Maria Ponn Sindhuja. P
II MA English Literature
PG & Research Department of English
Holy Cross College
Trichy
Use of Mythical Elements in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine Bharati Mukherjee was born in Calcutta and moved to Canada and then to U.S.A. She has written numerous articles. She has two non-fiction books, seven novels, and two short story collections to her credit. Mukherjee lives in America, she not only has practiced the American culture but has imbibed it. She is a diasporic writer, but any reader could sense the dominance of Indian myths in her works. Her Indian sensibility can be seen in her works. It is clearly explicit in her novel Jasmine. Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine is basically a novel that is woven with the thread of transplantation. …show more content…
There is still another myth that is hidden but yet explained even more clearly than the other two. It is the archetypal image of Goddess Kali. It is when Half-Face rapes Jasmine, that she takes the form of Kali. When Half-Face rapes Jasmine, she decides to kill herself. But suddenly she changes her mind and decides to kill Half-Face. Before killing him, she cuts her tongue and the blood flows down her chin. With this pouring blood she stabs Half-Face to death. When one imagines this scene, it is clear that Jasmine exactly resembles Goddess Kali. There can be no other exact comparison for this incident. “I extended my tongue, and sliced it. Hot blood dripped immediately in the sink... My mouth had filled with blood. I could feel it on my chin... now with my mouth open, pouring blood, my red tongue out.” (Jasmine 118) The author further moves in and increases the eminence of the novel by bringing in fusions of myths. Here the image of the broken pitcher and Goddess Kali are fused to add versatility to the usage of mythical elements. This is clearly seen when Jasmine decides to kill herself after she was raped and then decides not to kill herself but Half-Face. Here killing oneself is associated to the broken pitcher and killing the evil one who had caused misery is associated with Goddess Kali. It is a perfect
II MA English Literature
PG & Research Department of English
Holy Cross College
Trichy
Use of Mythical Elements in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine Bharati Mukherjee was born in Calcutta and moved to Canada and then to U.S.A. She has written numerous articles. She has two non-fiction books, seven novels, and two short story collections to her credit. Mukherjee lives in America, she not only has practiced the American culture but has imbibed it. She is a diasporic writer, but any reader could sense the dominance of Indian myths in her works. Her Indian sensibility can be seen in her works. It is clearly explicit in her novel Jasmine. Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine is basically a novel that is woven with the thread of transplantation. …show more content…
There is still another myth that is hidden but yet explained even more clearly than the other two. It is the archetypal image of Goddess Kali. It is when Half-Face rapes Jasmine, that she takes the form of Kali. When Half-Face rapes Jasmine, she decides to kill herself. But suddenly she changes her mind and decides to kill Half-Face. Before killing him, she cuts her tongue and the blood flows down her chin. With this pouring blood she stabs Half-Face to death. When one imagines this scene, it is clear that Jasmine exactly resembles Goddess Kali. There can be no other exact comparison for this incident. “I extended my tongue, and sliced it. Hot blood dripped immediately in the sink... My mouth had filled with blood. I could feel it on my chin... now with my mouth open, pouring blood, my red tongue out.” (Jasmine 118) The author further moves in and increases the eminence of the novel by bringing in fusions of myths. Here the image of the broken pitcher and Goddess Kali are fused to add versatility to the usage of mythical elements. This is clearly seen when Jasmine decides to kill herself after she was raped and then decides not to kill herself but Half-Face. Here killing oneself is associated to the broken pitcher and killing the evil one who had caused misery is associated with Goddess Kali. It is a perfect