Violence and Rebirth - Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine. An Analysis

Exposé Écrit pour un Séminaire / Cours , 2007 , 7 Pages , Note: 2,0

Philologie Anglaise - Littérature

Bharati Mukherjee’s novel Jasmine is a story of an Indian woman, beginning with her birth and early life in a little town in India, over the emigration to the USA and finally to herself and what it means to become an American. The eponymous narrator in Jasmine, also known as Jyoti, Jase or Jane, passes through one situation and country to another and so is her inner self reborn several times towards a higher level, until she finally seems to have found a place to rest.
Throughout the novel, Jasmine experiences numerous situations that bring violence with them. She is not always the subject of these situations, but they are always connected with her. It is not only physical violence experienced, but also mental violence that influences Jasmines further way of life and forces her to be reborn as a different person. The rough pictures that Mukherjee draws of violent moments reflect the psychological pain that comes with the changes of culture and life that Jasmine experiences. The paper will deal with these moments and analyze them according to their meaning for Jasmine.

Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)

• Introduction to the Novel and the Topic
• Violence in Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine
• Violence as a Deconstruction of the Idyll

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)

This paper analyzes the role of violence in Bharati Mukherjee's novel Jasmine, focusing on its impact on the protagonist's life and identity.

• Violence as a catalyst for transformation and rebirth
• The psychological and physical effects of violence on Jasmine
• The intersection of violence, culture, and identity
• The theme of immigration and its impact on the individual
• The representation of violence in South-Asian American literature

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)

The introduction sets the stage for the analysis by introducing the novel and its main themes. Chapter 2, "Violence in Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine," explores the various forms of violence experienced by Jasmine, from physical assault to the emotional trauma of witnessing death and societal oppression. The chapter highlights how these experiences shape her character and force her to adapt and reinvent herself. Chapter 3, "Violence as a Deconstruction of the Idyll," delves into the literary significance of violence in the novel, drawing connections to other South-Asian American authors and their use of fragmented autobiography as a literary device. This chapter also examines the broader societal context of violence against women and its connection to themes of dehumanization and oppression.

Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)

This analysis focuses on the themes of violence, identity, rebirth, immigration, and South-Asian American literature. Key concepts explored include the psychological effects of violence, the role of culture in shaping identity, and the representation of violence in literary narratives.

• Université: Ruhr-University of Bochum
• Note: 2,0
• Auteur: Jennifer Koss (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2007
• Pages: 7
• N° de catalogue: V148934
• ISBN (ebook): 9783640598335
• ISBN (Livre): 9783640598212
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: Bharati Mukherjee, Mukherjee Jasmine, Violence in literature, Rebirth in literature