El monstro y el heroe

        There’s one emotion that I hate. I despise it with a passion. I can understand the purpose of sadness, and even anger. And of course I appreciate the feeling of joy or happiness. I even understand wistfulness, frustration, embarrassment, and all the rest. But if I had the chance to eradicate one emotion and never feel it again, it would be fear. I hate the agony of feeling afraid.  I am lucky enough to never have had any truly dire experiences in my life where I would have to suffer real fear.  Sure I’ve sweated it out when my dad caught me in a big lie when I was younger. I’ve feared for loved ones, feared for my safety, at times even my life. But I do not live in a war zone, not even a bad neighborhood. And I have never been in a situation where I feared I might get raped. Unfortunately for the character Jasmine, in the novel by Bharati Mukherjee, her life is full of pain, fear and even worse, her worst nightmares come true.

            “For every monster there is a hero. For every hero there is a monster (114).”  A very true statement by Jasmine that she unfortunately had to experience herself. Jasmine’s very first day in America is plagued by two of the worst horrors imaginable; Rape and murder. Jasmine arrived on an illegal immigration ship captained by a demented, hideous man inside and out. The trip is nauseating and crude. Once on the shores of what some immigrants might consider the promise land, Jasmine is helpless, fearful and alone, a perfect target for a hero in reverse, a monster. What was superficially offered as a shelter became a horrific crime scene. Jasmine is raped by her captain, and then she murders him. “The blade need not be long, only sharp, and my hand not strong, only quick (118).”   But this scene is unfortunately a key moment in Jasmines life.

            Previously in this novel Jasmine says “I know what I don’t want to become (5).” And while arriving in America she still knows what she does not want to become, but she also knows that she has a purpose.  She is a widow on a mission and that mission helped save, and change her life. “I could not let my personal dishonor disrupt my mission (118).”  In order to fulfill that purpose she is going to have to change and become a stronger person. She can no longer be helpless.  She has to learn to survive. In this horrible moment Jasmine chooses to survive. She chooses to fulfill her purpose and become a new person. By choosing to kill her rapist rather than herself, Jasmine is also murdering the person that she was, in order to become the person she is destined to be.

             This scene is an important scene because this scene marries the needs of her past, “I know what I don’t want to become (5),” and the purpose of her future. “What if my mission is not yet over? (117).”  This moment is key for her future because now she must work her way from the very bottom up. She is working her way to the “luxury of dullness (6).” She has gone through so much she can now conquer her past and become the person she wants to be.  She has no choice but to change and adapt.  That’s what she is destined to do.  “My grandmother may have named me Jyoti, Light, but in surviving I was already Jane, a fighter and adapter (40).” Though she may not have known it at the time, to become Jane, was her mission, the mission that saved her life. 

            Jasmine experiences some of the worst things one can ever experience. She experiences the deepest of fear, and her worst nightmares coming true. She is a victim in a strange place, and she is helpless. “For every monster there is a hero, and for every hero there is a monster (114).” But where in her darkest hour, was Jasmine’s hero?  For every monster there is a hero….. and for Jasmine that hero is Jane.