Independence In Jasmine Essay Research Paper Rodrigues

Independence In Jasmine Essay, Research Paper

Rodrigues, Justiniano

2/25/01 A period

Women in Literature

INDEPENDENCE OF JASMINE

Independence is one topic that is very important in Jasmine. The main character, Jyoti has to always deal with independence all her life. From the

time she is in India to the time she is in the United States, she has never

strived for independence; it always seems to come to her.

As a young girl in Hasnapur, India Jyoti was born into a poor

Hindi family that lost everything during the partition, and as a result has

been left with a mud hut and farmland in the Punjabi countryside of

Northern India. Jyoti is raised in a poor home where she is taught to

cook, clean and look up to the males in her society. As a young girl Jyoti

is not influenced to be independent. Like every girl in the village she is

expected to receive a little bit of education and then go back to her home and

get ready to be married off.

Fortunately a teacher named Masterji saw talent

in Jyoti and begged her father to let her continue with her education.

When Jasmine agrees to continue her education and says she wants to be a

doctor and open her own clinic, her father was in complete shock as well as

her grandma. Her father?s instant reaction was, ?The girl is mad! The girl is

mad!?

When she is asked about continuing her education, it is the first time

in her life where she is given any type of independence. Continuing her

education would mean that she wouldn?t have to be dependent on any man?s

well being. Although it is good that she will have a future and will continue

to be educated, Jyoti is still mentally attached to the sexist ways of her

culture. She still marries and falls in love with men, by looking up at them

and honoring their ways. Jyoti had no honor for herself and what she

could do independently. It was all about the males in her life and their

greatness, because in her society the powerful people were males.

Jyoti?s marriage to a man named Prakash is a big example of her lack

of independence. She never got engaged to Prakash. She married Prakash

after knowing him for only a couple of weeks. Although her marriage to

Prakash was common in her society, Prakash wasn?t a common Indian. She

was lucky to be married to Prakash. Her marriage to Prakash was the second

time in her life that independence came to her. Prakash was against the

feudal system of Hasnapur (the town in which they lived). By being married

to Prakash Jyoti didn?t need to be a humble wife, like all the other women in

her society. She again experienced independence. The independence to call

her husband by his first name and to talk to him in any way she pleased.

Prakash even gave her a new name, Jasmine.

Independence to continue education and now independence to do as

she pleases in marriage, Jyoti, now Jasmine was a lucky woman who even

argued with her husband at times. She did not strive for independence, it just

came to her.

When her husband argued with her it was because he wanted

her to think freely, while she wanted to be a scared, humble, dependent wife.

For example, once Jasmine was arguing about having a child, which was a

way for to become the typical housewife of her society. Prakash?s response

was not one common in the feudal society they lived in. His response was,

?We aren?t going to spawn! We aren?t ignorant peasants?.

Prakash gave Jasmine freedom of speech and the skills to be

strong and not afraid to speak her mind. Prakash always told her to challenge

him and keep arguing with him. He did not punish her when she argued him.

He gave her the skills and self-confidence to argue to a man, those skills will

open doors for her.

Prakash gave Jasmine courage and told her that they would move to

America. Prakash had a scholarship to the US and on the last day when he

was preparing to go to the states, work and then send back for Jasmine, he

died. The religious conflicts of Northern India killed him as well as Masterji.

Prakash died because of a bomb that was put in their home by a person

against Hindus. Earlier in her life Jasmine had lost her father due to a bull.

Her father cared for her and was her future. After losing her father she lost

Masterji, a Sikh who taught her all her life and motivated her to continue her

studies. Masterji was harassed and killed by anti-Sikhs. Now she has lost

another teacher, her husband.

As a widow, Jasmine returned to live with her mother in a widow?s

hut and has to listen to her widowed grandma tell her that what happened to

her husband was a punishment from God, because they weren?t a traditional

couple. Jasmine has now lost all the people who gave her independence and

taught her to be independent. She remembered that Prakash wanted for the

both of them to go to America and

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