An American Brat-Bapsi Sidhwa

When Feroza decides to send a letter home informing her family that she wants to marry a non-Parsee, David Press, the reaction of her family is anything but happy. Although I expected a bad reaction from a family, I did not expect it to the extreme that it ended up to be. Zareen practically fell into depression and Feroza's grandmother Khutlibai fainted after hearing the news. During the meeting where the whole family discussed the situation, all of the mothers, aunts, uncles, grandmothers, but some of the youngsters did not think that Feroza's potential marriage was that big of a deal because they realize that times are changing and going to "The New World" creates an even bigger change in someone. One of Zareens's cousins was immediately scoulded during the meeting after speaking up about Zareen. She said, "For God's sake! You're carrying on as if FEroza's dead! She's only getting married, for God's sake! (268). AFter this outburst, it was explained to her that by marrying a non-Parsee, a woman would no longer be able to worship with her community and would not be allowed to attend her grandmothers or parents funeral. The cousin then apologized to her grandmother, saying that she would never break her heart like that.

When Zareen goes to America with the intent of convincing her daughter not to marry David, in her head she constantly remembers all of the advice that her mother and family were giving her. She was told not to be too pushy with Feroza, otherwise she would rebel and marry David anyways. Although Zareen knows what she came to America to do, she gets caught up in the splendor and freedoms of the country, and begins to think that maybe her daughter's marriage to a non-Parsee isn't so bad after all. On pg. 287, it says that "Zareen found herself seriously questioning the ban on interfaith marriages for the first time." She even began to like David. But in the end, this pull towards acceptance is not strong enough to overcome the ties with Zareen's family and the importance of remaining a community. Zareen decides to break up David and Feroza by talking to David and going on and on about the rituals involved in wedding ceremonies in their religion. This definifetly scares David away, and eventually ends up breaking DAvid and FEroza apart. When Zareen flies home, I think she is struggling with her decision to allow her daughter to lose someone she loves. She feels bad for hurting Feroza, but she knows in her heart that it was the best thing for her to do for Feroza and the community. But, Zareen also states that she needs to be with her family ro assure her that she did the right thing (308). Ultimately, Zareen knew her daughter very well and knew she was courageous and resilient, qualities she did not really have, and that her daugher would bounce back and be happy again one day.