Essay On Metamorphosis From Jyoti

1074 Words3 Pages

A Metamorphosis from Jyoti to Jasmine to Jane.
In the beginning of the novel Jasmine, Jasmin is having a difficult time finding out where she fits into the puzzle. The only way to solve this problem is to reinvent herself. She knows what she does not want to be and this is important in order for her to follow her own life path in the direction that she wants to go. Knowing who and what she is not is the first stepping stone towards finding out who Jyoti really is. Looking for oneself, she can do anything to steer clear of the negatives that may present themselves. In order to accomplish this goal, she will continually reinvent herself to adapt to her new surroundings by any means possible. If she is to reinventing herself, she is forced to overcome each obstacle that is thrown at her and needs to look upon bad fortune that can be change into a positive. As a child she was struck on the head that left a scar on her forehead. The scar convinced her sisters that it would be a negative that turns away potential husbands, but she simply viewed it as a third eye. Though her sisters saw a flaw, she turned it into a positive. She had reinvented herself and adapted. Jasmine possesses the ability to endure this world and has not even let a little scar get in the way of the future ahead of her or what she will become.

On this metaphorical quest of the protagonist Jasmine, start she is first born with the name Jyoti in India where begins to stand up against the traditional path that has been prepared for her by the male-controlled system. Like the other women of her homeland, she under the constant control of her brothers and father. In the Indian tradition, a female is to be married young that includes a dowry. After marriage, it would see...

... middle of paper ...

... a new kind of city woman. To break off the past; Jasmine....Jyoti, Jasmine: I shuttled between identities.” (Jas 77) The re-naming of her is to collide with the re-making of her new identity as he wants to start anew and hopes Jasmine will be a modern “city woman” and not just a girl from a village. His biggest desire is to re-make themselves to emphasize the facts of how she needs to break away from the past that he views as a village that is backwards and refers to the people as "ignorant peasants". “Jasmine” is a continuous name that she holds throughout her journey/mission. In the end she has changed for the better as she is a new woman with her latest identitey. There is one question that may never be answered and that is if she will move onto another life and then call herself Jaanish which means she is a golden girl if she was to next live in San Francisco.

Open Document