Names

          What really is in a name?  Does it clearly show who we are?  A name is something that characterizes the distinctive designation of a person.  But a name isn’t what completely makes up a whole person.  In order for your name to show through the qualities of who you are you have to own your name, and make it your own. 

          When I was younger I had asked my mom why they choose to name me Ashley and if they had considered any other names.  There was no big story behind the reason why they gave me the name they did, she said that both her and my dad were pretty set on the name Ashley and choose it because they both thought it was a beautiful name.  She told me that they did consider the name Brittney, well no offense to the name, but I am glad they gave me my name.  I feel my name represents who I am.  I feel that I own my name, and allow my characteristics to show through.  I would never consider changing my name, I am who I am, and that will never change.

          Throughout the novel Jasmine, by Bharati Mukherjee, we have followed the main character Jasmine through her journey of trying to find where it is she belongs on this earth.  She fled her hometown in India to come to America to find a new identity for herself.  While in America she goes through many different transformations in search of finding who it is she really is.  Jasmine, Jyoti, Wife, Jane, Kali, Jase, and Jazzy are all parts of her “self”, and she is trying to figure out exactly who it is she wants to be. 

          I feel that Jasmine’s names do own her in more ways than she actually owns them.  She wasn’t the one that picked out these names; she was given them by all the men in her life.  Her names are more of just a place mark for different parts of her life.  She brings out a different part of her personality/self and a new identity with each name she takes on.  It is all part of her trying to find herself and her purpose in this new land she is in.  When she moves on and changes her name and identity she is running towards newness. 

          In the beginning of the novel Jasmine states, “I know what I don’t want to become” (Mukherjee 5).  She tries to adapt to the current situation she is in by changing to a different part of who she is, leaving part of her old identity behind, the part that she doesn’t want to no longer become.  Jasmine could have simply kept her original name throughout her journey, but she associates her names with the different times in her life.  This shows us the changes she has made and the new person she has become.  It is also as if she allows the men in her life to control a part of whom she is by giving her a new name.

          I don’t think Jasmine has fully completed her journey at this time.  She still seems as if she is a lost soul trying to find where she belongs.  Moving to Iowa at the end of the novel is just a new piece of her life.  I don’t know if Jasmine will ever settle down and find her true purpose on this earth, but she will find out more of who she doesn’t want to become.  “Watch me re-position the stars” (Mukherjee 240).