Jasmine

          "Jyoti of Hapsanur was not Jasmine, Duff's day mummy and Taylor and Wylie's au pair in Manhattan; that Jasmine isn't this Jane Ripplemeyer... which of us is the undetected murderer of a half-faced monster, which of us has held a dying husband, which of us was raped and raped and raped in boats and cars and motel rooms" (Mukherjee 127). Throughout this course, we've seen many characters struggle with self identification. The struggle of self identifying so far has generally been presented as a conflict between oneself and the cultures around them. Often, there are other characters who oppose their identification. For Jasmine, however, the challenge of defining herself comes less from other's limitations of her, but from her own freedom to choose.

       Obviously, as an immigrant and a woman, Jasmine is vulnerable. There certainly are restrictions and obstacles she must face, but much of her internal conflict comes from her ability to change her identity as she travels around. Her freedom to choose her identity leads to doubt. Who is she really? I found the aforementioned quote especially interesting in this regard because of her repeating the word rape three times. While this reflects the ongoing abuse she faced, I also read it as all three of her main identities were inflicted with trauma in their own way. One of the problems that comes with a fluid sense of self is that you have to take care of all aspects of that self. In the novel, Jasmine must negotiate being Indian, but also somewhat racially ambiguous. She is an immigrant and a Middle American. She is Jyoti, Jane, Jase, and Jasmine. With the end of the novel she decides to leave Bud and start again with Du. Her movement towards another identity is a fitting end to a novel about constant change and the complications that come with it.

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