colonialism. Their writings
cherish their cultural greatness against the notion of inferiority that’s gradually and minutely
inculcated in the global society against the colonized. Further, in the same line, one of the
major influences of colonialism directs us towards diaspora.

The word “diaspora” means the dispersion or displacement of people from their homeland. This
term is derived from a Greek word “diaspeiro” that refers to scattering or spreading about. In
expansion to the understanding of diaspora, the people generally have a memory of their native
place as they believe their roots are their ancestral places and that’s where they actually belong.
The place proffers them an identity of their own. Thus, there’s almost always a tendency in
them to return to their place of origin. Diaspora underlines the feeling of rootlessness. People
nurture an attachment with their motherland irrespective of the reasons for which they have
been away from it. Diaspora has been a subject of writing for a number of authors and novelists
who somewhere in their life were dislocated from their native country or were influenced by
such events from others’ life. Bapsi Sidhwa is one of such prominent writers of diaspora.

“We are not worthless because we inhabit a country which is seen by Western eyes as a
primitive, fundamental country only….I mean, our lives are very much worth living”

Bapsi Sidhwa's fiction deals with both the pre and post-colonial period of the subcontinent. Her
fiction not only brings to life the horror of the Partition but also vividly portrays the
complexities of life in the subcontinent after Independence. What makes her work interesting
from the post-colonial point of view is the way in which she re-writes the history of the
subcontinent. Bapsi Sidhwa has very creatively brought out the pain, anxieties, willingness to
be a part of the new world, a desire to change, and all the conflicts between the alienation and
assimilation in her novels. In An American Brat Sidhwa highlights the predicament of the Paki-
stani people in general and of the Parsi community in particular, she highlights the
phenomenon of neo-colonialism in Pakistan. What is most remarkable about her work is her
dual perspective, which is based on both the Pakistani and the Parsi point of view. She speaks
both for the Pakistanis and the marginalized Parsi community.Uprooting of the individuals or
individuals as a part of a disadvantaged social group from their native lands and subsequently,
their efforts to settle in a country with alien socio-cultural ways and their yearning for the roots
has become a prominent theme of post-colonial writing. More importantly, it has become a
burning issue of Parsi community and prime concern of Parsi writers or Parsi novel.

Sidhwa's “An American Brat” can be approached from a postcolonial point of view in a couple
of ways. The first would be to examine how fundamentally uncomfortable Zareen is with the
prospect of Feroza's marriage to someone outside of the Parsee sect. The idea is something that
can be approached from a postcolonial perspective in that it displays a fundamental tension
between the more indigenous approach to marriage and the one adopted by Feroza as she
becomes increasingly acclimated to life in America. I think that another postcolonial element
that can be explored is the malleability of individual identity. Feroza is sent away from Pakistan
because Zareen perceives her as becoming too orthodox. The rise of Zia's rule and the
imprisonment of Bhutto is what causes this fear to emerge. The impact that this has on the
daughter is what inspires the mother to send her away in the first place. Such fluidity in
character is evident when the daughter is sent to America and becomes "Westernized." From
the Postcolonial point of view, this reflects how individuals are contingent beings whose
context plays a large role in the construction of individual identity. This would only serve to
prove the Postcolonial thinkers right in thinking that Colonialism played a powerful role in the
development of individual and cultural notions of the good. In Sidhwa's depiction, this tenet of
Post colonialism is demonstrated. Sidhwa’s An American Brat is taken as illustration to exhibit
the escalation of fundamentalist tendencies in Pakistan in the post-independence era that, in an
attempt to rediscover, preserve and renew the original national values of the State, tend to re-
colonize the psyche of people in general and women in particular. The new socio-political
order, as perceptible in Sidhwa’s An American Brat, projects the damages brought in by
colonialism in the post-colonial era.

Under the category of Post-colonial literature, An American Brat is one of the most elegant
creations by Bapsi Sidhwa. While merely the superficial reading of the storyline gives its
readers immense pleasure through its outstanding expression, metamorphosis of its characters
in two different worlds and the in-depth study of the novel provides valuable knowledge of
diaspora and its various elements that are engraved beautifully by the author and can be traced
out through close and meticulous observation. Not only the readers appreciate the story-telling
of Bapsi Sidhwa, but also the novel deals with a number of critical concepts from the era of
colonialism till contemporary relevance and also derives a logical relationship between those
concepts in the most realistic manner revealing both the positive and negative aspects without
any bias.
 Diaspora and Parsee’s Involvement in Politics

The issue of identity and space are substantially linked and lay basis to understand each other in
the relevant contexts. Especially in diasporic situations they are bound to come together and go
hand in hand. Identity has been very closely linked with our personal reflection and affiliation
to any social group. It is the identity itself which acts as an instrument to give dimensions to
our personality. Identity, be it personal, social, political, geographical, national lead us to the
makings of our holistic personality which we exhibit and reflect in all social scenarios. In An
American Brat Sidhwa highlights the predicament of the Pakistani people in general and of the
Parsi community in particular. When we read An American Brat we come across many
circumstances of them being the “other”.
In An American Brat the Parsi community is shown actively participating in Pakistani politics.
Instead of keeping a neutral, detached stance, Ginwalla family is passionately involved in the
country’s current political crisis. As Zareen says “I was really hopeful when Bhutto was
elected. For the first time I felt it didn’t matter that I was not a Muslim, or that I was a
women”. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto has found the fault the gender segregation practiced by this
volatile tribal supporters in Northwest Frontier. Sidhwa mentions that at the time of election the
attitude of Bhutto was liberal favoring their freedom but after election he does not look open
minded. Feroza becomes very conservative under Muslim culture of Pakistan under Bhutto.
Zareen at one point voices her concern over her daughter’s intense involvement in “Bhutto’s
trial.” She says “you know how Bhutto’s trial is getting to her”. Her concern for her daughter,
however, does not stop her from working in “many women’s committees with Begum Bhutto”.
Bapsi Sidhwa speaks both for the Pakistani and the marginalized Parsi community. Feroza even
when she is in America, remains acutely concerned about the crisis in her country. Feroza also
hangs Bhutto’s poster above her bed “Manek’s eye caught the poster of Bhutto that Feroza had
hung from a nail on the paneling”. She is totally shocked to hear of Bhutto’s hanging. On
coming back to Pakistan, she voices her disappointment at being inadequately informed
about Pakistan‘s current political scenario: “I want to know what’s going on here. After all, it’s
my country!. They think that they own this place and the people consider them their own. We
constantly see Diaspora in their involvement in Politics. Thus Sidhwa exhibits that the Parsis,
both in the pre and post-Independence period, instead of showing indifference to the country’s
politics, have been actively involved in it.
Parsi being the minority want to get power. They also have connections with influential and rich
people. By doing god they want to remain in good books. Scenarios are political and there is also
Islamization. Ginwalla family also used to discuss politics with their guests “The arguments
turned into acrimonious screeching sessions as the trial progressed. Every so often one of the
guests would bang down on the table and loudly proclaim, I’ll never eat in this house again.”
When Manek says something about Bhutto then Feroza instantly becomes angry and says “Don’t
you dare say anything about Bhutto.” They seem so involved in politics that their most
arguments are based on it. When Feroza and Jo heard the news of Bhutto’s hanging on CBC. At
first Feroza didn’t believe it. “Rot! Absolute rot!” she said,“If he is dead, why don’t they show
his body? I bet he’s alive…” In this way we see many aspects of diaspora in their involvement in
politics in the way they consider everything their own and also voices their opinion but they will
always be the “Other” “Marginalized” and “Minority”.

Diaspora and some of its issues in Bapsi’s novel An American Brat

Sidhwa’s An American Brat marks her entry into the orbit of Diasporic fiction, in which other
South Asian novelists like Salman Rushdie and Bharati Mukherjee have already made a mark.
Diasporic literature has its roots in the sense of loss and alienation, which emerged as a result of
migration and expatriation. It also addresses issues related to disintegration of cultures.
Conscious attempts are made by the diasporic communities to pass their traditions to the future
generation. In their attempt to integrate with the adopted culture while maintaining their
inheritance, they develop a dual identity, and their culture becomes a sandwich culture.

Diaspora is a journey towards self-realization, self-recognition, self-knowledge and self-

definition as the writers develop their characters through different phases of struggle which are
helpful in their identity development which is affected by the culture of the settled lands and
results in hybridity.

In An American Brat, the concept of identity, both personal and cultural is present. Cultural
identity is a feeling of belongingness to a certain group or a community. It is a segment of an
individual’s self-conception and set of his choices and principles in life. It consists of various
aspects of life of a person such as religion, dressing, physical features, food choices etc.
Cultural identity is not only visible through actions but thoughts also. The thoughts direct
actions and thus, cultural identity leads the way of life of people on this entire earth.

Zareen’s perspective in the start of the novel depicts her grave concern for one’s identity. The
story opens from the event of Zareen being terribly restless for her daughter’s upbringing in a
society where no modernity lies. Zareen discusses with Cyrus, her husband about Feroza’s
mindset being narrowed. “She’s becoming more and more backward every day”. Zareen
continues to tell her husband the way socio-political environment has influenced Feroza’s
behavior. “She won’t even answer the phone anymore! ‘What if it’s someone I don’t know?’ ”
Zareen mimicked her daughter in English. “I told her – don’t be silly. No one’s going to jump
out of the phone to bite you!.

As minority community people always have a fear of losing their identity in foreign land. When
Feroza starts questioning her mother dressing sense, when Zareen one day went to Feroza’s
school Feroza got irritated by her mother dressing s she said ‘Mummy, Please don’t come to
school dressed like that’. She objected to her sleeveless blouse. Zareen told her ‘ Look we’re
Parsee , everybody knows we dress differently’.Zareen feels considerably bothered by the
prevailing system and practices in Pakistan and their disastrous impacts on her young
daughter’s mental development and so shares with her husband. “Could you imagine Feroza
cycling to school now? She’d be a freak! Those goondas would make vulgar noises and bump
into her, and the mullahs would tell her to cover her head. Instead of moving forward, we are
moving backward. What I could do in ’59 and ’60, my daughter can’t do in 1978! Our Parsee
children in Lahore won’t know how to mix with Parsee kids in Karachi or Bombay”.
Bapsi Sidhwa has also clearly illustrated the way fundamentalism made life suffocating and
uneasy in Pakistan. She has shown the conventional Asian traits in the personality of the
characters in the novel through various means namely the fixed type of clothes considered to be
appropriate for women, deserving a much regulated extent of freedom and marrying someone
from one’s own community etc. Also, she has provided a base for the gradual transition in their
mindsets and personalities namely how Feroza turns from a shy girl into an independent bold
woman. Earlier she says “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ll be able to act in the play. You know how
it is – my father won’t like it. Please don’t come again. Don’t phone, please”

An American Brat by Bapsi Sidhwa explore the subject of hybrid which is the umbrella term
used by diasporic writer , it includes cultural identity conflict , loss of alienation and the
consequences of the diasporic experiences which is the most notable topic in the diasporic
literature. Mimicry refers to the act of imitation of the culture of the colonizers by the
colonized. Usually, to fit in, the dislocated people tend to adopt the mannerism of the Western
and European world as with their native lifestyle, they feel inferior in that advanced societal
setup. Manek, Feroza and Zareen belong to Pakistani roots and values but they feel fascinated
to the American culture and lifestyle. Manek has been living in U.S for a considerable number
of years and all his habits and life-style have thoroughly changed. He, no more, feels alien to
the American culture and rituals. When he talks to Feroza over a phone call, he sounds
foreigner through his statement. “Don’t yell, Manek said. “You’re puncturing my eardrum.
Why do you Third World Pakis shout so much? Everybody’s not deaf” (26). Manek continues
to talk in that manner to which Feroza exclaims “What do you mean, ‘Paki.’ What’re you,
some snow-white Englishman? After being embarrassed by Manek a few times, Feroza starts to
use a deodorant, as Manek taunts her by saying “You can’t smell your own smell, stupid;
people are going to start fainting any minute” and “That’s the trouble with you desis. You
don’t even know what a deodorant is, and you want to make an atom bomb!” Moreover, he
advises her to avoid eating desi style: “You’ve got to stop eating with your fingers...It makes
them sick”. This is something that Feroza has to struggle with not doing but after being banned
from eating with her fingers for the following three days, she finally learns to stop doing it.
Feroza is then introduced to and begins living with a real American: Jo. She is her roommate in
the dormitory at the local junior college in Twin Falls and influences Feroza in all spheres of life.
From working on her accent, her attitude, dressing sense, to even housekeeping skills, Jo has a
major impact on Feroza’s mannerisms. Jo ‘cures’ Feroza’s way of saying “May I have this—may
I have that?”

Later in the story, Manek again highlights the element of mimicry when he changes his name
for the sake of Americans to get it easily and relate to him but Feroza seems to disapprove of
this. She couldn’t help it. “Mike?” she asked, her appalled voice conjuring up Jo’s unpleasant
boyfriend. “You’ve become a Mike?” Manek remained calm. “The people I have to deal with
at work find it hard to remember Manek. It’s too foreign, it makes them uneasy. But I’m one of
the guys if I’m Mike”.

As the plot of the novel proceeds, the characters become hybrids. The word ‘hybrid’ means
‘mixture’ of the two or more things. Thus, hybridity is basically the concept that highlights the
process of mixing up of two different races and cultures. Homi K. Bhaba, in his works,
supports the idea that hybridity has been present in all the cultures and no culture is pure as it
has always been influenced by the intervening cultures and traditions. The same element of
hybridity is apparent in Bapsi Sidhwa’s An American Brat. Manek, Feroza and Zareen visit
America and willingly mix up with the host culture. As the plot progresses, Feroza very well
adapts into American social setup and the incident of Feroza falling in love with David and
wanting to marry him gives initiation to the base of occurrence of hybridity. She writes a letter
to inform her family about her will to marry David. As is evident, Feroza seems to mimic an
American patriot. It is as though she belongs to the US and not to Pakistan. When her mother
tries to get Feroza to talk about the subject of marriage, Feroza proclaims that she has not
completed her education yet and does not have a career. Zareen gets surprised and asks her
about the need for a career, to which Feroza replies, “You’ve never worked, Mum. You don’t
know how thrilling it is to earn your own money. And spend it”. Zareen realises that “[t]he
money Feroza earned and spent must give her a sense of control over her life, a sense of
accomplishment Zareen had very little experience with.” She also realises that there is not
much she can do to change her mind and agrees to let her complete her studies.

In the novel, An American Brat, the theme of Alienation is quite present. It appears as a highlight
in form of the events of portrayal of the beliefs and persona of the protagonist of the novel,
Feroza who initially likes to follow Pakistani culture. Also, Feroza holds great respect and belief
in Pakistani leaders and systems in the first half of the novel and she even tends to follow the
mannerism reflecting through those people. She is shown advocating their work and holding a
stand for them when needed. “Don’t you dare say anything about Bhutto. Are you ashamed,
speaking ill of someone who is facing death just because he’s the voice of the masses?”. But,
later, after having the taste of liberty in U.S.A, Feroza becomes so fond of modernity and feels it
nearly impossible to return to her native conservative community. Sidhwa describes through the
comprehensibility of Feroza what’s opined by Karl Marx “Social progress can be measured by
the social position of the female sex.” She can easily witness the distinction between the cultures
and all the other aspects of life in the two nations. Her bond with the American lifestyle broadens
her mentality and lets her think in a new spirit.

As already mentioned the diasporic communities do not want to leave their cultural patterns of
existence. Therefore in the settled land, they attempt to create ‘imaginary homelands’, which
are culturally and traditionally similar to the homes they left behind. In An American Brat,
when Feroza decides to marry David, Zareen advices her daughter “you can’t just toss your
heritage away from like that. It’s in your bones!” This writing by woman belonging to
diaspora also depicts another kind of problem namely, the issue of succumbing to or being
constrained by their societal structures that is gender inequality. Therefore most often, the
writings by the women are critiques of their society.

Identity Crisis Suffered by Feroza in America:

The main character of the novel Feroza went through severe identity crisis experiences at one
time rejecting, and at other accepting it reluctantly. Feroza, has suffered identity crisis since her
arrival in America and then finally deciding to live permanently in America. Airport episode is
most important of all the incidents which questioned her identity. She was asked various
questions at the airport about her family, her uncle’s business, when she could not reproduce
appropriate answer, she was suspected to arrive America illegally and that both she and her
uncle where making them fools, even they suspected her uncle to be her fiancé. ‘She had no
uncle in America. Her so-called “uncle” was in fact her fiancé. After airport episode, she
literally rejected Americans way of treatment and revealed her intention of going back home.
‘To hell with you and your damn country. I’ll go back!. Later on, she slowly started accepting
reality of being a part of culturally complex country. When she met Jo, her roommate, it is then
she started adopting American ways of living. At this point of her stay she found herself
shattered between two identities. ‘Every time she went out with Jo and flirted modesty with
strange young men, her dusky face blooming and warm with wine, her eyes bright, she
wondered what her family would have to say of her conduct if they knew’. She also changed her
way of speaking.‘Gimme a lemonade Gitme a coke!’

When she was in Pakistan, she was a simple girl, a sincere adherent of her religion but in
America she confused the boundaries of religion and culture by getting involved in love with
non-parsee boy David. When Zareen came to know about changed attitude of the daughter she
tried to make her understand the cultural difference but she did not pay heed to it.‘You’ll have
to look at things in a different way. It’s a different culture…. It’s not your culture! You can’t
just toss your heritage away like that. It is in your bones’.Even she also repented on her
decision of sending her to America which changed her drastically.‘I should have listened. I
should never have let you go so far away. Look what it’s done to you…. you’ve become an
America Brat’.

It so happens that when an immigrant returns to homeland, he feels like a foreigner, because of
the cultural influence of immigrant country. The same happened with Feroza, when she
returned Pakistan. She herself felt being mis fitted in the country where she once belonged.

‘Feroza was disconcerted to discover that she was a misfit in a country in which she had once
fitted so well.’
In the end, Feroza took a decision of living in America permanently, for she felt unfitted for the
country she once belonged and later on tried to assimilate in the American culture.

Conclusion

So, this novel An American Brat focuses on the diasporic features through the diasporic
experiences of the Parsee Pakistani young girl Feroza in America. The development of her
hybrid identity is mapped through her journey as a diaspora in which she gradually passes
through some phases which are attempted to be put in a nutshell under the following courses
Dislocation and Unhomeliness, Mimicry and Ethnic Anxiety ,Third Space and Resulting
Hybrid Identity.