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Chapter Eight & FAQ #4

Summary: Chapter Eight: Rhinoplasty Acne-pocalypse

Mama Saedi sits Sara down for a serious talk and drops the bomb: She wants Sara to go on birth control. This proves to Sara that her mother hasn’t been reading her diary, or she would know Sara was still a virgin. Mama Saedi then explains that birth control pills can help clear acne, a condition Sara really struggles with. She has tried every possible remedy. Sara endures bullying and teasing because of her pimples as well as unsolicited advice from strangers. Taking birth control pills makes Sara feel cool even though she isn’t having sex. The hormones help clear her acne, but not enough. Sara’s skin improves only after two aggressive rounds of a potentially dangerous medication.

Sara’s over-large nose can’t be treated with drugs, so she wonders: Should she get a nose job? The question vexes Sara when she looks in the mirror. Mama Saedi and Samira have had nose jobs, a procedure common among Iranians. Fear holds Sara back from getting the surgery. She resolves to embrace her big nose with its Barbra Streisand nostrils. She still hates her nose but feels that it’s an essential part of her Persian self.

Summary: Frequently Asked Question #4: What is the deal with Iranian weddings?

Sara explains why Iranian weddings are so huge: to prevent family feuds over who gets invited. Weddings provide opportunities for people to dance and wear their best formal clothing. Sara claims that fancy weddings are an important Iranian contribution to American culture. She describes the traditional Iranian ceremony, in which the bride gets three chances to say yes while the groom gets only one chance. Sara admits that in real life, Persian women still wash dishes after dinner while men play games.

Analysis: Chapter Eight & FAQ #4

Saedi uses Sara’s struggle with acne to continue to explore the conflict between her American and Iranian identities. Sara’s acne bonds her with her American friends, who also struggle with zits. They share the experience of trying new treatments and medications, making their friendship stronger and giving Sara a sense of belonging. However, her skin problems leave her feeling like an outsider in her family and the broader Persian community. Acne is not something she has in common with her mother or siblings, and, unlike body hair and prominent noses, it is not typically a Persian problem. Strangers also comment on her skin, increasing her sense that her acne sets her apart. Saedi describes an episode when a particularly prominent pimple on her forehead makes her a target for xenophobic ridicule from a boy in her class, who asks her if she worships Gandhi. His comment compares the zit to a bindi worn by Hindu women. This comparison belittles Hindu faith by referring to a mark of devotion as a defect, and it also collapses Hinduism and Islam into an indistinct category. This insult shows how derisive comments typical among teenagers take on an additional layer of racism and hurtfulness when the person being mocked is seen as an outsider.

Saedi explores the role of beauty as an aspect of self-confidence and pride in Persian culture through her discussion of cosmetic surgery and wedding clothes. Sara is surprised when her parents offer Samira a nose job; their offer seems out of character, especially given her mother’s insistence that she can’t even pluck her eyebrows until she turns fifteen. However, while Sara believes that Samira is beautiful before the surgery and that her nose is different but not better afterwards, she notes how the nose job increases Samira’s confidence, an example of taking pride in beauty. In the section on Persian weddings, Saedi describes the pleasure that Persians take in wearing formal attire to weddings, noting that the only reason a wedding would allow for less than black-tie formality is to accommodate American habits. Saedi makes a tongue-in-cheek argument that formal weddings are superior to the American standard, illustrating that pride in dressing beautifully is an important aspect of Persian culture, one Saedi thinks Americans should adopt.

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