Diaspora
CROSS CULTURE & IDENTITY CRISIS
IN BHARATHI MUKHERJEE’S
JASMINE
ABSTRACT Bharati Mukherjee in her novel Jasmine 1989 longs to speak in her own voice and give a personal version of what it means to be an emigrant especially a female immigrant. Her struggle to identify herself with the new host country enables her to write from a wider and more exciting angle. She writes how the female protagonist tries to tackle the problem of loss of culture and endeavors to assume a new identity in America. The problem of cross-cultural crisis and the ultimate search for identity is one of her important themes. Shuttled between identities, by renaming, the immigrant woman has to adjust with everything like situation, environment and social pressures in society. The cultural identity of India is clearly presented in the novel. Adjustment is the essential need for the survival. This fact is presented through Jasmine. The novel Jasmine presents the immigrant experience of cross cultural encounter and transformation or recreation of oneself as an immigrant.
CROSS CULTURE & IDENTITY CRISIS
IN BHARATHI MUKHERJIS
JASMINE
To immigrate to greener pasture, for better prospects is human nature. Nations are emerging to be multilingual, multicultural, and multiracial. The liberal immigration policies, the rapid transportations and communication have paved the way for globalization. There is an increasing tendency today to settle down in other countries for better prospect. This phenomenon is called ‘diaspora’. The status of new immigrants, the feeling of alienation and their struggles are explored by many writers. The United States of America is a fairyland, a dream country to which people from all over the world migrate. The immigrants are dispersed from centre to margin. Usually they are not accepted by the host country. They oscillate between the homeland and the host land. “Normally diaspora fiction lingers over alienation, loneliness, homelessness, protest, and
IN BHARATHI MUKHERJEE’S
JASMINE
ABSTRACT Bharati Mukherjee in her novel Jasmine 1989 longs to speak in her own voice and give a personal version of what it means to be an emigrant especially a female immigrant. Her struggle to identify herself with the new host country enables her to write from a wider and more exciting angle. She writes how the female protagonist tries to tackle the problem of loss of culture and endeavors to assume a new identity in America. The problem of cross-cultural crisis and the ultimate search for identity is one of her important themes. Shuttled between identities, by renaming, the immigrant woman has to adjust with everything like situation, environment and social pressures in society. The cultural identity of India is clearly presented in the novel. Adjustment is the essential need for the survival. This fact is presented through Jasmine. The novel Jasmine presents the immigrant experience of cross cultural encounter and transformation or recreation of oneself as an immigrant.
CROSS CULTURE & IDENTITY CRISIS
IN BHARATHI MUKHERJIS
JASMINE
To immigrate to greener pasture, for better prospects is human nature. Nations are emerging to be multilingual, multicultural, and multiracial. The liberal immigration policies, the rapid transportations and communication have paved the way for globalization. There is an increasing tendency today to settle down in other countries for better prospect. This phenomenon is called ‘diaspora’. The status of new immigrants, the feeling of alienation and their struggles are explored by many writers. The United States of America is a fairyland, a dream country to which people from all over the world migrate. The immigrants are dispersed from centre to margin. Usually they are not accepted by the host country. They oscillate between the homeland and the host land. “Normally diaspora fiction lingers over alienation, loneliness, homelessness, protest, and