Sold a False Dream

         An issue that is on many people’s minds in the United States is the issue of immigration and how to deal with all of the illegal immigrants that are living in the United States today. The United States has always been a world of immigrants from countries all over. Some are welcomed however some are not. Those that are not wanted go through many obstacles and hard times to get into America. Those that are lucky enough to get into the United States then have to deal with the obstacles of fitting in. Not being found out, and making a life in the country they have been told great things bout! Starting a new life is not easy, letting go of the culture and country you once lived in or holding on to it and trying to live the dream life in the United States at the same time.

            In the novel “Jasmine” by Bharati Mukherjee the character Jasmine is faced with these obstacles because she is an illegal immigrant coming to the United States looking for a new life. Jasmine has an illegal visa and is traveling to the United States from a small Indian village. She travels with the refugees and mercenaries and guest workers. “You see us sleeping in airport lounges; you watch us unwrapping the last of our native foods, unrolling our prayer rugs, reading our holy books, taking out for the hundredth time an aerogram promising a job or space to sleep, a newspaper in our language, a photo of happier times, a passport, a visa, a laissez-passer” (Mukherjee 100). Many immigrants come to the United States in this way they travel in the worst conditions. They suffer through these conditions with the hope that once they reach the states the journey would be worth it. When traveling Jasmine has conversations with other immigrants some tried to kill themselves when the United States did not let them in. Jasmine “watched on a tiny color television set the first of many wonders in the West, with cheering Arabs and Africans” (102). The United States is often advertised to immigrants as to show them that other immigrants have made it and are happy as can be with their new lives.

            Jasmine says “I feel renewed, the recipient of an organ transplant” (103). when referring to her new life in the United States. This episode of Jasmine’s life is important and a key moment in the novel because the whole novel is about Jasmine and her transition from her village in India to becoming a bankers wife here in the Untied States. The novel is showing readers what it is like to be and immigrant and the obstacles and challenges they face. Once Jasmine reaches the United States, her first day she is raped,  and then ends up living with family friends, who she discovers are not living the American Dream. The journey of making America her new home and the struggle to have an identity. Whether to keep her Indian culture, or just let it go.

            In conclusion, this scene in the novel of Jasmine’s experience coming to the United States is important because it gives the reader a vision on what it is like for immigrants that struggle to make it into the States. The novel “Jasmine” is about a woman’s experiences as an immigrant in America. So therefore this is an important scene in the novel. The United States is sold out to be the country where dreams come true. It is advertised to other countries. Immigrants have this image of the United States and once getting there they realize that they are unwanted and have a even harder journey than the one getting to the States.