Jasmine Essay Questions

How does technology emerge as a major theme in Jasmine? What does technology represent to different characters?

Technology represents a new frontier for every character it touches in Jasmine; however, each character has a different ideal vision of what lies beyond the frontier for them. For Prakash, technology represents progress. He wishes to resist the feudal traditions and conservative culture of India, and the embrace of new technology is a movement towards progress and away from total dependence on the land. In this way, technology for Prakash has both personal and national potential. For Du, technology allows him to create his own little universe inside his bedroom. For Du, technology is a living thing. When Jasmine compliments him on his aptitude for engineering, he responds, "It’s not engineering. It’s recombinant electronics. I have altered the gene pool of the common American appliance" (156). He approaches his tinkering with a spirit of experimentation.

For Jasmine, learning circuitry is an exercise in hope, one step closer to Vijh and Wife, or Vijh and Vijh—the electronics business Prakash dreamed of opening in the U.S. Finally, for Darrel, who often fantasizes about opening up a Radio Shack franchise store, technology is a way out of agriculture, away from the stress of maintaining a family farm. Though his practical aptitude for it pales in comparison to Prakash or Du, the broader idea of automation represents a way out for him, an escape from Iowa and dependence on the land and the seasons.

Why might Dave Vedhera's generosity feel different to Jasmine than the generosity of the Hayeses?

Jasmine never denies that the Vedheras saved her in a time of dire need. However, while living there, she basically fulfills the role of maidservant. And she's happy to help, especially given that she lives there without having to pay rent or for food and clothes. But Dave Vadhera, despite his more progressive views than most of the men she grew up with in Hasnapur, still has his masculine, patriarchal pride. He never tells his wife what he actually does for a living, and when Jasmine finds him at work, he thinks she's purposefully undermining his position in the household. In addition to the interpersonal dynamics at play, living in Flushing feels to Jasmine like being stuck in Punjab. She isn't fully allowed to find her place in America because she can't even freely speak English. The Vedheras only speak Hindi in their home.

However, with the Hayeses, Jasmine is paid a wage. It's more money than she's ever controlled in her life. She has her days to herself, she's free to seek further education, and her skills are valued both economically and personally by the academic community at Columbia. She doesn't feel indebted to the Hayeses like she feels with the Vedheras.

How does Mukherjee critique American culture, specifically with regard to capitalism? Give examples.

Mukherjee subtly draws attention to the way captialism steamrolls over geography associated with trauma. A prime example is the Paradise Bay Resort Complex that replaces the abandoned motel, the barracks, and Lillian Gordon's home in South Florida where Jasmine first arrived when she came to America. Another example occurs in the detail of Du's T-shirt, the shirt he's wearing when he's brought to the Ripplemeyers' after his adoption is finalized. It says, "Aloha Y'all!" which is a combination of a Hawaiian word and a regional American word. The shirt is an artifact of the colonization of Hawaii that would probably cost less than five dollars at Walmart today.

How is the culture of American academia represented in the novel?

Mukherjee regards American academia with a critical eye, showing how the "learned" people in universities are just as likely to be prejudiced as the rural white Iowans that don't have stacks of degrees; their biases may look different, but they are biases nonetheless. Examples of this stance are expressed in the scene with Dr. Mary Webb, who assumes that because Jasmine is Indian, she's a vegetarian and a prime audience for Webb's tales of her reincarnation experiences. Jasmine also encounters a young grad student or professor in the waiting area of the OB-GYN's office who suggests that Jasmine's ethnicity makes her a more "natural" candidate to be a mother.

Jasmine goes by many names throughout the novel. What is the significance of each name? How do these name changes relate to identity and reincarnation?

Jyoti is Jasmine's given name, and it represents her ties to the "feudal" culture of Hasnapur and her origins therein. When Jasmine recalls being first given the name Jasmine by Prakash, she explicitly explores the moment as a transference of identity. "To break off the past," she says, "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). Jasmine goes by "Jase" with the Hayeses because that's what Taylor calls her, and this is a transitional period where she has more freedom than ever before to use her time and money and engage with the good and bad of American culture and materialism.

Mukherjee also explores the concept of reincarnation as a way for Jasmine to describe her transference of identity. When she lunches with Dr. Webb, she reaches the conclusion that "Jyoti of Hasnapur was not Jasmine, Duff's day mummy and Taylor and Wylie’s au pair in Manhattan; that Jasmine isn’t this Jane Ripplemeyer having lunch with Mary Webb at the University Club today. And which of us is the undetected murderer of a half-faced monster, which of us has held a dying husband, which of us was raped and raped and raped in boats and cars and motel rooms?" (127) Each of these identities ceases to exist in the presence of another. Mukherjee was ahead of her time in her description of what's now referred to as "code-switching," acting differently around different groups, channeling different cultural norms and ways of relating in order to avoid drawing unwanted and/or discriminatory attention to oneself. This is most evident when Lillian Gordon teaches Jasmine how to adjust her mannerisms like the way she walks and steps onto escalators to "seem more naturally American."