In
Jasmine, the protagonist has somewhat
of a distorted sense of home. What is home to her is a combination of different
places as well as different people. From India to New York and finally to Iowa
she finds herself and begins her journey as Jasmine. Through her many different
experiences readers gain an understanding of what it’s like to be a lost girl
in a new place where you have to start over. Interestingly enough she
juxtaposes her life in India to her new life in Iowa. What she discovers
throughout much of the book is that some of the sufferings which herself and
her family endure in India is kind of similar to some of the suffering many of
the new characters in her life in Iowa experience. This parallel of worlds
begins right at the beginning: “We are just shells of the same Absolute, (15).”
Jasmine sees the similarities as well as the differences remembering this
saying by villagers and recognizing that although Iowa is a somewhat
drastically different environment there are important similarities.
One
of those similarities is when she tries to talk to Mother Ripplemeyer about her
world-class poverty stories. Although Mother doesn’t understand, they do have
similar experiences to share since Mother experienced poverty during the
Depression. In a way she tries to find connections among the people in Iowa.
She does that because she wants a new identity as an American in Iowa and if by
doing that she has to find connections to her roots to feel truly at home. “Jane
as in Jane Russel, 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
[Bud]. I don’t hold that against him. It frightens me, too (26).” She wants to
belong and feel at home and doesn’t want to be different, or foreign but “plain”
or ordinary. She witnesses racism and sees how Mexican immigrants are treated
and is somewhat connected to them. She understands what it’s like to feel
disconnected and “foreign” in a supposed safe (?) place. “I suppressed my
shock, my disgust. This country has so many ways of humiliating, of
disappointing. (29)” Jasmine addresses Du’s ignorant history teacher and his
comment about “trying a little Vietnamese” on him. The fact that she suppressed
her shock expresses her yearning to belong to the American society. She wouldn’t
dare address the teacher in fear she might upset him and in turn be an outsider
within her new community.
Throughout
the duration of the novel, Jasmine’s detest with America shows more and more. She says phrases like, “I wish I’d known
America before it got perverted (200),” referring to Bud and is misgnostic
ways. Another similarity between India and America would be the oppression of
women. Both Karin and Jane (Jasmine) are kind of victims of Bud’s wounded sense
of self, “Karin and Jane, wives of a wounded god. Who will say a mantra for us?
(215)” This parallel between two of Bud’s lovers/wives also draws a comparison
between India and America. These two women are not so different and have a
person in common. In a way Jasmine is pretty similar to Karin.
At
the end of the novel, Jasmine is faced with this inevitable conclusion. She
goes to Iowa because it’s safe and easy. She goes there to be Plain Jane. What
she discovers, is she isn’t Plain Jane and she must leave Bud because he
prevents her from truly being free in this supposed free land. “I am not
choosing between men, I am caught between the promise of America and old-world
dutifulness. A caregiver’s life is a good life, a worthy life. What am I to do?
(240)” Her answer is to choose the life of freedom, of discovery. Instead of
settling in Iowa as Plain Jane, she chooses to see the world in America as
Jasmine who is no longer afraid.
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