Clothes and Jasmine
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In the short story "Clothes," by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and the novel Jasmine, by Bharati Mukherjee, two separate Punjabi women must learn how to adapt to their adopted country, the United States. Although both are fairly traditional, young brides in the beginning, both face the stigma of widowhood shortly after their weddings, at a very young age. Both, then, must consider whether they will fall in line with the prescribed Indian way of going through life as a widow, follow the American course of striking out independently on their own, or if they will strive to seek some middle ground. This paper will discuss the problems that both young women face while striving to seek the best way for themselves to be whole while being both Indian and living in the United States. First, the paper will discuss the type of background, or girlhood, that each woman came from. Then, there will be a discussion of how each came to her own wedding and brief bridehood. Finally, there will be a discussion of how they came to widowhood, including the Indian and American views of widowhood, and how these two women came to terms with this state in their lives. As girls, both Sumita and Jyoti are bright and hardworking, although they might not come from the wealthiest of families. Both want to do what is right for their families, but both also have a romantic dream that they want fulfilled. On the one hand, Sumita enjoys the romance of getting married and moving
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no money for a traditional wedding, it demonstrates both Jyoti and Prakash's desire to break away from the old traditions. Because she wore jasmine in her hair at the Registry Office, Jyoti has been rechristened Jasmine by Prakash. This is only the beginning of her rebirth, however, as he leaves behind several other old traditions. For example, they do not move in with his family, but rent an apartment independently. He wants her to call him by his first name, which is not done in traditional Indian homes. Finally, he refuses to give her children at too young an age because he wants more for both of them (Mukherjee 77). Like Sumita, Jyoti, now Jasmine, begins to feel suspended between two worlds: "For the uncle, love was control. Respect was obedience. For Prakash, love was letting go. Independence, self-reliance: I learned the litany by heart. But I felt suspended between worlds" (76). Yet, when Prakash talks of going to America, Jasmine supports him in his desire. She gets a sales job and saves money while he is at work during the day (79). At night, she helps him with his repair work at home by going through the English manuals and doing small parts of the repair (89). She wants this new life as much as he does.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2444
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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