An American Brat

The author of An American Brat, Bapsi Sidhwa, contrasts life in Pakistan with life in the United States. Feroza, the protagonist in the novel, makes a distinction between the traditional Pakistani culture, and the new world culture she experiences in America. A major cultural ideal in Pakistan, for instance, is the preservation and respect of women. However, Feroza notices that this does not seem to transfer over to American culture. Instead, it seems that education and knowledge is held in high regard. Those who do not have knowledge suffer in poverty and have disdain for others, as a result. Due to these differences, Feroza's traditional culture hesitates when it comes to sending women abroad to study. Instead, there is an emphasis placed on marriage, rather than knowledge.

During Feroza's stay in America, she begins to lose some of her old habits and gain new ones. This comes about due to her Uncle Manek's control. He begins to instruct her how to act in America from the very beginning. He tells her, "You'll have to learn to stand a lot of things in this world" (66). This attempt to toughen her up has negative consequences for Manek, however. Referring to Feroza, "in the short time she'd been exposed to the American culture, she'd grown shockingly brazen." (99). This attitude is due to Feroza's difficulty in transitioning into American culture. She cannot believe how American men look at women. "The lean young man's smokey gray eyes were appraising her with the kind of interest and candor that would have fetched him a bullet from any self-respecting Pakistani father" (57). Due to the value America places on sexuality, this is a very dangerous place when looking at it from a Pakistani father's perspective.

America's reputation for sexual freedom creates difficulties for Pakistani women. These women are often not able to study abroad because of the problems sexual freedom creates. Sidhwa argues that while all Parsee boys are considered to be born geniuses and forced pursue an education, girls "were not burdened with similar expectations" (39). Instead, it is important for women to contribute to family, and that means being subjected to familial control. Sidhwa remarks, "It was also expedient sometimes to send them to finishing schools in Europe, either to prepare them for marriage or divert them from marriage" (39). Women are not sent to school to become educated, but rather to form a relationship abroad, or break one up at home. This dichotomy between men and women in the Parsee community can only be brought to greater light upon Feroza's trip to America.