Virginia D. Lively
Professor White
Literature 5733
23 July 1999

Three Immigrant Types in Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine

The complex journey of immigration and the hardships immigrants undergo are common themes in Bharati Mukherjee's writings. The author, an immigrant herself, tries to show the darker side of immigration, especially for Hindu women, that is not often portrayed in other immigrant narratives. In the novel, Jasmine Mukhedee uses three types of immigrants to show how different the hardships of adhering to life in an adopted country can be. Her main immigrant characters fall mainly into three categories: the refugee, the hyphenated immigrant, and the chameleon. The refugee immigrant type is seen in Jasmine's father, Pitaji and in the Proffessodi and his wife, Nirmala. The character Du is representative of the hyphenated immigrant, and the chameleon immigrant type is that of the main character of the novel, Jasmine. By discussing the various types of immigrants the author has portrayed in the novel and the importance of names for each type, with an emphasis on the main character, Jasmine, the immigrant experience will be seen not as a generic journey that is similar for all people, but is instead a profoundly personal affair that is affected by that person's past life experiences and beliefs. The first type of immigrant, the refugee, is characterized by a longing for the homeland. Mukherjee explains the difference between an immigrant writer and an immigrant/refugee writer by showing the contrasts between herself and another Indian writer, V.S. Naipaul:

Mukherjee shows this type of refugee most strongly in the character of Jasmine's father, Pitaji. Jasmine's family was forced to flee from the city of Lahore and the life of luxury they livd6)n Lahore my parents had lived in a big stucco house with porticoes and gardens. They had owned farmlands, shops .... In our family lore Lahore was magic and Lahore was chaos" (Mukherjee 36). Pitaji is unable to cope with the loss of prestige and so, instead of adapting to country life, tries to hold on to the remnants of his past. "My father was a man who had given up long before I was born .... Except when it was absolutely necessary to plant or to harvest, he would lie on a charpoy under a flowering jasmine tree all day .... After fleeing Lahore, Pitaji had been cast adrift in an uncaring, tasteless, corrupt, coarse, ignorant world" (Mukherjee 36-37). Although Pitaji never leaves India, he has lost the life he once knew and is a refugee in a new lan$he refuses to adapt t6,

Like Pitaji, the Proffessorji and his wife Nirmala also refuse to adapt to their new surrounding. Despite living in America, the Vadheras create a small version of India in Flushing that is unnerving to Jasmine during her stay with them. "Flushing, with all its immigrant services at hand, frightened me. 1, who had every reason to fear America, was intrigued by the city and the land beyond the rivers. The Vadheras, who would soon have enough to buy a small apartment building in Astoria, had retired behind ghetto walls" (Mukherjee 128-129). By indulging in all things Indian, the Vadheras never had to face the alien life that awaited them outside of Flushing. "They had Indian-food stores in the block, Punjabi newspapers and Hindi film magazines at the corner newsstand, and a mo~every night without having to dress up for it. They had a grateful servant who took her pay in food and saris" (Mukherjee 129). However, by staying in the safe, comfortable walls of Flushing, the Vadheras never truly experience the freedom that Jasmine finds at the end of the novel. Instead, they are caught in limbo, never breaking out of the past. The Proffessorji even retains his academic title to uphold his ego, even when Jasmine discovers that he does not work for a university, but instead spends all day Sorting hai~> nstead of adapting to his new life, the Proffessorji retains his now defunct title and all of the past prestige that is attached to it.

Unlike the Proffessorji, the character Du in the novel is a master at living in the present and retaining his past. A refugee from Vietnam, Du is adopted by Jasmine and Bud. He functions well in American society, but also keeps his ties to the Vietnamese community as well, much to the suprise of Jasmine, who begins to understand the profound difference in the way she and Du have adapted to America. "I am amazed, and a little proud that Du had made a life for himself among the Vietnamese in Baden and I hadn't had a clue. Aside from my Dr. Jaswani and from Dr. Patel in Infertility, I haven't spoken to an Indian since my months in Flushing. My transformation has been genetic: Du's was hyphenated" (Mukherjee 198). Even Du's name shows his hvphenated state, unlike Jasmine who constantly changes her first name to reflect her new surroundings, Du simply adds a different last name to his. Du is a survivor throughout the novel, and Jasmine begins to realize that his strength comes from his ability to hoarb haven't figured out the what and why of Du's hoarding. Or maybe that's the point: exclude no option; someday your life may depend on the length of twine you squirreled away in your desk drawer' (Mukherjee 201). Just as Du hoards his past to prepare for any problems that lie ahead of him, Jasmine instead discards her former experiences in order to face the future.

Anne Brewster, in her essay "A Critique of Bharati Mukherjee's Neo-nationalism" sees the chacter Du as typical of "Mukherjee's romance of immigration and vision of a New World of democracy, freedom and unlimited possibility..." (5), poised to "'inherit' America" (5). She describes Du's leaving of Jasmine and Bud as that of leaving the old world, much like Jasmine leaves behind the caregiver role at the end of the novel (5). What Brewster misses is that Du does not leave behind his past (Jasmine and Bud) for his future (California). Rather, Du is rejoining the sister who kept him alive in Vietnam. Du never forgets what he had gone through to survive and is merging his family to his future. In fact, Du writes Jasmine later in the novel to tell her he has dropped out of school in order to help the sister that once helped him survive. Du does not forsake his past in order to create a new future, but chooses to help those who enabled him to become an immigrant, unlike Jasmine who cuts all ties and reinvents herself in times of trouble.

By discarding parts of herself, Jasmine typifies the chameleon type of immigrant found in Mukherjee's Jasmine. In an interview, Mukherjee talks of how Jasmine and immigrants like her must shed parts of the self in order to adapt and survive:

This chameleon-type behavior is typical for Jasmine throughout the novel. She constantly reinvents herself in order to fit whatever situation she currently finds herself in. This adaptation is most easily seen in the various names that she uses throughout the novel. The name changes throughout Jasmine also herald the changes in relationships Jasmine experiences as she grows from a traditional village girl to independent immigrant. All in all, Jasmine uses eight different names as her story progresses, and she ends the novel nameless, leaving her life story yet unfinished.

Born in India, Jasmine is first given the name Jyoti, or Light, by her grandmother. Jyoti does not suit her, for she was not a bright spot in her parent's lives: "If I had been a boy, my birth in a bountiful year would have marked me as lucky, a child with a special destiny to fulfill. But daughters were curses" (Mukherjee 34). Her mother tries to strangle her at birth, and leaves Jasmine with dark bruises around her throat, a sharp contrast to the "Light" she was supposed to be. It seems that Jasmine never truly accepts her birthname, for she remarks that "My grandmother may have named my Jyoti, Light, but in surviving I was already Jane, a fighter and adapter" (Mukherjee 35). Despite her brutal birth, Jasmine is raised in a family that does feel affection for her, and she understands that her mother tried to kill her, not out of hate, but of love. "My mother was a sniper. She wanted to spare me the pain of a dowryless bride. My mother wanted a happy life for me" (Mukherjee35). Her brothers, Hari-prar and Arvind-prar, are proud of her abilities in school and are not jealous of her intelligence. Her father, Pitaji, allows her to stay in school longer than most girls, although he does so not out of admiration for her talents, but rather because her male teacher persuades him to let her continue her studies. Jasmine's relationship with her father seems similar to her attitude toward her birthname; neither had any direct influence upon her life beyond the surface, and neither are used or seen much in the novel. Pitaji dies still a refugee from his beloved Lahore, and Jasmine soon moves on to another name.

The next name Jyoti/Jasmine is given in the book is Jasmine, also the title of the novel. Her husband, Prakash, names her so in order to create his ideal wife. "He wanted to break down the Jyoti I'd been in Hasnapur and make me a new kind of city woman. To break off the past, he gave me a new name: Jasmine. He said 'You are small and sweet and heady, my Jasmine. You'll quicken the whole world with your perfume"' (Mukherjee 71). It is interesting to note that Jasmine has once again been given a name not of her own choosing, and one that does not fully suit her. She does decide to marry Prakash, but he seems to value her more for her beauty and intelligence at first. As their relationship ages and matures, Prakash does begin to admire Jasmine's mind as well. Jyoti, the name, begins to stand for the village girl that Prakash has transformed into his wife, and he chides Jasmine for thinking like Jyoti. "He laughed again and told me to stop regressing into the feudal Jyoti. 'You are Jasmine now"' (Mukherjee 83). Even after Prakash's violent death, she hears him trying to keep-fier as Jasmine, his creation: "Don't crawl back to Hasnapur and feudalism. That Jyoti is dead" (Mukherjee 87).

It is interesting to note that although Prakash has passed away, in Jasmine's mind he is still trying to repress the Jyoti part of her. Jasmine does not go back to the village, but instead travels to America in order to fulfill her husband's dream of immigration. Her goal once she reaches America, however, is vastly different than that of attending college as Prakash one dreamed of. "I had planned- it all so perfectly. To lay out the suit [that belonged to Prakash], to fill it with twigs and papers. To light it, then to lie upon it in the white cotton sari I had brought from home" (Mukherjee 104). Jasmine is not coming to America to follow the American Dream of "Life, Liberty and Happiness", but rather to fulfill the traditional role of the Indian widow who flings herself onto her husbarp uneral pyre. This mission shows that despite Prakash's best efforts, Jyoti still remains a part of Jasmine. In the end, it will be when Jasmine is raped in America and the beloved suit and white sari defiled by the man's fingers that she gives up her death wish and instead begins to make a new life for herself.

As Jasmine continues on her journey in America, she meets Lillian Gordon, a woman whose personal mission in life is to help "Americanize" illegal immigrants in practical, common ways. "She wasn't a missionary dispensing new visions and stamping out the old; she was a facilitator who made possible the lives of absolute ordinariness that we asked for" (Mukherjee 117). Under the tutelage of Lillian. Jasmine learns how to avoid detection by the immigration authorities by acting like a native. Lillian also Americanized her name, giving her the nickname of "Jazzy". With her new nickname, Jasmine slowly gains confidence in acting American, even if it is at the loss of her traditional values she had as Jyoti. "Jazzy in a T-shirt, tight cords and running shoes. I couldn't tell if with the Hasnapuri sidle I'd also abandoned my Hasnapuri modesty" (Mukherjee 119). Jasmine and Lillian soon part ways, as Jasmine decides t6get in touch with the Indian Professor her deceased husband knew.

The nickname Jazzy does not replace Jasmine's name for long. As soon as she enters the Professor's home, the restrictions and boundaries of her past life begin to entwine her once more. Although the Professor and his wife, Nirmala, accept her, as tradition dictates, they and their surrounding family place her back into the powerless role of widow. During this time in the novel, Jasmine is referred to only as Nirmala's "cousin-sister". Up to this point, Jasmine's name changes become increasing more American. When those names are taken from her, it is as if she is being forced to forget all of the experiences she has gone through to survive. Indeed, as Jasmine's stay with the family continues, she feels an increasing panic welling within her: "I felt my English was deserting me .... Nirmala brought plain saris and salwar-kameez outfits for me from the shop so I wouldn't have to embarrass myself or offend the old people in cast-off American T-shirts. The sari patterns were for much older women, widows .... I wanted to distance myself from everything Indian, everything Jyoti-like" (Mukherjee 128). Having experienced the freedom of being an American named Jazzy, Jasmine has not intentions of returning to the restrictive life she grew up in. As the American way of life continues to beckon to her, she leaves the professor's family and contacts Lillian's daughter, Kate.

With the help of Kate, Jasmine continues to transform herself into an independent American woman. Kate finds work for Jasmine as an a4air for Taylor and Wylie Hayes. It is in their company that Jasmine feels like she truly belongs in her adopted country, and she soon finds herself in love with Taylor and the new name, Jase, that he gives her. "I liked the name he gave me: Jase. Jase was a woman who bought herself spangled heels and silk chartreuse pants" (Mukherjee 156). The addition of a steaay income adds to Jasmine s transformation: "I should have saved; a cash stash is the only safety net .... Jyoti would have saved. But Jyoti was now a sati-goddess; she had burned herself in a trash-can-funeral pyre behind a boarded-up motel in Florida. Jasmine lived for the future, for Vijh & Wife. Jase went to movies and lived for today" (Mukherjee 156). Jasmine's life changes further when her young charge, Duff, gives her yet another name: Day mummy. When Wylie hears her daughter calling Jasmine "mummy", she is noticeably shaken, and the situation proves to be a foreshadowing of the breakup of the Hayes, with Jasmine replacing Wylie as both lover and mother.

Duff is not the only person in the novel to refer to Jasmine as "mother". When Jasmine leaves the Hayes and moves to Iowa, she becomes attached to the banker Bud Ripplemeyer and together they adopt Du. He refers to Jasmine simply as "Ma". Du manages to adapt to living in his adopted country, and though Jasmine sees him as her son, she is also in awe of his ability to survive. As Du leaves her for his sister in another city, she is torn between admiration and hurt that he is leaving her. "I want to say to him, You were my hero .... Suddenly I'm bawling. How dare he leave me alone out here?" (Mukherjee 198) Du is what Jasmine wants to be, a survivor able to make decisions on his own without guilt.

In leaving Taylor and Duff, Jasmine also leaves the name Jase and becomes Jane. Jasmine leaves the Hayes, not because of ill feelings, but because she recognizes the man who killed her husband back in India talking to Duff, and fears for the safety of Taylor and the child. Her flight into Iowa is a deliberate attempt to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Jasmine longs to be normal and to be far away from the exotic troubles of India that killed Prakash. "Bud call me Jane. Me Bud, you Jane. I didn't get it at first. He kids. Calamity Jane. Jane as in Jane Russell, not Jane as in Plain Jane. But Plain Jane is all I want to be. Plain Jane is a role, like any other. My genuine foreignness frightens him. I don't hold that against him. It frightens-me, too" (Mukherjee 22). Bud, confined to a wheelchair, tries to bind Jasmine to his side legally. Throughout the novel he begs her to marry him, and intensifies his pleas when they conceive a child together. Bud, however, unlike Taylor, never learns to accept Jasmine's foreignness, and she understands that he could not accept her past either. "There's so much about me he doesn't know, that might kill him to find out. The old Bud, the pre-Harlan Bud, I might have been able to tell. And then marry" (Mukherjee 189).

Bud is not the only Iowan to fall in love with Jasmine. Darrel is a young farmer who dreams of making his farm into a miniature golf course and entertainment center. He begins to fixate on Jasmine, and tries to get her to leave Bud for him. He longs for the difference he sees in Jasmine, even to the point of making her "Plain Jane" name into the more exotic Juh-ane. For Darrel, Jasmine is part of his dreams of escaping ordinary Iowa. "He doesn't want to be tied down to the farm, he doesn't want to live poor and die rich like his father and grandfather, he wants to fly away to Tahiti, to Mars, to the moon, he wants to make love to an Indian princess" (Mukherjee 192). Jasmine does not wish to hurt Darrel, but she still longs for the normalcy in Iowa and does not share in his dream of leaving the farm country. When Jasmine refuses Darrel's offer, he flies into a rage and frightens Jasmine. In fact, of all of the names Jasmine encounters, this is the only name she does not call herself. Her relationship with Darrel only exists in the young man's mind. In her fear, she reverts briefly back to the village Jyoti: "I mustn't show my terror, I must pull out gradually, waving. I must not raise the dust between the elders and the maples" (Mukherjee 194). Jasmine is unable to deal with his anger, and so leaves him to his broken vision. Darrel, unable to continue now that his dream in tatters, hangs himself on his farm.

With the suicide of Darrel, Jasmine tries to regain the sense of security that she once felt in Iowa with Bud, and her dream of being "Plain Jane". "Maybe things are settling down all right. I fhink maybe I am Jane with my very own Mr. Rochester, and maybe it'll be okay for us to go to Missouri where the rules are looser and yield to the impulse of a drive-in chapel" (Mukherjee 211). Despite her efforts to regain the ordinary life she once thought she had, Jasmine is unable to forget Taylor and Duff and their promise to come and get her. Increasingly, Jasmine longs to be with her former family.

When Taylor and Duff do finally arrive in Iowa for Jasmine, Jasmine still fears for their safety from the terrorists she encountered in New York. However, Taylor is willing to start a new life in California with her. Ironically, this is where Du now lives as well. Jasmine longs to go with Taylor and Duff, but feels guilt over leaving Bud. "Bud's face, gray ghostly, bodyless, floats in narrowing circles around me" (Mukherjee 212). Suddenly, Bud no longer represents the ordinary life Jasmine longs for, but instead is as oppressive to her freedom as living with the Proffessorji and Nirmala was. Jasmine realizes this, saying "I am not choosing between men. I am caught between the promise of America and old-world dutifulness" (Mukherjee 214).

Impulsively, Jasmine decides to cast off the role of caregiver and start over again in California, and in doing so, drops the name of Jane for good. "it isn't guilt that I feel, it's relief. I realize I have already stopped thinking of myself as Jane. Adventure, risk, transformation: the frontier is pushing indoors through uncaulked windows. Watch me reposition the stars..." (Mukherjee 212). Jasmine finally decides to live the American Dream to the fullest, and begins her journey to the land of California to make that dream come true.

In the closing tnoMents of the nove~ps Jasmine leaves Iowa for the promise of a new state, she does not pick a new name for herself, nor does she return back to the name Taylor gave her, Jase. This lack of a new name leaves open all of the possibilities of the woman she is capable of becoming. It will be Jasmine who will finally pick the name of the person she will become. Jasmine throughout the novel realizes her names are tied to the men she loved: "I have had a husband for all of the women I have been. Prakash for Jasmine, Taylor for Jase, Bud for Jane. Half-Face for Kali" (Mukherjee 175). As she begins her new life with Taylor and Duff, she is able to shed those women inside her with her tears. "I cry into Tayloes shoulder, cry through all the lives I've given birth to, cry for all my dead" (Mukherjee 212). With the shedding of her past lives, Jasmine is finally free to live and choose her own path for the future.

In the novel Jasmine, Bharati Mukherjee describes in detail the changes immigrants undergo as they forge new lives for themselves in America. Some, like Proffessorji and Nirmala, never truly let go of their past lives, creating for themselves a world in America that is never really American. Instead of wanting to live the American Dream, they instead long for the mother country they no longer live in, and become refugees to that lost dream. Others, like Du, are able to be both the image of an American and yet always retain with them the memories of the world that they left behind. CDu never completely abandons his past, and so lives a life caught between two cultures, and is able to survive in bot~ Finally, immigrants like Jasmine find themselves constantly reinventing themselves in order to adapt to' their changing world. By showing how immigrants survive in unique ways, Mukherjee is able to throw of the concept of the generic immigrant and instead shows immigrants for what they truly are: individual people who cope the best they can with the new environment thrust upon them.

Works Cited

Mukherjee, Bharati. Jasmine. New York: Fawceft Crest, 1989.