Marjan's Universal Experience

The play English by Sanaz Toosi is set in an Iranian classroom where people of various backgrounds come together to learn English. This was a perfect setting for introduction of the character Marjan, who lived in the UK for 9 years before returning back to Iran. She was a very interesting individual and her belief that speaking English opens more opportunities for one has stuck with me. One of the things she said to Omid, her student, that really fascinated me was that speaking good English will become a reason for his success in future.  

That point of view was hard to understand at first, but diving deep into it made me realize that it was pretty valid. Since many English speaking countries like the USA provide a lot of opportunities for a person, especially those who immigrate, being fluent in English becomes a major factor in thriving in those countries. I was surrounded by many people who believed the same when I was in India. I had heard stories of various individuals taking an English exam like TOEFL or IELTS to open doors for them in other nations. This point of view, that foreign nations could improve ones life by providing more opportunities, was what primarily surrounded me until I came to the US. Just like Marjan realized that living away from ones homeland may create a dual identities for one, so did I. I started to experience what Marjan, and other immigrants to the US do, did: I discovered that a different version of a person may exist in the new nation. A version that is assimilated to the new country and its culture. 

Something similar happened with me. I wanted to assimilate to the American culture yet I wanted to retain my own heritage. While Marjan chose to stay on extreme ends of this spectrum, either being fully English or moving back to Iran, I chose something different. I decided to stay in the middle and maintain my connection with both and cultures and identities. What I did was my personal choice, but what I came to realize was that you only see all sides of something ones you experience it. That's what happened with Marjan, but not with her students, like Goli, initially who were learning English for the first time. And this description finally highlights the importance of experience that the author highlights.