Transformation of Woman in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine

Abstract

Bharati Mukherjee is truly a global author, an expert in cross-cultural issues and a keen craftswoman who is an expert in portraying the phenomenal, systematic and detailed account of coming-of-age. She knows how to keep her readers glued to her writings. She builds a mystery and then demystifies it page after page, with each page unfolding and unraveling new dimensions of the character she writes about.  In this era of globalization, in view of easing borders but mounting cultural differences, the conflict within to adapt to the change is the mainstay of some of her highly acclaimed works. She endeavors to dive deep into the distorted psyche of those immigrants who have been surviving in the conflict of traditional Indian values; inherent in their personality and their fascination for western mode of living that they have chosen out of their professional compulsions or for their urge to achieve a greater freedom in liberal and dynamic society of west. “Framed with the didactics of immigrants and emigrant, the thematic difference of which centers much of Bharati Mukherjee’s fiction, her focus remains the predicament of migrant entities and the possibilities for absorption and rejection in the new world” (Jamwal 1). In her own words, Mukherjee finds this conflict of cultures to be an adventure worth living. She has found herself “thrust into adventures. Once I left the very protective, overly nurturing society [of India], my life intersected history” (Steinberg 33). The cultural intermingling in her work is the reflection of her personal life too. She was born in Calcutta (India), and then migrated to America. She married Clarke Blaise, who is settled in Canada. Her life is one of the perfect examples of mixing of two cultures. However, the cultural conflicts and identity crisis continues – as she names her two sons as Bart Anand and Bernard Sudhir – by mixing English and Bengali names.  This struggle for identifying oneself is very well reflected in her works and underlines the relevance of cross-cultural differences in one's life. The conflict between a protective patriarchal society's upbringing and that of the values of a free society of the west is the substratum for casting the web of her stories. Just like a spider's web – neatly crafted-- her stories catch the reader's enthusiasm, line after line until the reader reaches to the core of this web. The centre stage of her stories is mainly acceptance of the truth. She finely builds the plot, based on a systematic circumstantial theme, and is able to justify life as it is. She does not make any comment but the transition of the petite Indian village belle theme climaxing to a western world, gives the reader an opportunity to understand the turn of events in a beautiful manner.