IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE AND SELF-IDENTITY IN BHARATI MUKHERJEE’S JASMINE: A STUDY

Abstract

This Research Paper is an aim to attempt the traumatic experiences and cultural perplexity of the first and second generation immigrants and which explores the depth analysis of women consciousness, self discovery and their immigrant experiences among the male dominated society in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine (1989), which set in the present about a young Indian woman Jasmine in the United States who, trying to adapt to the American way of life in order to be able to survive, changes identities several times. The state of exile, a sense of loss, the pain of separation and disorientation makes Jasmine as Immigrant personality in a quest for identity in an alien land. Jasmine, the protagonist of this novel, undergoes several transformations during her journey of life in America, from Jyoti to Jasmine to Jane, and often experiences a deep sense of estrangement resulting in a fluid state of identity. This Research paper finds out the research hypothesis, how the protagonist jasmine try to assimilate herself into foreign culture where she gains new independent individual identity.