Introduction
by Maisami Mona, is a journal that explores the personal life of Mona around her heritage and private life. Mona uses the book to expose her struggles between two sets of culture; Iranian and American. She explores how she is degraded and mocked by her Iranian relatives, who come to visit and render her stranger to her own culture of Iranian. This is because Mona is an Iranian but she was born and raised up in America, this makes her less conversant with her native language with its cultural aspects.
Mona's Relationship with Her Cousin
Her predicaments are brought up in the journal through her relationship with her cousin, Nina. The personal experience of Mona with her Cousin makes the reader visualize the poor rapport between the two. When Mona takes Nina in the park for a free walk, they get crossed about the types of clothes Nina is wearing (Maisami 78). The reader is drawn to unusual theatrics when Nina responds rudely to Mona concerning her dresses (Maisami 78). An element of sarcasm is created in the minds of the reader when Mona asks Nina to take off her traditional Islamic wear, which Mona clearly knows is against their religion.
Structure and Themes
The journal is structured in such a way that it captures reader's attention through well-planned scenes and themes. Maisami uses her uniqueness with her family and culture to flavor the introduction of her work. Part of her introduction has catchy phrases that say, her heart is incomplete, it is like she is missing something. This catchy phrase introduces the audience to a conflict purposely created by Mona. The conflict is about the struggles Mona is going through in trying to identify her true self. She develops this story by making the audience travel with her through family interactions, where she narrates her conversations with her relatives and how they behave towards her.
Mona's Self-Discovery
At the beginning of the story, Mona is more determined to find out who she is. However, as the story develops through interactions with her relatives from Iran, especially Nina, she resorts to being content with the person she was. She decides that she will no longer bother herself with figuring out whether she blended better in Iranian or American culture (Maisami 132). The tone of this journal is connective and injects the readers with suspense minds to yearn for more reading. This is so because the author vividly describes the events she has been through regarding her bilingual culture. I wanted to continue writing this journal up to the end so as to figure out if Mona persisted with her principles of being herself because it is so captivating.
Connection to the Reader
Maisami's journal creates a strong and immediate connection to any reader. Although personally, I have never been in such a scenario, the story evokes personal feelings and insights regarding such situations that befell Mona. The journal involves the reader in a number of situations. One can empathize with Mona especially the part where her Iranian family made derogatory remarks about her, but she just brushed them off with a bright smile, though hurting inside. By evoking reader’s minds, Mona did a fabulous task because she left the readers of the journal guessing what will happen next.
Mona's Quest to Embrace Her Culture
On the other side though, Mona is so pleased and proud to learn her native culture of Iranian. She has a genuine interest in knowing her language since it is beautiful and completes her world (Maisami 163). Her quest to know her language is however received by hostilities and negative comments from her relatives, especially her cousin Nina. This situation presents itself when Mona tries to pronounce Iranian words, such as Salaam for Hello and Quelly-mam-noon for thank you (Maisami 206). On pronouncing these words in a more entertaining and nonreserved manner, her family laughs her off at start gossiping about her and calling her weird names like a stranger of her language.
The Importance of Cultural Diversity
This part of the story depicts the journal as sensitive to matters cultures. It helps the readers to see how Mona is studying and presenting cultural elements in the current world. The story shows how Mona is trying to fit in two worlds, with obstacles coming from the very fabric of her life, her Iranian family. This insight makes Mona's case a perfect reflection of the need to embrace cultural diversity and respect one's priorities in equal measure.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would recommend to any reader this type of journal, if cultural diversity and acceptance is anything to go by. The journal explains how it is essential for humans to be contented with who they are. The journal is an epitome of hope and self-motivating in that it shows Mona as a diversified person, who accepts and embraces cultural diversity. Mona's relatives are a symbol of the day to day obstacles which hinder humanity from expressing mutual love for different cultures. They represent a real picture of what human beings need to go through and fight in their quest to achieve personal fulfillment and hope.
Work Cited
Maisami, Mona M. “Born in Amrika.” The College Dispatch, 6 Sept. 2003.
