Dependence on Men in Jasmine (16)

How often do we question our dependence on other people. Depending on someone can be a positive thing or a negative thing. Dependence is what makes a marriage. Dependence is what allows us to have a President, or anyone in an authority position. But dependence can also make us week and vulnerable. It can cause us to make decisions that we can never say we made “on our own”, but that the decision was made subconsciously because of dependence on someone or something.



In Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee the main character, Jasmine has been dependent on the many men in her life at that point in time. Once we all had finished the novel we began discussing Jasmine’s final decision to move to California with Taylor. Was this decision her own? Or will Jasmine go to California to cling onto Du and his new life there.

I see both sides of the argument, although I agree with only one. Certain arguments that were made in class were that she finally made the decision for herself, and she is incredibly proud of it, which is very apparent with the things she says. Things like,

“It isn’t guilt that I feel, its relief. I realize I have already stopped thinking of myself as Jane. Adventure, risk, transformation: the frontier is pushing indoors through uncaulked windows. Watch me re-position the stars, I whisper to the astrologer who flats corss-legged above my kitchen stove (240).”

This passage goes back to when in the first chapter when the astrologer fortold her of her widowhood and exile. This is her making a statement, that when he said “Fate is fate,” that that is not true, and that fate is in her own hands. Another instance is when she has made the decision to leave with taylor, “I am out the door and in potholed and rutted driveway, scrambling ahead of Taylor, greedy with wants and reckless from hope.” (241) Both of these statements that Jasmine makes before she leaves make it sound like she is finally doing something for herself, and she is very proud of it.

But listening to her make her decision about why she should move to California makes you wonder why she is really moving out there. When Taylor first comes to her house and asks her to move to California with him she reponds with, “What am I to do? I back off toward the window. The window’s caulking crumbles as I pick at it. The chilly sparkle of afternoon light temps. ‘I have family in California.’ “ (239) No ony do we hear a reponse filled with uncertainty, but we can observe her nervous habit of picking the window’s caulking crumbles and hear her thought process. Its interesting to see how uneasy she feels about the whole thing. And then at the end of the line when she says, “I have family in California.” As if she needs a reason to go. Why not just go because she wants a new life? Because she felt restricted by Bud, her handicapped husband. She then goes on later to say, “I have to see Du.” Another man to depend on.

After reading this post I am sure that you can tell which argument I agree with. I believe that you can’t change who you are just because you want too. Jasmine has always been dependent on men, and she will continue to be. It will take time to distance herself from that, but I do believe that when she goes to California she will cling to Du along with his new life, which will in the end cripple her.


*When looking through Jasmine at quotes while writing my final blog post, I came along a passage on page 78 that I realized fit in with this perfectly. It says, "He was twenty-four and I was fifteen, a village fifteen, ready to be led."