The Issue of Identity in Born Confused

           In the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier, the main character, Dimple Lala, is an Indian girl who has an extremely strict Hindi family. But living in New Jersey and seeing the "American" lifestyle makes her wonder about who she really is as a person. Her parents want her to be an obedient desi girl who gets good grades and will go into an arranged marriage, yet Dimple does not wish to do that at all. Also, Dimple is very insecure of her ethnicity, with her large hips and brown skin. Dimple idolizes her best friend, Gwyn, for she is blond and pale and skinny. Dimple has trouble accepting herself, and she is struggling to identify herself as an American or an Indian. The American part of her is rebellious and free, yet the Indian part is bone-crushing reality, in which Dimple has to abide by her parents strict rules. Dimple knows that not all American people are good people, but there seems to be such a glamorous quality about the people to her. Dimple isn't quite sure what category she falls under either, considering she is Indian, but living permanently in America. Yet all in all, the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier says a lot of the issue of identity.
          The first part of Dimple Lala's identity crisis is that Dimple wishes to be American so she can fit in in New Jersey at her high school. The so-called "All-American Golden Girl" is a girl with blond hair and blue eyes plus a slim figure. There are only 2 Indian kids in her entire school, so Dimple is often sadly an outcast among her peers. On her birthday, Dimple goes shopping for clothes with her mother as a tradition. Dimple insists on going into a trendy new store called Style Child that her best friend Gwyn often goes to. In Style Child, Dimple sees a white studded miniskirt that she falls in love with. But when Dimple tries on a size 0 and does not fit into it, she gets very upset and keeps telling herself that she has to fit into a size 0 although it is completely unrealistic for any 17 year old to be able to fit into a size 0. When Dimple finally discovers that she will not be able to fit into the skirt, she breaks down crying and gets very displeased. Dimple's situation is something many girls everywhere have experienced, yet Dimple's was to be a certain race. This shows Dimple's confusion with her identity and her longing to be something else but knowing that she can't.
            Another problem Dimple has with her identity is that she struggles figuring out whether she is Indian or American. She visited India when she was little but she can barely recall any memories from those trips. She has lived in America all her life and is friends with American people and has dated American men. Yet both her mother and father are Indian, so she is biologically Indian. She is expected by her parents to be an Indian girl who follows all Hindi customs. This makes Dimple understandably very confused about her life and who she really is as a person. The other Indian in her school is proud of his heritage and wears a turban to school with his head held high. Dimple labels him a freak and refuses to acknowledge him. Yet when Dimple goes home and away from her school and her extremely American best friend Gwyn, she is Indian again. It's almost like Dimple is living a double life because she is so confused with her identity. She doesn't which one to choose because one is the life she was born with and the other is the life she wants so badly.
          In conclusion, Dimple Lala is a girl stuck between the confining yet familiar world of her Indian home and the so-called exciting and new world of being an American teenager. She is on the verge of an identity crisis and wants to be an American but knows it is impossible. She expects herself to be an American teenager, because, after all, she was born in the United States, yet she is Indian because both of her parents and the rest of her family is Indian. One thing that shows Dimple's lost identity is how she desperately wants to be an American girl like her best friend Gwyn, but her all-real Indian side is holding her back. Dimple most definitely knows that Americans are not the perfect people, but she wants to fit in with the rest of the kids at her school. Another thing that shows Dimple's identity crisis is that she is frustrated being stuck between two worlds: her Indian one and her new American one. Yet all together, the book Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier teaches a lot about the issue of identity.