The Transition From Alienation To Integration In Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine

Abstract

Bharati Mukherjee’s works focus on the phenomenon of migration, the status of new immigrants, and the feeling of alienation often experienced by expatriates and Indian women and their struggles. The protagonist of Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine faces the problem of the loss of culture and tries to assume a new identity in the United States. Born into a traditional family as Jyoti, Jasmine is married in her teens to Prakash, an ambitious, bright young man and soon becomes a widow. She rebels against the idea of spending the rest of her life as a destitute widow and decides to go to America. After enduring physical abuse on her way to America, the assertion of her will lays the germ of a fruitful culmination of Jasmine’s spiritual quest. The voyage that has transformed her from a chronicler of exile to a champion of immigration, and this paper explains in detail how the protagonist of the novel strives to succeed from alienation to integration.