Kjome Michael April 10, 2009 Jasmine Essay Exam II Rewrite FORTUNE In Bharati Moukherjee novel Jasmine the central character fights between the concept of fate and free will, she uses these concepts to create identities for every point in her progression through life in America. The story of our main character is told in a 3-12-4 sequence. Where we meet her in Iowa and as she reveals her past through flashbacks from childhood, to young adulthood, and then to present day we see this 3-1-2-4 sequence. Helping us to understand the development of struggles and identities she creates to face her fate. Fate and free will has religious, ethical and scientific implications. The religious aspects imply that omnipotent divinity does not assert power over individual will and choice. Ethics would imply that individuals could be held morally accountable for their actions. Whereas the physical properties relate to the actions of the brain and mind are possibly determined by physical causality. Free will is based on the belief that there is a fixed and natural order to the universe. My grandmother may have named me Jyoti, Light, but I was already Jane, a fighter and adapter (40). Jasmine struggles with these elements very quickly into her story and constantly through out her journey to find herself. Religion has a dominating role in the life of Jasmine. It implies that divine power determines the path rather than individuals. In the traditional sense Jasmine is very much tethered to fate. At the beginning of the first chapter she is confronted with her destiny, told she will lead a life of widowhood and exile (3). We are lead to see that traditional roles portrayed by the astrologer who in most circumstances is though to have divine power and insight. Interestingly enough Jyoti refuses to accept this prediction, to defy Gods plan. She is struck and coincidently given a scar that she refers to as her third eye. Usually thought of as a mystical concept symbolizing enlightenment with spiritual significance, the juxtaposition of fate and free will in this situation forces the audience to keep in mind the struggle and place each take in everyday life. For Jyoti to reject fate and in return given the gift of a third eye directly correlating to free will that Jyoti fights so hard to maintain. She is proud of the scar and feels the connection to free will. Also, religions role in the Indian village of Hasnapur is heavy. We see this after Jyoti is attacked by a wild animal, she returns to the village and Dida states very bluntly all it means is that God doesnt think that your ready for salvation. Individual effort counts of nothing. (57). After the girls write her off, Dida leaves defeated to ashram. Although Dida only takes into account Gods will in the altercation, Jyoti disregards the role that fate has in this situation, attributing her survival to her individual actions and the actions of the other women of the village. She feels that free will saved her own life in the fight, not the intervention of a higher being. Later in one of Jasmines reflections we see that her father dies in a bull attack. She refers to this occurrence, as Gods will. There is a very strong stance that it was fate. Jasmine recollects that it is possible for Gods plan may have only wanted her father crush a piece of gravel, or his death was to have an impact on her and shape her actions. This is one of the most focal portions of the story where instead of fighting fate she embraces it. We feel that she accepts her fathers death as the
divine plan. Religion has its most prevalent role in this discussion. We see in Jasmines has a mixed concept of fate and free will. That when it comes to a religious outlook there is very much a place for God in every individuals life. It is clear that the religious tone of fate v. free argues solely for fate. God has a plan for the individual and although everyone has the power to take action, it is predetermined and accounted for. The religious aspects argue that the circumstances involving survival can be attributed to God although Jasmine does takes an active role. The ethical and scientific role takes the individual into account for their actions and the actions of the physical causality. This is much different than the religious role and more in line with Jasmines struggle for free will. One of my favorite but often looked over quotes of this story is towards the beginning where Ethics would imply that individuals could be held morally accountable for their actions.
Page 29: There are no harmless, compassionate ways to remake oneself. murder We who we were so we can rebirth ourselves in the images of dreams. All this I should have
explained to the red-faced, green-shirted, yellow-tied Mr. Skola. Instead I said, Dus first few weeks with us, my husband thought we had an autistic child on our hands! Page 40: I survived the sniping. My grandmother may have named me Jyoti, Light, but I was already Jane, a fighter and adapter. Page 44: The naked light bulb swaying at the end of a braided cord was magic! With my palm on the light switch, I felt totally in control. Page 57: they brought me home and made a fuss over me. Dida said, all it means is that God doesnt think that your ready for salvation. Individual effort counts of nothing. The next day defeated, she left for her ashram. Page 59: the lord lends us a body, gives us an assignment, and sends us down. When we get the job done, the Lord calls us home again for the next assignment. Page 77:He wanted to break down the Jyoti Id 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. Youll quicken the whole world with your perfume. Jyoti, Jasmine: I shuttled between identities. Page 97: A bull and a bomb have made them widows, mother and daughter! How they must have sinned to suffer so now! Page 117: The bathroom steamed like a smoke house. I reached into the pocket of my salwar for Kingslands knife. Until the moment that I felt its short, sharp blade to my throat I had not thought of any conclusion but the obvious one: to balance my defilement with my death. I could not see myself in the steamed-up mirror only a dark shadow in the center of the glass. I could not see, as I had wanted to, an arm reached to the neck, the swift slice, the end of my mission. Page 127: Reincarnation Page 145: I could not admit that I had accustomed myself to American clothes. American clothes disguised my widowhood. In a T-shirt and cords, I was taken for a student. In this apartment of artificially maintained indianness, I wanted to distance myself from everything Indian, everything Jyoti-like. To them, I was a widow who should show proper modesty of appearance and attitude. If not, it appeared I was competing with Nirmala. Page 163: I looked into his bead little eyes, his ugly wattled face. Sam, I thought, were both a long way form home, arent we? Whatll we do? Look after little girls? There is no going back, is there? Page170: I could not imagine a non-genetic child. A child that was not my own, or my husbands, struck me as a monstrous idea. Adoption was a foreign to me as the idea of widow remarriage. Page 176: Taylor called me Jase as he stumbled around the kitchen in his wrinkled kimono and ate Grape Nuts cereal standing at the counter. I can still see him smiling his goofy smile at Duff and me, and managing to spoon some of the cereal into his beard. Page 176: I like the name he gvae me: Jase. Jase was a woman who bought herself spangled heels and silk chartreuse pants. Page 176: Last Paragraph shows her progression through identities. Page 197 3paragraph Page 214: At school they say Dus doing so well, isnt he, considering. Considering what? I want to say. Considering that he has lived through five or six languages, five or six countries, two or three centuries of history; has seen his country, city, and family
butchered, bargained with pirates and bureaucrats, eaten filth in order to stay alive; that he has survived every degradation known to this century, considering all those liabilities, isnt it amazing that he can read and Condensed and Simplified for Modern Students edition of A Tale of Two Cities? Page 215: I never belittled Taylor and Wylies three locks with three separate keys. Many things, even disparate tings, are reminding me of Taylor. Has he found Duff another day mummy, a Letitia, some Caribbean make-over to replace his Jase? I whisper the name, Jase, Jase, Jase, as if I am calling someone I once knew. Page 218: I dont wait to hear the rest. Im out in my Rabbit worried that Buds gotten home and not found me or Du, worried that the frontier of madness is closer than I guessed. Hes standing at he back door, still ranting, You can run, Jane, but you cant hide from the truth. Im the truth. Page 227: His therapist said amputees sometimes scream from the terrible pain in their absent limbs. Its called phantom pain. Bus will suffer pain from muscle memory; the loss of function, the memory of muscles that have died. Page234: Darrels suicide Chapters 9: Chapter 15: Jasmine makes her way to the United States