Reassurance from an Unfortunate Event

“This is the place I had chosen to die, on the first day if possible” (Mukherjee p. 120).  Jasmine speaks of her new home, America, in such a dark state.  Jasmine, the main character in the novel I am currently reading by Bharati Mukherjee has left her childhood home of India while carrying out her personal life mission.  Jasmine, who left her family behind and also left against the wishes of her mother, is trying to find herself and a better life for herself in the U.S.  Jasmine’s strength as a person is illustrated throughout the entire novel, her independence and her ability to live her life according to her own boundaries is quite evident.  This being said the event that takes place on Jasmine’s first night in America, I think best illustrates just how determined Jasmine is to survive and how convinced she is that better things await her in her future.

In chapter 17 Jasmine speaks first of her thoughts on taking her own life, it seems clear that she has pondered these thoughts on occasion but never acting on them because of her loyalty to the mission, her life mission.  She goes through many episodes and periods that provoke these thoughts of self-destruction; perhaps the effort she puts forth in order to survive is what keeps her desire to live.  I believe that the encounter she has on her first day in the U.S. is an example of how her desire and ability to overcome a hopeless situation creates a curiosity within Jasmine, where will this mission take her, where will this mission end.  Jasmine’s mission comes close to ending on several different occasions but some how Jasmine seems to overcome and persevere.

On Jasmines first day in the U.S. she is raped, leaving her in a very dark and low state of mind. Jasmine, who prays “for the strength to survive, long enough to kill myself” finds enough courage to free herself from these feelings by cutting the throat of her attacker (p. 116).  This wasn’t the first life she had taken, but under the circumstances and after considering how easy giving into the horror seemed to be, Jasmine, as she has done so many times before, takes her life into her own hands and makes something happen. 

The graphic episode of Jasmine murdering the man that raped her, in an intensified way illustrates early to Jasmine that her mission will be a difficult one.  I do believe however that events such as this help Jasmine continue on her journey, these events help drive her.  This event reassures Jasmine that she is on the right path, although this may not seem obvious at first one has to realize that the simple fact the Jasmine survives on her own in what could be described as the epitome of an under dog situation speaks bounds for what she is willing to do in order to complete her mission.  At this point in the novel Jasmine has yet to discover what the completion of her mission will consist of, but she has convinced herself that she has made the right decision as well as built up a sort of self confidence in herself and her ability to find whatever it is she is searching for within her new life in her new world.