Jasmine's Assimilation

A detailed Summary of Jasmine's Assimilation

The book Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee touches on many different aspects of the life of an immigrant. From the struggles of traveling, to love, to confusion in identity, Jasmine experiences it all. The most prominent theme though of this book is assimilation. Does Jasmine ever truly escape her old Hindi ways? Or has she really become the American that she desires to be? It is clear throughout the story though, from her experiences in Florida with Lillian, to her life with Professorji in New York, her life with Taylor, Wylie, and Duff, all the way until her life with Bud and Du, Jasmine is never able to fully abandon her old Indian life, and replace it with a new, all-American life.

Jasmine's first adventure in America takes place in Florida, where she is still encompassed by her old life. First, Jasmine experiences a terrible rape. Once over, she symbolically ends her old life in honor of starting a new one. However, Jasmine chooses to still keep her Ganpati, a symbol of Indian culture and religion. She is unable to fully let go of her life in Indian and start a totally complete new life. As Jasmine is saved by a woman named Lillian, she is taught how to become American. From her w

As Jasmine travels to New York, it becomes even more evident that she has not assimilated into American culture. In fact, the life she lives with Professorji is exactly like the lives of those who live in India. Jasmine despises this life, and feels trapped, since she does not have the resources to move on. Regardless though, Jasmine chose to live this life so similar to the life she lead in India. The fact that in times of trouble she runs to an Indian family, shows that that is where she still feels comfortable, and taken care of. In fact, Jasmine did have other options rather than living with Professorji, yet she remained with him and his family for a substantial amount of time. Perhaps it is because Professorji is a reminder of Prakash and the good life she had in India, but Jasmine does feel some sense of comfort in the very Indian apartment. It is only until a chain of unfortunate accidents (the parents getting hurt, seeing that Professorji was really not successful, etc.) did Jasmine choose to explore her other options.

alk to her talk, Lillian explains it all, as if it were schooling, on how to act American. One can teach a person to act differently, but that does not mean that they are fully changed on the inside. From Florida, she travels North, in hopes of finding comfort in New York with her late husband's professor and his family.

All through out the book, Jasmine's life in America, has somehow been similar to her life in India. In each location she has lived, while it may have started out or appeared to be American, in the end, they all end up where she is the succumbing housewife-like woman. While she may want to be Am

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Approximate Word count = 1119
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English