Properly Titled "Jasmine"

I sat in Mrs. Clements 5^th grade class with excitement. The seating chart had changed and I would now sit next to the love of my life, Terrell Thomas. That same day as Terrell and I would embark on a new life together, my pencil rolled on the ground and just as I leaned to pick it up I farted. When I thought my 5^th grade heart could bare more Terrell and his friends decided to give me the nickname me “Whoopee” (for whoopee cushion, kids can be so cruel). “Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, just tell them that” my mother had said. Armed with my mother’s advice, I choose not to embrace the nickname Terrell had given me, and I also decided that he would no longer be the love of my life. However now at the age of 22 I have with chosen to embrace my name as Jessica the name given to me by my family, and “Jess” or “Jet”, the names used by those close to me, and of course “Smax” the nickname given to me my sorority sisters.

Names are just names, ideas, concepts a label, but what matters is the extent to which we embrace our names and their associated roles. In the novel titled “Jasmine” by Bharati Mukherjee, the character of the story acquires many names, including Jasmine, Jyoti, Wife, Jane, Kali, Jase, Jazzy even Golddigger however the book is not tilted Jyoti nor is it titled Wife or Jane, Kali Jase or Jazzy. The book is properly titled Jasmine, because to the character of this story, Jasmine is a name  this is the name that truly identifies who she is.

In the beginning of the book her name is Jyoti, a name given to her at birth in a feudal Indian society in which she is to become nothing more than an obedient, submissive wife. However her husband Prakash who is favor of social reform encourages a new identity for Jyoti, and calls her Jasmine. The author writes:

    “He wanted to break down the Jyoti I’d been in Hasnapur and make me a new kind of city woman. To break off the past, he gave me a new name: Jasmine. He said, “You are small and sweet and heady, my Jasmine. You’ll quicken the whole world with your perfume (pg 77).”

However during this time in the story, the name is only passively given to her. It is a name shared between Jasmine and her husband as they dream of a better life for their future living in America, the dream of "Vijh & Wife." The character continues to shuttle between identities until her husband in killed and she finds herself living in New York fulfilling dream by living in America. When Jasmine lives with Taylor and Wylie as a caregiver for their daughter Duff, she begins to actively embrace her new identity as Jasmine (and variations thereof such as “Jazzy” and “Jase” just as “Jess” or “Jet” is for Jessica). It is during this time we see the identity of Jasmine start to take shape, she falls in love with Taylor, she falls in love with who she was around Taylor: humorous, intelligent, refined affectionate. Not illegal, not murderer, not widowed, raped destitute, fearful (pg 171).”

 Following the name of Jasmine from New York, is Jane Ripplemeyer wife of Bud Ripplemeyer of Baden, Iowa. Jasmine (or Jane) meets this identity after she flees from New York out of pure fear from being found out, after coming into contact with a man she believed was the same man who killed her husband Prakash. Though her life as Jane Ripplemeyer is content and secure, she finds that it is a life that lacks true happiness. Often reflecting of her life as Jasmine with Taylor her thoughts began to haunt her “Stop!” she says, “It’s Bud who tries to make me happy now (pg 198).” Life in America has been filled with many lessons for Jasmine. Not only has she realized her potential as a person filled with adventure, risk and transformation but she has also learned that she is in control of her own happiness and therefore develops a strong sense of self will. With this in mind she leaves Bud for Taylor, embracing herself as Jasmine in the search for newness.

Mukherjee's novel shows us that while it is important to acknowledge our past we should not let our past destroy us.  Life often presents us with circumstances that cause us to want to change flee, to redefine who we are. And so we may adopt new names or new identities- but we will always remain the same person to the extent that we are conscious of our past and future thoughts and actions. However, in the end who wants to actively embody a culmination of all past and future thoughts and actions? In order to retain her sanity as an act of hope, Jasmine chose names and associated identities to fit who she was during a specific moment in time. Though her life as Jyoti, Wife, Jane, and kali will forever be a part of her, she fully came to embrace and love herself as Jasmine- the adventurous, risk taker in search of newness living the dream of “Vijh and Wife.”