Kimberly Dru Pritchard

 June 25, 2006

The Metamorphoses of the Female Immigrant
in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine – Part II

            Upon further investigation into the metamorphoses of the female immigrant in the novel Jasmine, the plot thickens considerably as the novel’s main character not only adheres to the immigrant pattern, but several critics agree that the novel follows the pattern of a Hindu bildungsroman.  At the beginning of the novel, Jasmine enters the United States as a young, naïve, Indian widow intent on performing the Hindu ritual “sari” thus ending her life so that she may join her deceased husband. Yet, as the narrative comes to a close, the reader finds Jasmine reinventing herself for the fourth or fifth time as she enters a new relationship with one man while pregnant with another man’s child. This “soap opera-like” plot is actually an extremely complicated, intricately woven web that touches on subjects such as assimilation, psychological suicide and rebirth, violence as defining identity, the unbroken ties between the Old and New world, and the self-absorption of American life.

            The fact that Jasmine is able to reinvent herself several times throughout the novel leads critics to propose Mukherjee’s novel as a “unique form of a Hindu bildungsroman, where the body is merely the shell for the inner being’s journey toward a more enlightened and empowered subjectivity” (Leard).  Basically, Jasmine is a “fighter and adapter” who is perpetually in the process of remaking her self and her destiny (Leard).  Although Jasmine seeks freedom from traditional Hindu society when she makes her journey westward, the historical conflicts within her society determine the problematic constitution of Jasmine’s shifting identity.  For example, according to custom, should Jasmine remain in India, her life would entail “isolation in the ‘widow’s dark hut,’ on the margins of Hasnapur society.  For Jasmine, to live the life of a widow is to live a fate worse than death” (Leard). 

            Another critic labels Jasmine’s reinvention of self and her movement westward as “The Gold Rush Mentality” that allows her to profit from the “uncharted country of America” (Faymonville).  Not only does Jasmine travel across the country in a westward direction, but her movements parallel the pioneer’s search for gold and prosperity as they headed west during the California Gold Rush.  Jasmine develops characteristics of the American pioneer woman as she becomes a role model of self-reliance and feminine courage in a male-driven society.  Each time Jasmine establishes a new identity, the equilibrium of the fragile frontier society is disturbed and disrupted.  However, as a new pioneer who will follow the same fate as the earlier settlers, she, too, will be absorbed into the culture and become a true American (Faymonville). 

            In contrast to the suggestion that Jasmine’s character incorporates characteristics of the American pioneer woman is Michael Gorra’s 1989 review of the novel, “Call It Exile, Call It Immigration.”  He explains that instead of Jasmine following the path of the “gold digger” suggested by Faymonville that the novel is “as much as implicit criticism of the self-absorption of American life as it is a celebration of its inventive openness.”  Obviously, this idea opens an entirely new avenue for research and analysis.  Heretofore, the research focuses on Jasmine, a pioneer in search of the American Dream as well as Jasmine, independent and self-reliant, forging new identities as she assimilates into the American society. However, Gorra’s observation expands the possibilities of research on the novel as a commentary on American society, its values, standards and ethics.

            Perhaps one of the most striking articles providing a wealth of information regarding Jasmine’s constant self-reconstruction, also offers an amazingly cogent argument comparing Jasmine’s journey across the sea to that of the Mayflower pilgrims.  Author Suzanne Kehde, in her article “Colonial Discourse and Female Identity,” explains that Jasmine’s ‘first sight of America is no more attractive than Plymouth Rock was to the [Pilgrims]. Jasmine takes in ‘the two cones of a nuclear plant, and smoke spreading from them in complicated…patterns…rising sun, like a gray, intricate map of an unexplored island continent.’”  Jasmine’s entry into the New World leaves her unimpressed, to say the least.  Not only was the journey itself full of horrors, but her violent entry into America (whereupon she is raped and subsequently murders her attacker) obviously leaves her in a state of disillusionment if not complete psychological breakdown. Jasmine, like the Pilgrims, comes to the United States with a purpose, and even though her intentions are pure, she quickly learns that survival will entail a constant reassessment and reconstruction of self as she moves toward assimilation. 

            Kehde also emphasizes the colonial/post-colonial aspects of the novel in terms of Jasmine’s link to the Old World as she assimilates into the New.  The author explains that “the colonial discourse of the American myth and the metaphysical discourse of Hinduism disrupt each other continually.”  In fact, one may argue that Jasmine embraces the Hindu belief of reincarnation through her constantly changing identities. Unable to completely dismiss the traces of her former life, many of the experiences in her American life parallel her Hindu past.  In that spirit, Jasmine never really internalizes any one role.  She refuses to “settle into being [as] she is always becoming” (Kehde).  Yet, Jasmine takes life in stride even though her two worlds constantly collide.  She sees her new beginnings as the assumptions of new identities rather than just a new way of life.  Events that shape her life such as the oracle proclaiming her future of unhappiness, her widowhood at eighteen (which would have mandated a life of mourning in her native village), and her rape by Half-Face only serve to strengthen Jasmine’s resolve and determination to succeed on American soil. 

            In researching Mukherjee’s Jasmine, I found that the novel basically follows the prescribed pattern of the immigrant narrative. Furthermore, the account provides the reader the opportunity to experience the turmoil, violence, and hostility that the immigrant often endures because he/she is “other” in a foreign land.  Not only does Jasmine constantly change her identity in order to survive, but her world is filled with constant physical and psychological disruptions that alter her path toward wholeness.  This research also shows that Mukherjee’s narrative brings the reader into the world of the immigrant, the American Dream, the American Nightmare and all things in between.

Works Cited

Faymonville, Carmen.  “Mukherjee’s Jasmine.”  Explicator 56 (Fall 1997): 53-54. EBSCO.  22 June 2006.

Gorra, Michael.  “Call It Exile, Call It Immigration.”  The New York Times Book Review (September, 1989): 9.  Gale Literary Database.  22 June 2006.

Kehde, Suzanne.  “Colonial Discourse and the Female Identity:  Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine.” International Women’s Writing:  New Landscapes of Identity.  Eds. Anne E. Brown and Marjanne E. Gooze.  Greenwood Press, 1995.  Gale Literary Database.  22 June 2006.

Leard, Abha Prakash.  “Mukherjee’s Jasmine.”  The Explicator 2 (Winter 1997): 114-117. Gale Literary Database. 22 June 2006.