"We murder who we were..." (Jasmine 29)

“I envy Bud the straight lines and smooth planes of his history,” (Jasmine 214). Bud, one of Jasmine’s later husbands, has never known anything other than his simple, straight forward identity as a farmer from Elsa County. Compared to this linear lifestyle, Jasmine’s complex past becomes visibly disheveled. Mimicking the turbulent history of the shifty wanderer the various contours of the narration oscillate continuously. Jasmine laments here, wishing she had more stability, more coherence to reflect back on. Her current husband knows nothing of the seeded past she so easily conceals from him and all those preceding him. Jasmine can only relate to her adopted son Du, who she feels has had a similarly chaotic life. Mukherjee, the author of Jasmine, evaluates these two Easterners and their American experience, and compares this multicultural existence to people that never knew life outside of their boarders of origin.

            This novel is a product of the blending of two distinct cultures: America and India. Mukherjee utilizes both American heroes as well as Indian figures of strength when defining her main character. Themes found in Mark Twain’s Huck Finn appear throughout the novel, as well as references to works by many others from the canon of American literature. Merging these classic canonized Americans with revered Indian gods exposes the full depth of Jasmine’s multicultural experience. “We’ve been many selves,” Jasmine explains about herself and Du (Jasmine 214). Each time she’s escaped one reality she adopts a new identity. This theme of reinvention is classic in American literature and must transcend into all cultures in some form or another.

            Many instances of Mukherjee’s tie between Western themes and her Jasmine emerged throughout the novel. Huck Finn, for example, was a young, underprivileged boy who was forced to reinterpret his society once he realized its prescriptions were incompatible with his own moral compass. As in Huck Finn, Jasmine deals with this same issue of personal morality conflicting with social norms. Huck is forced to reject his upbringing and all the stigmas against black rights during his time, and acknowledge that his friend Jim, an escaped slave, was indeed a human being, deserving the basic same rights. Jasmine notes how her new American neighbors, even her husband view Du, an escaped Vietnam refugee, as being well adapted “…considering,” (214). Rejecting this unspoken idea that her comrade is only doing well because he is a “quick study,” and not simply a fighting, exceptional human being, Jasmine reflects Huck’s mentality (Jasmine 29). Overall, this novel is relatable to all American participants due to its intertwined American themes.

            Indian morals are also implemented throughout the story. “A village girl, going alone to America… I must be mad! Certainly, I was,” Jasmine relates to the audience after rejecting the feudal lifestyle her mother and all the other Indian widows adopted (97). Even though she refuses to participate in their traditional remorse after loosing their husbands, she still agrees with her people that traveling to another country alone after her village upbringing is madness. Not only do Jasmine’s native morals expose themselves, but from time to time she refers to herself as having qualities of her country’s gods. When confronting her friend Darrel in his suicidal state, Jasmine remembers how she has, “… created confusion and destruction wherever (she) goes,” just as Shiva the form of the Hindu god that represents destruction throughout the universe (215). These themes from separate cultures mesh well together and seem universal when placed so close together. Mukherjee made a cohesive image out of pure randomness.