A Cultural Sponge.

I am a cultural Sponge, a person who has always had an interest in learning about other cultures. When in a different cultural landscape I tend to absorb certain behaviors, certain tendencies that reflect the cultural context that surrounds me. This is why when I arrived in Spain, anxious to experience the Spanish/ Basque culture first hand, I immediately delved into their way of life, taking on a new a personal identity; everyday balancing life as an African American immersed in a Spanish culture. During my last day in Spain I sat on a bench with Jon, a Spanish friend I became well acquainted with during my stay, reflecting on the memories we had spent together. I sat with him, with tears streaming down my face, knowing that I would miss a place I came to call home. It was then he asked me if I would consider living in Spain after graduation. At a loss for words, I began to question if I was adept to living in another country indefinitely. I began to think of individuals who grow up in their native countries well into adulthood, and later move into a completely new cultural landscape. The thought of how I would maintain my identity living in a new country for a long period of time begin to take form. Now, as I began Bharati Mukherjee’s novel titled “Jasmine” the voice of the immigrant who arrives in a new country in pursuit of a new life, is recognizably heard.

America is known at the “Land of Opportunity” (it is also known as the land where pop stars make millions, while millions of homeless individuals roam the streets, but I digress). That is why as a native of India, Jasmine the protagonist of Bharati Mukherjee’s novel, arrives in the Unites States with the hope that she may free herself from the hindering circumstances imposed on her by her native land. At the tender age of 24 Jasmine finds residence in Baden Iowa as the wife of a middle-class farmer and attempts self-transform her identity in order too to assimilate into American culture. Why exactly Jasmine decided to find new life in the United States is unclear, but we do know that there is truth the character seems avoid. During a conversation with her mother-in-law Jasmine quotes:

“She wonders, I know why I left. I tell her, Education, which is true enough. She knows there is something else. I say, I had a mission. I want to protect her from to much reality” (p.9)

In order to escape from this reality, Jasmine buys into the American Dream, perhaps it was the same dream described by Thomas Wolfe that "…to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity ….the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him." However for Jasmine this dream is flawed. Mukherjee demonstrates the difficulties Jasmine faces in her attempt to embrace self-transformation in the midst of individuals who constantly scrutinize her because she is different, promoting waves of self-consciences. Even her husband Bud, makes references about her foreignness, she quotes “My genuine foreignness frightens him. I don’t hold that against him. It frightens me, too.” (p. 29)

Adhering to a new set of cultural norms and completely transforming one self is not the only way in which a migrant may choose to find belonging. In an article by Mukherjee titled “Two Ways to Belong in America” (1996) published in The New York Times she describes herself much like the character Jasmine, in which she “surrenders thousands of years of ‘pure culture.’ the saris, the delightfully accented English” in effort to embrace fluidity and to reinvent her identity. Mira, her sister on the other hand, elects to live with a sort of cultural balance, as an expatriate Indian who clings passionately to her Indian citizenship in effort to maintain, instead transform her identity.  

After I gave further thought to the idea of living in Spain I realized that I simply was not in search for a new cultural landscape. I enjoyed experiencing the Spanish culture for the time I was there, however my personal niche, my true belonging lies in America (Although there is a piece of many cultures that will forever be with me). I learned however that finding belonging in a new cultural setting can be a very challenging, confounding experience for anyone. I imagine The “Miras” of the world may perhaps struggle with the balance of asserting their native identity while residing in a dissimilar cultural context. While the “Jasmines” or the “Bharatis” of the world, will find the assimilation process a bit arduous as they attempt to renounce their native culture in the midst of those who constantly cripple their initiatives to assimilate. In the end however, I hope that both individuals find there own since of belonging in the world, whatever form or shape that belonging may manifest.