Hello Everyone,
It's so weird that this is our last blog post! I feel like we have online just started class. First of all, I'd like to thank all of you for your comments and the in depth discussion.
I thought that "Jasmine" was an excellent novel, and an excellent end to the course. I thought it was interesting and inspiring how Pujabi decided to come and reinvent herself in America. I feel as though everyone reaches a pivotal point in their life in which they decided to re-evaluate and rediscover who they are. Reinventing yourself is hard to begin with, but moving to a foreign country and trying to rediscover who you are would be very difficult. I admire Pujabi for that. What did you guys think?
The opening to the novel begins with phrase "lifetimes ago.." which I believe sets up a major theme to the novel (self recreation). Becoming someone else, evolving, discovering. The first phrase of the novel seems to indicate that the reader will be looking to the past at former self, and gaining insight into the transformation of the characters. "There are no harmless, compassionate ways to remake oneself." And, "I picked [Sam] up and held him. Truly I had been reborn." What do you guys think about that? Do you think that transformation is a big factor underlying the entire novel? Which characters did you love, which did you hate? Which do you think fit the idea of recreating self? Jasmine herself goes through multiple transformations while trying to survive in America. When did you relate to her best in the novel?
Here is another students interpretation of the novel, I thought it was kind of interesting.
I agree that it is weird that this is our last blog post. I remember when this class first started. It doesn’t seem that long ago when we had our first class.
ReplyDeleteI actually wish this class was a lot longer. I had fun and it has been one of my favorite classes this semester. I am definitely going to miss this class and I loved learning about everything we learned in this class. Professor Kulbaga is nice and a great teacher and I think everyone in the class was absolutely awesome.
I agree that “Jasmine” was a good novel. I enjoyed all of our readings in this class. With “Jasmine”, I did not really like Prakash that much at first but after the way she was treated by Half Face, I did have more respect for Prakash. Prakash may have not always said the nicest things to her and sometimes the things he did say to her could be seen as disrespectful but at least he cared about her enough to not rape her or beat her up, unlike Half Face.
I really despised Half Face for what he did to her and I think nobody should have to go through what Jasmine had to go through because of Half Face. Nobody should get raped or abused and I think it is really sad to hear about people getting raped or abused on the news like that, which unfortunately seems to happen a lot. I don’t understand why somebody would want to rape another person and I don’t see how anybody could think there is nothing wrong with doing that to somebody, because it is a wrong thing to do. Thankfully, it has never happened to me and I hope it never does but I do know people who have been raped and it is a very difficult thing for them to talk about. It took them years to become comfortable discussing it to others.
I would definitely say though that I think Jasmine was meant to be with Taylor and I was hoping that was who she would end up with by the enc of the novel. I am very glad she was reunited with Taylor at the end. I would have been upset if she hadn’t ended up back with him at the end of the book. I also agree with you that Jasmine probably had a very difficult time relocating to a different country and having to get used to and adapt to all of the changes that were different from her home country. If I ever went to a different country, I would definitely have to learn about the country first or at least already know a lot of knowledge about the culture, language and places there just so I would be more comfortable with the relocation.
I think transformation is a big factor to this novel simply because we progressively see how Jasmine changes throughout the story. These changes have a lot to do with the experiences she goes through and the people she meets. She even has so many name changes throughout the novel. By the way, I love in the video how they used a Princess Jasmine doll for the character of Jasmine and an actual Barbie doll for Duff, haha.
It's totally weird that this is our last blog post! I'll miss reading these each week!
ReplyDeleteInteresting video. :)
Brie,
ReplyDeleteI hate to think that this could me my last respond for this class’s blog, which really sounds very sad…but I am sure we will all miss the great time and conversations we shared in this class. Your response for this week is very interesting, you really came up with many great questions, but I think I will focus on discussing about the experience of moving from a country to the other.
I agreed that it is definitely not easy for moving to a foreign country, especially, that country’s economy is way better than one’s own country. The biggest challenge is how to obtain one’s legal right of staying in that foreign country; besides, one needs to seriously think about the language, culture and economic barriers. As for Jasmine’s experience, I think it is much more than difficult. She has been through a lot of horrible experiences that really left her no choice, but move away from home and find her new life. I think she absolutely made a wise choice of moving to America and seeking for a liberal life, as well as, a person (Taylor) who will really love her and willing to accept her past.
Hey Brie,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can’t believe it either! Our blogs all still look so tiny. I guess in my head I assumed that we’d all have dozens upon dozens of posts by the end of the semester -- but, nope, barely even ten. This class flew by. I agree with Ashley that this class clicked in an awesome way that none of my other classes have this semester. Figures that it’s the shortest one, then!
You brought up the topics of rebirth and evolution, which are everywhere in Jasmine, and Dr. Kulbaga made the post about intertextual references to Jane Eyre, and I think there is just so much depth on the topic. I am studying a supplementary novel to Jane Eyre in a different class called Wide Sargasso Sea, which tells the whole story of Bertha Mason. The entire novel is a slow process of evolution (or devolution as it were) and what really catches me is the issue of names. In both Jasmine and Wide Sargasso Sea, the female protagonists are renamed multiple times. What’s more, (almost) all of the names are placed upon them by men in their lives: Prakash calls her “Jasmine,” Bud calls her “Jane,” and Taylor calls her “Jase.” In Wide Sargasso Sea, the protagonist starts out as “Antoinette Cosway” and, through new fathers and her own marriage, she becomes “Antoinette Cosway Mason Rochester.” Finally, her husband even changes her first name; erasing the last thing she had inherent to her identity.
The act of renaming someone can be a really cruel and evil thing to do in a lot of situations. I think it makes Jasmine a little darker when you approach it that way.
Hi Brie,
ReplyDeleteI hope my last response could contribute some value to your post. I had a same feeling as you in terms of “Self recreation”. When I first read the story, I already make an assumption that this story is going to be a lifelong history about the protagonist; however, what I didn’t think about is that tragedy parts of the story.
First, I think there are many reasons to consider herself reinventing a new life every time. For instance, several men that she met from the whole story have all given her a new name and new identity to leave with. Every time when she is about to live her new life, she does some absurd things like killing the captain and bit herself. I really found that very interesting as the way to start her new life.
The best part that I really like from the story is to see her finally getting out from all those mess and was able to pursue her real life and true love. She has really been through a though journey in life, and I am glad to see that all the struggles finally leads to a great payback.
What an interesting video. Funny enough I had that Jasmine Barbie Doll as a kid. I was a HUGE fan of Aladdin and Jasmine and Abu. I also have a Jasmine costume somewhere at my mom's house, probably because I have always been pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI like that you used the word "Reinvent" to describe Jasmine. Personally I didn't really believe Jasmine should have found new loves, I always believed everyone had one great love of their life. Not that I find Jasmine to be some terrible person because she had other lovers, I just don't know if I would have sought out other lovers if I were in her shoes.
I really enjoy the idea that Jasmine changed who she was with each of then men in her life, complete with a whole new name. To me, that is very honest. I think more often than not, and more often than we realize we do change ourselves when we are in relationships. Maybe change isn't the best way to describe it. But certainly certain people bring out different aspects of us, causing those aspects to become more of our character than they once were. Make sense?
Take my darling mother for example. My mother has been married three times (hence why one marriage is so important to me.) And each time it's almost as though she becomes a different person. When she married my father she played the role of a small town girl, with Rod she acted as some cocky woman from the big city, and with Perry she plays the role of a country girl- seeing as he lives on a farm. Maybe it's mere coincidence that her character alters while in a new relationship, but could it be adverse to believe otherwise?