What's in a name?

In this world everything around has a description that portrays in a way what it is. Without words to describe what something or someone is, this place on earth would be immensely different. How do we tell each other apart?  Our names are gifts from our parents and a message signifying who you are as a person.  Many people get nicknamed later in life to better suite who they are, or just because it may be more catchy.  I remember in 3^rd grade a guy called me Toad because it sounded like Todd… I hated that.  I thought I would get even and called him toilet because his name was John.  I ended up getting in trouble for that one.  The point is names mean a lot to everyone.

If we take a look in the book Jasmine the main character Jasmine has been through a lot in life, and as a result her name has changed multiple times. Jasmine’s name changes represent the changes in her life; maybe Jasmine feels that as she changes as a person and culture that her name must follow. Jasmine is constantly running away from herself in this novel. Let me explain, she as a young girl was told what her destiny was going to be. Ever since then she has run from that destiny changing lives and who she is, and with every change came a new name. The interesting thing that arises out of this is the fact that jasmine doesn’t choose her new names; they are given to her from different people at different time in her life. “…To break off the past, he gave me a new name: Jasmine” (p77) Jasmines modern husband gave the name jasmine after the perfume. She wanted a new life and more modern life and changed who she was.

This name changing continues to happen throughout the book. Even as jasmine makes the big change of moving away from her heritage to America she continues to change. As she enters America she is raped by a man. Although she ends up killing him, she is left on the street to fend for herself. She is given a new name by a lady who has decided to take her in and help her become more westernized. Continuing on she goes from Jasmine to Jazzy to Jase to Jane and so on, never taking a stand never saying anything because she saw it as a change from who she was.
Notice all the J’s, all her names are J’s. She ultimately has not traveled to far for whom she was originally. She has been ethnic Indian, modern Indian, American and just living day to day. Through all this she has not changed too much from her original course. At the end of the book on jasmine finally despite all her best efforts to become someone else realizes that she must be herself, she must accept who she is as a person. She needs to take that person (Jasmine) and change the world not herself. She needs to “change the stars”.

Our names given to us mean a lot. Our names are who we are and who we will always be known as. Changing them to change ourselves is a way to show that one is not content or is afraid. Jasmine finally realizes that she is important and her name has significant meaning. She can now choose her own name and use that for her life.