Hi, here our topic of interest is the summary of Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel “An American Brat”. Sidhwa is widely known for her Ice Candy Man, a Partition novel. Well, an American Brat was written in 1993. Feroza Ginwalla is the young protagonist in this novel. The protagonist is caught between two different cultures. So let’s start the story, just stick with me till the end of this article.
An American Brat Summary || Bapsi Sidhwa
A protected 16-year-old Pakistani girl, Feroza Ginwalla, is sent to America by her parents because they are alarmed by the fundamentalism overtaking Pakistan. With a light of hope that if the girl will live with her uncle for a few months, it will make flexible the girl severe thinking.
They got more than they expected. Because, Feroza, who is fascinated by American culture and her independence, wants to stay in America. Feroza is allowed to attend college on the condition that she will return home and marry well.
Feroza’s opinions of America, her motherland, and herself begin to alter as a student in a small western town. When she falls in love with a Jewish American and wants to marry, her family is horrified. Feroza recognizes just how far she has come and thinks how much further she can go.
This pleasant coming-of-age novel is both extraordinarily funny and a remarkably severe portrayal of America as seen through the eyes of an insightful young immigrant.
Zareen and Cyrus || Summary of An American Brat
Zareen and Cyrus, (the parents) a Pakistani couple who sent their daughter to the USA because Mom was worried about her daughter Feroza who was being influenced by fundamentalist Muslims in Pakistan. It was an effort to help her child find some Western girl power, and Zareen sent Feroza to Houston.
But once here, Feroza learns something which was unexpected. Feroza decides to marry an American Jewish boy while living the American dream.
Zareen and Cyrus are informed about this information in the form of an innocent letter that makes the entire family panic. Because the family is Zoroastrian, which is the biggest trouble for her.
Because Zoroastrian is an ancient religion that does not allow girls to marry outsiders. Feroza will shame the entire family if she marries this non-Parsi boy.
As shaky as the news makes Zareen, she’s a statue of calm paralleled to Mumma. Mumma is Feroza’s well-intentioned but very manipulative grandmother. Mumma asserts that Zareen should fly to America instantly to talk to Feroza about the matter.
So, Zareen is ready to go on a journey that will change both her and her daughter’s lives forever.
This is a long setup, full of some foreseeable jokes about mothers-in-law and the shocking things that children do these days. But all of it is controlled with such joy by director Brad Dalton and his superb cast that even the stuff that feels fairly old becomes the cause of entertainment.
Summary of An American Brat
Zareen finds that her daughter has grown in conduct the Pakistani mother could never have imagined. Feroza’s living situation is the first trouble for Zareen. Feroza stays with her fiancé David (Luke Eddy) and a girl named Jo. Zareen admires Jo (though she doesn’t realize this lovely girl is a lesbian), but she hardly speaks to David…at first.
Zareen gets used to American freedoms after spending some time in Houston. And regardless of her task which is to break off the engagement of her daughter. The young man starts to grow on Mom. He even takes her shopping at the Galleria, where she buys pale pink hot pants.
In fact, Zareen appreciates America and its liberties so much that she starts to realize why her daughter Feroza has changed. It seems as if she will accept the choice of her daughter. But then by making a phone call Cyrus and Mumma remind Zareen of what she is doing in America.
It is realized that Feroza is not the only one whose family is concerned about her choices. David’s bubbe is also not so happy with the fact that her grandson wants to marry outside the faith, and she succeeds to stick her two cents into the equation. Indeed, the future of a young couple starts to look very dark at the end of one particularly difficult evening.
