"Voices for the Un-Voiced"

    Trying to set out a specific path in one’s life can be quite difficult, especially for those who see that path taking them to a country very far away. There are many frames given to almost every member of a society that exist as a sort of back drop or template for those going through the different stages of life.  Frames also exist on an international level.  It has been a global understanding since the conception of this country, based on the ideals professed as the aims of the country by it’s founders, that anyone could assimilate and achieve success.  In the book Jasmine, written by Bharati Mukherjee, a young Indian woman wants to reject fate and instead create a life for herself in America where she believes the rest of her life is waiting for her.  Mukherjee throughout the novel tries to tell the story of those who in real life never have gotten a fair, nonjudgmental second glance.
   

    Jasmine, which is also the name of the protagonist, finds herself running toward the flashing lights of America, in hopes of finding something that would have otherwise been denied to her, happiness through a clean-slate.  She was facing loneliness and grief in her native land and portrayed the life and experiences that Mukherjee wanted her readers to be aware of; the author’s way of giving those would not have been heard, a podium.  Mukherjee seems to want to show her readers that she believes strongly in the idea of the American dream, but not the dream that it’s only focus is economic gain.  Hers is the belief that every opportunity is available in the US, whether it is an opportunity to practice whichever religion, or to not be restricted to marriage according to the class system, maybe even start up a cattle ranch.
   

    Since Mukherjee herself is an immigrant, she is able give great insight on not letting fate take control.  She had learned through that experience that the class system’s rules on social interaction were no longer cut and dry, and that there is a great deal of personal power that is gained when religious and social presets are lifted. 
   

    Although it appears at the close of the story that Jasmine ended up running into almost the same situation she was trying to avoid in her native land by traveling where she did in America, I do not think she is or should be unhappy with where her choices took her.  She was certain at that point that residing in the Midwest state of Iowa was totally her choice and therefore so too was her future, giving her the empowered, self-governing feeling that she had sought after constantly since her free will was called into question.  Telling Jasmine’s story helps to give hope and power to those with similar backgrounds to hers. Hope not only for the person going through them, but for those who will no longer remain ignorant of their existence.  And power to those in transition, whose presence situation is now more thought of and considered than it had been before this novel was written.