We Murder Who We Were

Ms. Jasmine

“Lifetimes ago, under a banyan tree in the village of Hasnapur, an astrologer cupped his ears – his satellite dish to the stars – and foretold my widowhood and exile. I was only seven then, fast and venturesome, scabrous – armed from leaves and thorns.”(Page NO.1) Given the traditional Hindu belief in the accuracy of such astrological forecasts, this is a grave moment in the young girl’s life. (At least it was proven by her first husband’s death and even her move to the isolated Iowa farm town of Baden.) As the title of this story “We murder who we were”, Jasmine, our title character and narrator of Bharati Mukherjee novel, again and again killed herself deliberately. She must have done something very bad and wanted to spoil that. And in this case, that something was always herself, and she might think that she murdered who she was so that she would be another Jasmine, who she expected to be like at that moment.


So have you ever thought about why she would complain about her life all the time? After reading some parts of her life, I realized that Jasmine had a very different life from others that her odyssey encompasses five distinct settings of two murders, at least one rape, a maiming, a suicide, and three love affairs. Additionally in chronological order, Jasmine moves from Hasnpur, Punjab, to Fowlers key, Florida, to Flushing, New York, to Manhattan, to Baden, Iowa, and lastly is off to California as the novel ends. She went through almost half of the earth during her life, and it’s not hard to imagine that her life shouldn’t be peaceful but with danger, unexpected curves, discouragement, and hopelessness. So applied to my question set at the beginning of this paragraph, she complained about her life and murdered who she was time and again because she wanted to find hope in despair about her life.


Jump to the next four chapters of this novel, our narrator provides details about her current situation. Jasmine describes her introduction to Bud and their courtship, introduces her would-be mother-in- low, Mother Ripplemeyer, and Bud’s ex-wife Karin. She hints at sexual tension between her and Du, and her Darrel. When Jasmine makes love to the wheelchair-bound Bud, it illustrates the reversal of sexual power in her new life. Desire and control remain closely related throughout the novel. Du's glimpse of the lovemaking adds another dimension to the sexual politics: there are those in control, those who are helpless, and those bystanders waiting to become part of the action. As we know that Jasmine is originally from India, and this resonates with ideas later chronicled about Indian notions of love and marriage. And here, you must know that whenever we talk of Indian wedding, we try to associate it with arranged marriage. Due to the social structure (in India), the concept of arranged marriage is prevalent in the Indian wedding scenarios, since ages. On the other hand, love marriages were considered as a taboo among many Indian people who do not have a modern outlook of life. For them, two people should tie the wedding knot only with the consent of their parents and the blessing of their relatives.

A scene of a Punjabi village in India. Jasmine's title character, a widowed Punjabi peasant, creates a new life for herself in the United States.

It's 21st century arranged marriage, with an American twist. Tradition meets technology as young Indian singles log on to matrimonial websites like Shaadi.com to find a mate who might meet their parents' expectations. I would like to share a video about Indian wedding traditions and it talked about its relationship with social class. Please enjoy ~