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In an attempt to speed up their green card process so they could finally fit in America, Sara's parents got divorced. This really upset Sara and her siblings. They thought there parents love story was one of true love and them having to de divorced was not acceptable. "When sixteen-year-old me, who'd suffered from chronic bouts of unrequited love, looked at them, all I could wonder was, Will I ever be this happy? And that's precisely why I was left emotionally discombobulated when I found out that my parents had secretly gotten divorced." (179 Saedi).

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"... it dawned on me: I am a spork. I'm the combination of two worlds and cultures. I may not be the most traditional or obvious choice. There may not be a built-in-slot for me in a standard utensil tray, but it doesn't matter. I don't need to fit into a compartment to be proud of where I've come from (however illegally) and where I am now." (266 Saedi)

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Sara Saedi told the story of how she moved houses and I think it made a very great comparison between her immigration and something everyone does at least once in their lives. "A month later, we moved into the Caden Village town houses right off the Camden exit on Highway 85 South. I didn't complain about the long drive to school, or the fact that we had to get bunk beds for my room so that my sister would have a place to sleep when she came home from college. I would even go on to make a new collage. If I had to name the piece, I'd call it: Resilience." (214 Saedi)

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Although her parents tried to keep their kids connected to Iran, they also let go parts of the Iranian culture. First of all, the Saedi family were all atheists. In Iran, their religion is Muslim and it is enforced. Women have to wear head scarfs and cover themselves. But Sara's parents decided that this wasn't something they wanted to carry to America. Lastly, Sara couldn't speak Farsi. Farsi was the language all her relatives back in Iran could speak. "...but I couldn't communicate much beyond the usual Farsi phrases..." (147 Saedi).

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The Saedi family fled their country due to the government and the ongoing war.

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"During that last stay in San Jose, she went on a walk, stumbled across a church service, and slipped inside. She couldn't understand what anyone was saying or doing, but she still wanted to observe and even dropped five dollars in the donation basket. I can imagine that some churchgoers may have been unsettled by this old lady in a head scarf hanging out among a bunch of Christians. But I'd like to think that they kept an open mind, like he always did, and that no one let the words 'Go back to your country' enter their thoughts." (106 Saedi). This shows how her grandma was open minded and wanted to learn, but she couldn't understand the service. The reasoning for this quote is mainly the last two sentences where she talks about how she is grateful her grandma only spoke Farsi because she can't help but think the worse. This is because Xenophobia is a big problem in America.

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Something the Saedi family would face in their lives was xenophobes. Sara recalled her other friend was an immigrant, however she was legal. She would shame people who came to American illegally. Sara never told her she was an illegal immigrant. She was fearful she would report her.

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I wanted to use her sister's nose job and this picture as symbolism. Her sister getting a nose job kind of felt like letting go of Iran and trying to conform. Sara chose not to get a nose job like her sister. She was stuck between her two homes and her two cultures.

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Sara's older sister got plastic surgery. Which is frowned upon by a lot of people in America, especially considering Samira was still in high school.

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Sara's older sister got plastic surgery. Which is frowned upon by a lot of people in America, especially considering Samira was still in high school.

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However, in Iran plastic surgery is extremely common and is a sign of wealth and something they are extremely proud of.

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Another problem Sara Saedi faced was here eyebrows. Unlike the other girls at school, Sara began to form a unibrow. This is a really easy fix, unless your Iranian. And it was a tradition in Sara's culture where the girls couldn't do their eyebrows until they were fifteen.

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A lot of American teenagers get jobs to be able to pay for things or help support their families. And they can get those jobs, however, for Sara Saedi it was a little more complicated. She had to get a working permit, which she didn't really understand the significance of.

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A lot of American teenagers get jobs to be able to pay for things or help support their families. And they can get those jobs, however, for Sara Saedi it was a little more complicated. She had to get a working permit, which she didn't really understand the significance of.

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"...then, when I get home, I got my social security card on the mail... Days [of our Lives] was really good." (21 Saedi). This was her diary entry from the day she got her working permit and social security number.

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The main struggle I wanted to focus on from the book, Americanized - Rebel Without a Green Card, was the difference from her American side and her Iranian side. I wanted to show how she struggled to fit in with both cultures because the other one was holding her back.

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The main struggle I wanted to focus on from the book, Americanized - Rebel Without a Green Card, was the difference from her American side and her Iranian side. I wanted to show how she struggled to fit in with both cultures because the other one was holding her back.

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"Even though my sister was one of the most popular girls in school, my friends and I didn't get invited to parties ad had long decided we were too cool to attend any of our school events. We rolled our eyes at every high school convention that society tried to shove down our throats. Pep rallies: 'LAME!' Football games: 'NO ONE CARES!' School dances: 'BOH-RING' I never admitted it to my friends, but I desperately wanted to participate in all of the above." (81 Saedi)

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"Even though my sister was one of the most popular girls in school, my friends and I didn't get invited to parties ad had long decided we were too cool to attend any of our school events. We rolled our eyes at every high school convention that society tried to shove down our throats. Pep rallies: 'LAME!' Football games: 'NO ONE CARES!' School dances: 'BOH-RING' I never admitted it to my friends, but I desperately wanted to participate in all of the above." (81 Saedi)

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This quote, contrast to the first one, shows one of the author's "normal" teenage struggles. This could be a struggle that American teens also face.

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"But I wasn't exactly convinced. That night, when I went to bed, I was no longer worried about eight-grade love triangles or whether it was possible that Clearasil was just an elaborate scam that gave insecure teens false hope. I was worried what my life would look like if I had to say good-bye to my friends and move back to Iran." (5 Saedi)

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"But I wasn't exactly convinced. That night, when I went to bed, I was no longer worried about eight-grade love triangles or whether it was possible that Clearasil was just an elaborate scam that gave insecure teens false hope. I was worried what my life would look like if I had to say good-bye to my friends and move back to Iran." (5 Saedi)

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This quote is from the beginning of the book that introduces her major struggle. She wasn't a normal American teenager, she was an illegal immigrant from Iran.