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Rhetorical Reading Response: Born in Amrika by Mona Maisami

Rhetorical Reading Response: Born in Amrika by Mona Maisami

Written by: Mina Raines

Mona Maisami’s memoir, Born in Amrika (2003), suggests that a part of her culture is missing. She uses personal experiences and emotion to develop her memoir. Maisami’s purpose is to share her life experience in order to show her internal turmoil. Her intended audiences are first-generation Americans and, in a lesser sense, a general audience.

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I am delighted that Maisami has an interest in her culture. She wishes to know her Iranian culture. She shows an appreciation for the language and cuisine. She is pleased that she gets to serve the tea to her guests. Maisami is also proud of her current culture.  She is so proud of her American privileges and freedom that she wants her cousin to seek them as well. She assumes her cousin is jealous of her younger brother’s ability to blend in with the other kids at the park.

Emotions and personal experiences abound in Maisami’s memoir. The reader is annoyed when Maisami reflects on her overseas relatives comparing her to “an illiterate peasant’s daughter” who doesn’t even look like an Iranian. It is easy to empathize with Maisami when she writes “…Nina rushes over to her mother’s arms and begins whispering something in her ear.”
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Maisami draws the reader into the story using personal experiences that include a recognizable setting, the playground. Sometimes it is difficult to ask questions without offending. Maisami accidentally offended her cousin by asking “Don’t you ever get hot wearing a scarf and robe?” Maisami’s use of emotion and personal experiences allows the reader to empathize with her and see things from her point of view.

Works Cited

Maisami, Mona M. “Born in Amrika.” The College Dispatch, 6 Sept. 2003.

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