Juggling Jasmine's Identities

            When thinking about the American dream and cultural identity, I immediately think of my own family who emigrated from China to America.  My grandfather came to California to work on the railroad and to start a new life in America.  I am now the third generation that has lived in the U.S and I still feel that my family has retained a lot of its cultural identity.  At the same time a lot of our Chinese traditions have kind of been Americanized.  I believe that my family has mixed both Chinese and American customs and have still kept their cultural identity, but at the same time adapted to the American way of life.

             I feel in the novel, Jasmine, the protagonist Jasmine balances her cultural identities in a way that is very similar to my Chinese side of my family.  From the very beginning of the novel the reader can see that Jasmine still identifies with her Indian culture.  She refers to Hindu deities, like Brahma and Shiva.  Jasmine also still cooks Indian style cuisine.  On page 9, the reader gets a good idea of how Jasmine still holds to her native customs.  “People are getting used to some of my concoctions, even if they make a show of fanning their mouths.  They get disappointed if there’s not something Indian on the table” (9).  I liked how this quote kind of shows how people around her perceive her Hindi culture and expect her to have something Indian on the table. I think the people around her find her culture to be kind of weird and mysterious, but at the same time want to learn more about it.  This really seemed to hit home with me because a lot of people who come to our families gatherings expect or assume we will be eating Chinese food no matter what the occasion.

            Towards the end of this section when Jasmine is married to Prakash, you can see how she gains a new identity.  I feel this is a very important change in Jasmine’s life because she is caught between two cultural identities. On page 77, the reader can see the cultural transition that she makes.  “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.  Jyoti, Jasmine: I shuttled between identities” (77).

             This quote shows how Jasmine has gained a new identity.  I believe as the novel progresses she will reinvent herself multiple times and will have to deal with her new identities.