Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
Kelsey Johnson
Dr. Michele levy
ENGL 336
April 14, 2013
Weekly Informal Response
1a. “Kureishi’s articulation of his identity crisis is both an index of the pain of feeling devoid of secure roots, and also something we might use as a pivotal moment when thinking about the creative necessities of migrancy and diaspora…living ‘in-between’ different nations, ‘of, and not of’ each place, feeling neither here nor there, unable to indulge in sentiments of belonging to either location, defined by others in often unflattering ways.” (Beginning Postcolinalism, p.247)
1b. The above quote from our theory text describes the feeling of not belonging somewhere due to an identity crisis. This crisis was described as coming from the fact that one was not from a certain region, or may not “belong” to the group of that particular region. For example, I may be seen as odd or not belonging in a region full of white Irishmen and they would make it known I don’t belong in these said “unflattering” ways.
1c. In the novel Jasmine, she is continuously moving and suffering because of this identity crisis tied to her constant migration. For example, when Jyoti’s first husband is killed she does not do the traditional burning of her own body with her husband; but she moves to Florida. During her travels and attempts to obtain citizenship in America, Jyoti endures the horrible conditions that come with illegal immigration; For example, secrecy, hunger, rape, and even murder. All of this because she ‘isn’t’ of’ this nation…? The text says, “I wanted to become the person they thought they saw: humorous, intelligent, refined, affectionate. Not illegal, not murderer, not widowed, raped, destitute, fearful. In Flushing, I had lived defensively in the midst of documented rectitude. I did not want to live legally if it also meant living like a refugee.” (Jasmine, p. 171)
2a. “In this section, we shall consider the extent to which Western feminist discourses are able to address the double
Dr. Michele levy
ENGL 336
April 14, 2013
Weekly Informal Response
1a. “Kureishi’s articulation of his identity crisis is both an index of the pain of feeling devoid of secure roots, and also something we might use as a pivotal moment when thinking about the creative necessities of migrancy and diaspora…living ‘in-between’ different nations, ‘of, and not of’ each place, feeling neither here nor there, unable to indulge in sentiments of belonging to either location, defined by others in often unflattering ways.” (Beginning Postcolinalism, p.247)
1b. The above quote from our theory text describes the feeling of not belonging somewhere due to an identity crisis. This crisis was described as coming from the fact that one was not from a certain region, or may not “belong” to the group of that particular region. For example, I may be seen as odd or not belonging in a region full of white Irishmen and they would make it known I don’t belong in these said “unflattering” ways.
1c. In the novel Jasmine, she is continuously moving and suffering because of this identity crisis tied to her constant migration. For example, when Jyoti’s first husband is killed she does not do the traditional burning of her own body with her husband; but she moves to Florida. During her travels and attempts to obtain citizenship in America, Jyoti endures the horrible conditions that come with illegal immigration; For example, secrecy, hunger, rape, and even murder. All of this because she ‘isn’t’ of’ this nation…? The text says, “I wanted to become the person they thought they saw: humorous, intelligent, refined, affectionate. Not illegal, not murderer, not widowed, raped, destitute, fearful. In Flushing, I had lived defensively in the midst of documented rectitude. I did not want to live legally if it also meant living like a refugee.” (Jasmine, p. 171)
2a. “In this section, we shall consider the extent to which Western feminist discourses are able to address the double