A STUDY OF FEMALE IN CONTEXT TO DREAM VERSUS REALITY IN BHARATI MUKHERJEE’S JASMINE

Abstract

Female has been dominated by patriarchal society since ages. Her voice does not have any significance or importance in Indian society. Women have all potentialities and abilities like men; still they are not recognized or appreciated as equal to men. This is the predicament of women who confine women in restricted social codes and norms. Her individual self has no reorganization in the patriarchal society. Women’s duties were confined to the specific areas especially household works. Her dreams never convert into reality due to the rigid mindset of patriarchal. Bharti Mukherjee is one of the eminent female writers who write about women and the problems faced by them and so that we can say women are at the center of her texts. Bharati Mukherjee deals with the themes of Indian Women particularly the problem of cross-cultural predicament and crisis. Her work has helped to break the silence on some women's issues which were not discussed in the past due to the fear of prevailing attitude of patriarchy. To raise people's awareness, she writes particular about what she sees around her. She writes how the female protagonist tries to tackle the problem of loss of endeavors to assume a new identity in the U.S. She leaves her country to fulfill her dreams and wishes but reality was totally different. Mukherjee introduces us to the various changes that her novel’s main protagonist Jasmine goes through, as she journeys from the world of rural Indian Punjab to that of America’s Mid-West, discovering her American dream in the process. At last she realizes that self-independence is not to be an Indian or American but to be at peace with herself.