A Name Not Owned

            As a college student who has just gotten out of college, I realize that college has been the opportunity for many to re-invent themselves. They move off to a place where no one knows them. They move to a place that no one knows what they did in high school, who they hung out with, what sports they played, what clubs they were members of, who they slept with, who they bullied and who bullied them. Most likely, no one will find out about hidden secrets. Having a new identity can set a person free, give them a new sense of self.

            In Bharati Mukherjee’s novel, Jasmine, our character Jasmine has gone through four different names. These names seem to define a different part of our character’s life, as she disregards and tried to forget about her past, each time a new name a identity comes about. Our character goes from Jyoti Vinh, (her birth name and her identity with her home), to Jasmine, (her identity she shares with her first husband, Prakash), to Jase, (her identity she shares with living in New York with Taylor), and Jane, (her identity she shares with Bud Ripplemeyer of Iowa). She says, “I have has a husband for each of the women I have been. Prakash for Jasmine, Taylor for Jase, Bud for Jane. Half-Face for Kali.” (Jasmine, page 197).

            Jasmine has let these men rule her name; she doesn’t own her identity or have control of her life, it is the men that have been introduced to her life that over power her. Growing up in a culture that made her a peasant girl, she doesn’t know any better. In fact, she has even stated that she enjoys serving others over being in control of her own self, and her own life. I believe the fact that she has even put a spot in her life for the man that raped her and she murdered, Half-Face, and giving her the identity of Kali, (the goddess of destruction) really shows that these men whom walk into her life are able to take over and basically rule her.

            When Bud Ripplemeyer’s ex-wife comes into the story, Karin, she tells Jane that she dreamt of a tornado and explains to Jane that she was the tornado. Jane gets to a very low point in her life and feels this is true. “As Karin says, I am a tornado. I hit the trailer parks first, the prefabs, the weakest links. How many more shapes are in me, how many more selves, how many more husbands?” (Jasmine, page 215) Jane took Bud away from Karin. Jane walked into their life, after looking for a job at Bud’s bank. Bud made Karin very happy and then one day Jasmine walks in and Bud is head over heels in love with her. Bud leaves Karin for this exotic, younger, innocent girl. Jasmine begins to feel that she is destructive wherever she goes and all she wants to do is make others happy, she wants to please others.

Jasmine can’t be independent. As much of a sin as it is to remarry, she does. She needs someone there to please and to serve. She runs away from her past, and reinvents herself every time a new man walks into her life. These men are intrigued by her foreignness and they end up ruling her life and ruling her. She looses all self control and all abilities to rule her name.