to allow anybody to stand in her way of her purpose. She gets shipped from household to household, usually being forced into being a caregiver. Although she did not seem to mind this, she still did not have much of a choice. It does not seem as though Jasmine sees herself as a victim, but she knows that there is something better out there.Jasmine can also be looked at as someone who has assimilated herself into becoming an American. She takes her Indian values and way of life with her to America, only to becoming assimilated into the American way of life. After her husband’s murder, it was expected of Jasmine to not get remarried. Although she does not remarry, she maintains a committed relationship with Bud, and she also carries his child. This is evidence that she is steering further away from her Indian values. Someone may say that Jasmine is about a victim struggling in America or that it is about an immigrant who has assimilated herself into becoming an American. I think it is a little bit of both. I think that the main theme of this novel is exploring identities. Jasmine’s struggle in America and her immigrant experience force her to explore within herself and to discover what she is capable of doing in life. Jasmine has many stages in her life. Even her name changes throughout the novel, becoming more American, which corresponded to the stages in her life. Jasmine went through a metamorphoses in this novel in which she had to suffer many terrible and some wonderful events in order to become the person that she is at the end of the novel when she leaves Bud to be with Taylor....
