Names

        When we are born most people are given a name by their parents.  This is what we will be called for the rest of our lives.  Our name will also go hand in hand with our identity.  For example when you see someone and just think; that guy looks like a Bob.  In the novel Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee, the main character Jasmine goes through many names and each one reflects her current situation. 

        Jyoti was the name she was given by her grandmother when she was born.  This is her Indian name and is used when she is a little girl.  Already she is changing her name when she talks about being choked by her mother, “in surviving I was already Jane, a fighter and adapter (40).”   

       From Jyoti she goes to Jasmine and Wife when she is married to Prakash.  “To break off the past, he gave me a new name: Jasmine (77).”  Prakash gave her this new name because he doesn’t want them to be tied down to the past anymore.  He wants to get rid of the old feudal system, by giving her a new name and making Jasmine call him by his first name.  Right before Prakash is killed in the bombing him and Jasmine are taking about opening a store, and the name of the store might have been Vijh and Wife.  Again this shows how he wants them to be moved away from the old feudal system. 

        The next name that Jasmine has is only for a brief period, and it is Kali.  She only has this name long enough to take vengeance on Half-Face, the man who raped her.  She sliced her tongue open and then stabbed Half-Face with a knife. 

        After being picked up by Lillian Gordon she is named Jazzy by her.  She gets this name because she is told to walk and talk American, which is jazzy. 

        In New York she is called Jase by Taylor, the man she fell in love with because he is fun.  “Jase is a woman who bought herself spangled heels and silk chartreuse pants (176).”  In this part in her life she goes to movies, buys new clothes, and lives for today. 

        Her final name is Jane and she gets this name when she moves to Iowa and meets Bud.  “Me Bud, you Jane (26),” he calls her Jane because she is his exotic woman who has been Americanized.  In this part of her life she is the housewife, and is content until she finds out that Taylor is coming to take her to California.  Once he shows up she goes with him and is Jase again. 

       I believe that Jasmine owns her own name; she just takes on a new name for each of the personas she becomes.  There is one case where her name owns her and that is when she turns into Kali and kills Half-Face.  In all the cases Jasmine is both running away from an old identity while also running towards a new one.  Here is a quote that sums up this question perfectly, “I have had a husband for each of the women I have been.  Prakash for Jasmine, Taylor for Jase, Bud for Jane, Half-Face for Kali (197).”