What Is Your Name - Who Are You

Her name would be Sheryl Ann and she would be my younger sister.  She was named after my mother, Sharon Annette.  Her being named after my mother was quite irksome for me.  My name comes from no one. 

She was nothing at all like my mother.  She was brash where my mother was careful.  She was rude where my mother was polite.  She was inconsiderate where my mother was deferential.  She was dark where my mother was fair.  Basically, she was much like my father.

I, on the other hand, was all those things, similar to my mother.  I was even told by many that I looked exactly like my mother.  People would approach me in our small town and ask if I was Sharon’s daughter.  For a long time, I believed I was given the wrong name.

In Bharati Mukherjee’s novel “Jasmine” the protagonist is given several names by the people in her life.  Her birth name is Jyoti, which means light.  Jyoti was a child of Punjabi farmers.  For Jyoti an astrologer predicts widowhood and exile.  Jyoti refuses to believe him and marries anyway. 

Married to Prakash, she is given the name Jasmine.  Prakash is modern, loving and wonderful.  Her life is good until he is suddenly killed by a bomb and she is widowed just as it had been predicted.  His Jasmine runs away from India to America to set his soul free. 

The prediction of her exile also comes true. She murders the man who, on her first night in America, rapes her.  This circumstance causes her to run.  Luckily, she is found by Lillian Gordon who offers shelter and the temporary name of Jazzy.  Jazzy learns to act American before heading off to New York.

“She becomes an American in an apartment in New York.”  (165)  Taylor gives her the name, Jase.  As Jase, she is the caregiver to young Duff, the daughter of Taylor and Wylie.  In caring for Duff, she comes to know her new country and learns to love it.  She is respected and well cared for.  Jase continues in this role for two years.  Wylie leaves Taylor as Jase realizes she’s in love with him.  The happiness with Taylor does not last as Jase runs away to escape New York and the man who murdered Prakash. 

In Iowa Bud names her Jane.  With Bud she is wife and lover.  Bud is an Iowa banker among many farmers.  Farming is harsh and one unfortunate farmer shoots Bud, resulting in his paralysis.  Jane takes care of the paralyzed Bud and is expecting his child.  “Dullness is a kind of luxury.” (6)  For Jane, life in Iowa is calm. 

While in Iowa she is contacted by Taylor.  With Duff, he arrives to convince Jase to go west with them to California.   “We’ll be an unorthodox family, Jase.”  (238)  For the very first time, she is free to choose for herself what persona, what name, who she will be.  She will be Jase and go to California.

Our protagonist was lucky to have the choice.  She can pick up as Jase and move on.  Most people are not given the choice.  They are given a name and that’s that.  For many years, I was not happy with my name.  I felt my parents had made a mistake and somehow slighted me.  Now I know better.

My sister and I have reversed roles as we have grown older.  I may look like my mother but that is as far as it goes.  I am now very different where my mother and sister are almost identical in personality.  They share the same interests and are very happy close to home.  I have been the one to venture out, something neither of them would ever enjoy.  I am my own person and am very happy to have my name that belongs to only me.