4.4 Inferiority Complex of the Jayazeris
Inferiority complex is described as a feeling which one has to be inferior in number or power. In the previous chapter, some examples of inferiority complex have
been described and shown caused by the backgrounds causing dependency complex. In this chapter, other examples are shown although there are no backgrounds
explained behind them. Since inferiority complex is a sign of dependency complex, this chapter will show and prove that the Jayazeris have dependency complex through
showing this sign. Dumas tells her father in most parts of the storis. She unconsciously tells that
her father got inferiority complex. He had spent few years and didn’t speak English
fluently. Then, it was discovered that he didn’t go out so often. What he did was staying in the library and reading a lot
of books, as Dumas 2003:9 tells, “We soon discovered that his college years had been spent mainly in the library, where he had
managed to avoid contact with all Americans except his engineering professors.” The reason of his staying in the library is that he avoided people there. There must be a
question why he did such thing. The answer is that he spoke English which most people there didn’t really understand and the result was that he got a kind of broken
heart as shown in this moment: “Somewhere between his thick Persian accent and his
use of vocabulary found in pre-World War II British textbooks, my father spoke a private language. That nobody understood him hurt his pride Dumas, 2003:9.” It
clearly shows that his inferiority complex was caused by his inability to be like the people there. He was unable to copy the accent of the native people of English. He
had a few English vocabularies. The result is absolutely that he felt inferior by staying in one place and avoiding meeting the native people.
One of the characteristics if one gets inferiority complex is that he tries to learn and even be the part of the native cultures as Fanon 1986:73 explains in his
book: “Then I will quite simply try to make myself white: that is I will compel the white man
to acknowledge that I am human.” The attempt to be part of the superior cultures is the attempt to get acknowledgement from the superior people. This
attempt is a proof that one gets inferiority complex. In Funny In Farsi, the father is told that he tried
to be the part of American cultures as Dumas 1986:14 tells, “In his attempts to embrace American culture, my father had joined the local bowling
league.” The father felt inferior, so he tried to be the part of American cultures. Another attitude that s
hows one gets inferior is that he doesn’t admit his race even is shy to show his racial identity. This is because she feels that discrimination
will come to him as shown by Fanon: “In other words, I begin to suffer from not being a white man to the
degree that the white man imposes discrimination on me, makes me a colonized native, robs me of all worth, all individuality, tells me that I
am a parasite on the world, that I must bring myself as quickly as
possible into step with the white world 1986:73.” Being non-white people will lead to the fear of being discriminated. Therefore, the
result is that they will pretend to be the part of the white as the superior. This attitude also appears in Dumas’s story when she tells that her mother was
proud and always gushed that she was also European eventhough she was completely Iranian. Dumas 2003:37 tells, “In Abadan, people always asked my mother whether
she was European. “Well,” she’d always gush, “my aunt lives in Germany.” “
Another moment which also shows this attitude is when Dumas tells that her having been covering as European would be broken if her mother spoke
in English. “As long as we didn’t open our mouths, we looked as if we belonged. But just one of my
mother’s signature rambling sentences without a verb “Shop so good very happy at Sears”, and our cover was blown Dumas, 2003:37.” This shows that she didn’t
want to be identified as Iranian and this proves that she and her mother felt inferior. The other moment that shows this attitude is when the hostage crisis happened in
Iran. The American began to discriminate Iranians living in the United States by joking and commenting everything bad about Iran. Fear appeared among the
Jayazeris and created their inferiority through this moment: “My mother solved the problem by claiming to be from Russia or “Torekey” Dumas, 2003:39.” They were
scared to admit their racial identity because they felt inferior. Not only the Jayazeris
but also many Iranians were attacked by fear due to discrimination as Dumas 2003:117 tells, “Many Iranians suddenly became Turkish, Russian, or French.”
Jealousy to other races also represents that one feels inferior. Being jealous means that one wants to be like another person which is higher than him to get the
acknowledgemen t from the higher person. It’s been described in the previous
chapters. This jealousy is represented in Dumas’s story when she felt that life was unfair because her husband’s life seemed perfect through this moment: “It was during
our friendship that I realized how unfair my life had truly been. Being French in America is like having your hand stamped with one of those passess that allows you
to get into everything Dumas, 2003:40.” Therefore, jealousy of Dumas shows that she felt inferior to be Iranian.
When one feels inferior, he wants to be acknowledged by the superior people. It’s clear that the result is that he wants to be like the superior people. One of the
ways to copy the superior people is changing his original name. Dumas 2003:63 tells, “When I was twelve, I decided to simplify my life by adding an American
middle name.” She wanted to make her life simple because his original name was
discriminated by the people there. Discrimination is kind of annoyance for everyone. That was the reason she changed her name. Later her brothers also changed their
names although they firstly thought that it was stupid policy. “My brothers, Farid and Farshid, thought that adding an American name was totally stupid. They later became
Fred and Sean Dumas, 2003:6 4.”
In conclusion, the Jayazeris got inferiority complex because they were scared to admit their racial identity because of the discrimination. So, the result is that they
wanted to copy everything about the superior people. The Jayazeris felt inferior in number and power. Feeling inferior in number was because Iranians were absloutely
fewer that Americans. Feeling inferior in power is because Iranians were discriminated by the Americans and they could’t fight back because they were fewer.
4.5 The Unconscious of the Jayazeris
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