Maddy PlattEng 121Professor Rosette-Garcia03-20-2014Essay #2Jasmine by Bharti Mukherjee is a novel about what it means to become American. Jasmine was born in a small village in Hasnapur, India. However, she did not stay there long. After her husband's murder, she moved to the United States, where she became a fully American woman. Although she grew accustomed to American life and traditions, she never forgot her experiences in India and every step of her journey to America. Jasmine had five different names throughout her life, and each represented a different version of herself, as she gradually moved toward more American values. Even though she had different names and identities, she always stuck to her core beliefs and stayed true to herself. Each of the different names represents a distinct period in Jasmine's life, and although outwardly she may seem like an alternate version of herself, she remains a strong-willed and adventurous girl despite her circumstances and surroundings. Jasmine's birth name was Jyoti, which means "light" in Hindi. The name Jyoti represents Jasmine's roots and her origin. This first name was given to him by his grandmother. Jyoti was a village girl who had to be married off early and whose only aim in life was to be a wife and have children. Even though these were the values ​​of the society she lived in, Jasmine was different. She was adventurous and independent and, unlike her sisters, did not worry about finding a much older husband and settling down. The name Jyoti describes who she was meant to be in that specific society, but it does not describe who she was or what her life path would be. Jasmine considers herself Jyoti when...... middle of paper ......n in which she lived. Even as she grew and developed into a modern American woman, she remained true to her initial values ​​and strong personality throughout her journey. These different identities were constructed by her as well as the people she was with, and usually the name was given to her by someone else. This shows how much her identity was influenced based on who she was with at the time. Her name becomes more and more Americanized as she becomes more integrated into American culture. These names separate her different life stages, but she can go back and forth between them, such as when she became Jase again after being Jane. Plus, she always remembers her past, and even though she transforms from Jyoti to Jasmine to Jazzy to Jase to Jane, each of these identities are all Jasmine at once. They are all part of her and will be forever.