Do You Control Your Life?

          Do you control your life and everything that goes along with it or is your fate already predetermined and you have no say over how your life unfolds?  This question has been around for a very long time and great numbers of people believe in both concepts.  In Bharati Mukherjee’s, Jasmine, the main character of Jasmine is one who believes in free will and demonstrates an active control over her life.  She makes her own decisions in the novel that help shape her life and destiny.

            In the very beginning of the novel, an old astrologer tells Jasmine that she will be exiled and be a widow and she has no choice in the matter.  She calls the old man crazy and says to him, “You don’t know what my future holds” (pg. 3)!  From very early on in the novel it is clear that Jasmine does not believe in predetermined fate and is clearly going to make her own decisions in life.  Astrology is a big part of her village of Hasnapur but she refuses to believe it. 

Horoscopes are used in everyday life and even determine when some people are married.  Vimla, a member of Hasnapur, is set to be married to the Tractor King of the district but wait to be married.  “She and her fiancé were holding off their marriage till he was twenty, because of their horoscopes” (76).  Jasmine does not believe in any of his because she marries her husband Prakash two weeks after meeting him.  Furthermore, after Jasmine is married, she thinks about the old man and the banyan often.  Whenever she has this memory of the encounter, she thinks to herself, “Believe an old fool?  What does he know?  Ha!” (76).  Clearly, Jasmine has proved the astrologer wrong and she is quite pleased with herself to know that she is the determining factor in how her life unfolds.

            When Jasmine is still a little girl, she is an exemplary student with high aspirations.  Her teacher, Masterji, wants her to continue on with her education and possibly work at a bank where she can be a steno.  Her father, Pitaji, leaves it up to Jasmine to choose what she wants to do.  Jasmine says that she does not want to work in a bank as a steno.  Jasmine then goes on to say, “I want to be a doctor and set up my own clinic in a big town” (51).  Once more Jasmine is putting forth her wants and desires and is not settling for traditional roles in her village.  She knows what she wants and is not afraid to say because she ultimately determines the outcome of her life.

            Throughout the first 80 pages of the novel it is clear that Jasmine controls her life and is not subject to a predetermined fate.  People in the village and astrologers have foretold her fate but she refuses to believe it.  Instead, Jasmine makes many decisions and says things that show she is in control of her life and future.