Jasmine's American Dream

     Is there really such a thing as the “American Dream”?  The Merriam-Webster defines the American Dream as, “an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity” (Merriam-Webster).   The American citizens really take for granted what they are given here in America, but to an immigrant, it means the world for them to live and work in a free land.  They come in hopes to live a better life than what they are given in their home lands.  They are given the opportunity to achieve their goals.  I know I have definitely been blessed with everything that I have been given in my life.  I have not really had to search too hard to live the “American Dream”. 

          Unlike me, in the novel, Jasmine, written by Bharati Mukherjee, the main character, Jasmine, flees her hometown in India to come to America, in hopes to reinvent a new life and identity for herself.  She is picked up by a woman who helps out other immigrants in New York.  She then leaves New York and comes to her present home in the novel Baden, Elsa County, Iowa.  She is known here by the name of Jane, which is what her boyfriend calls her.  She is together with a paralyzed man named Bud, who is the Town’s Banker.  Jasmine and Bud have an adopted son named, Du, and she is going to be having an artificially in simulated baby.

          Jasmine has made many changes in her life throughout her journey.  She was originally born, Jyoti, but was given her new name, Jasmine, while in America.  She goes through many different identity changes like this throughout the book.  This has to do with the reason for her fleeing to America to create a new identity for herself.  She is certain of one thing through her journey of finding herself, “I know what I don’t want to become” (Mukherjee 5).

          I think that Jasmine is starting to believe into the American Dream to a certain extent.  I don’t think that she has totally lost her cultural identity.  Jasmine definitely envies some Americans because of what they already have and how they might be living their lives, like the people who own their own “brick houses”.  She appreciates her life here in America, compared to her life back in her home land.  She would like to be living a long some of the same lines as the American Dream.  “There are many things I deserve, not all of them better” (Mukherjee 5).  She has a good head on her shoulders and as far as I can see right now I don't think she is going to allow the thought of the American Dream consume her.

          Jasmine is definitely caught between two different cultures, her past and her present.  She is sort of a lost soul trying to find herself in a new land, but it has definitely been a positive experience for her.  I don’t really see her completely loosing herself through this journey.  She really just wants to be able to be happy in her life.  The American Dream is definitely there, but I really think Jasmine is fighting to find her own dream at this point, not just the typical American Dream.