Limbo and Liminality in the Quest for Identity and Recognition in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine

Abstract

Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine, linguistically and culturally dissect an Indian woman’s journey from a small town of Jullundhar to the lofty highs of New York and to the ‘flat’ lands of Iowa. Jasmine, being etymologically true to her name even though it is not even her real name, at the first place is a creature of the void, who battles every single moment. At times with her relatives over a prospect-less marriage while at other, with her identity as the “other” in the land of English-speakers. Perpetually being infatuated with the language since her schooldays, the novel throws light on the development of Jyoti, the English-learner to Jase and Jane to her American lovers. The novel is rife with the identity of an Indian woman post partition, who would rather listen to Pakistani radio channels, the sophisticated Urdu of Pakistani-Punjab sounding more homely than the rustic Indian one. India’s obsession with English and the west is painstakingly laid out in the fore, this novel bearing witness, truth, and travesty to the subject’s affection for the master. The stark contrast between first and third world countries is laid bare, emphasising on the reason for ‘brain-drain’ and outflow of potential talent beyond the domestic frontiers. This paper’s aim is to decrypt the various stages at which the identity and fate of a threadbare Indian woman develops, especially that of the Punjabis, who for ages like other ethnic groups in South Asia have travelled for the sake of a better and brighter life abroad.