Research Paper on:
Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine and the 'Letter'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
have to do with being Indian? Female? Hindu? American? Can you explain it to me ..." BBjasmen.doc LETTER FROM JASMINE Written by B. Bryan Babcock for  the Paperstore, Inc., March 2001 Introduction This "letter" has as its history the novel Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee (1989). Jasmines daughter is now twenty and has asked her  mother about her recent past here in the United States. "I never understood how you could leave Bud, and go off with Taylor. What did your leaving Bud  have to do with being Indian? Female? Hindu? American? Can you explain it to me ..." The Letter My Dearest Daughter: How brave you are to question! I think  of myself at your age and remember also reaching the point of questioning. I did not think of it in the same manner that you have, but perhaps in  this new place, at this new time, I shall be one of those who gives answers, as well as one who, continues to question. Perhaps a place to start is  to tell you of myself before I learned to question, so that you might see why it had such value for me, and how it has been the center of  my learning and my moving through the world. You may remember that I was the fifth daughter of nine children. My mother loved me deeply as I love  you. There were those who thought she did not, as she wished me to die when she learned I was a girl. Girls at that time in India  were a curse, for it meant that their family had to provide them with a dowry. You can imagine how your grandfather felt, knowing that I would never stand