Jasmine and Karin: Female Competition and Togetherness

(Continued discussion of Jasmine's relationship with women in Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine)

Karin explains to Jasmine, "'I feel hate for you'" but does not want to (202). "'Help me not to hate you, Jasmine,'" she begs her in an interesting turn of events (203). Karin and Jasmine's competition has been a reoccuring theme since Jasmine arrives in Iowa. When Karin cries, "'I have no way of competing with you!'" it becomes clear that the rivalry between them is mutual (205). This is something we, as readers, could not be sure of before, as we only have insight into Jasmine's thoughts. So, although there is still a clear hatred and tension between the two women, Karin asking Jasmine for help "not to hate" her shows themes of female togetherness and unity (203), like my favourite line in "Wild Geese": "Tell me your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine." This unity, as explained in my previous blog, is common between Jasmine and other women she encounters, such as the village woman in Hasnapur and Wylie in New York City, but it is not expected between Karin and Jasmine. When Karin asks Jasmine this, admitting that she hates her, we see Karin telling Jasmine "her despairs" in the hope that Jasmine will relate to them, so that they can work together to fight this hardship. Karin admits to Jasmine, "'I don't know if I could have nursed him,'" referring to Bud (228). They finally achieve this togetherness Karin hopes for when they gain an understanding of each other's difficulties. This also shows that Jasmine is not the only one comparing herself to the other. There is both competition and female camaraderie between them. When Jasmine is unhappy in this scene, Karin offers to stay with her to comfort her. Karin later comforts Jasmine again, saying "'Don't blame yourself, Jane'" (240). She empathizes with the struggle Jasmine has gone through taking care of Bud and then deciding to put herself first, and they ultimately show themes of togetherness and unity.

This is all to similar to the relationship between the speaker and the giggling "girls with lacy dresses" that she slaps in Andrea Lee's short story "Brothers and Sister Around the World" (Lee 5). She shows the reader that she feels as though she is in competition with the girls throughout the story up until this point, because she is older and made to feel that she is less beautiful than the girls who show more skin than her and receive her husband's attention. She points out that they are "probably about eighteen years old, both good-looking," and when they "burst out laughing," she is sure it is at her (Lee 3). When she slaps "the one with straight hair" she "feel[s] the strange smoothness of her cheek and an instantaneous awareness that my hand is just as smooth" (Lee 4). In other words, she realizes she is just the same as them. She reiterates this: "it is clear we are breathing the same air, now" (Lee 6). Later, "[b]oth girls look straight at me," showing they now respect the speaker (Lee 6). She responds to the girls in "my politest voice," showing she respects the girls as well (Lee 7). The three people realize they have gone through the same thing as women, and so they must unite, just like Jasmine and Karin.