Starting Over Bharati Mukherjee was born and raised in Calcutta, India (Mukherjee547). At age 21, Mukherjee made the move to America, where she became a citizen (Mukherjee 547). Through her writing, she uses her own experiences to express her views on immigration, what it is like to be an American citizen, and the changes that immigrants have to go through to fit in and make the move to America. In “Two Ways to Belong in America”, Mukherjee explains her views on immigration and how they differ from her sister. She believes that it is right to be an American citizen if you’re going to live and work there and that adapting to the culture allows you to feel like you are a part of the country you are living in, while her sister clings onto …show more content…
“In thirty-three years of marriage, we have lived in every part of North America. By choosing a husband who was not my father’s selection, I was opting for fluidity, self-invention, blue jeans, and T- shirts, and renouncing the three thousand years (at least) of caste-observant, “pure culture” marriage in the Mukherjee family” (Mukherjee 548). Moving to America was a new beginning for Mukherjee, and she took every advantage of that. Marrying outside of her father’s choosing opened a new world of opportunity for her. She was able to wear what she wanted, travel wherever she wanted, and make herself who she wanted to be without her Indian heritage holding her back. Mukherjee was embracing the American culture in every way she possibly could.
Another one of Bharati Mukherjee’s literature pieces was her book “The Middleman and Other Stories.” One of the short stories included is “Jasmine.” This is a story of an Indian girl, Jasmine, who came to the United States, illegally. The story shows the struggles Jasmine faced to get to the United States and Jasmine trying to form a new identity for herself. She lives in a few different places, works a few different jobs, meets new people, and explores the new places she is able to