The Undecidable 'Foreign-Founder' Refugee in Bharati Mukherjee's Jasmine

As foreigners who inevitably change the communities they enter, refugees,who typically materialize swiftly and in large, noticeable numbers, are often blamed fordisturbing stable American lifestyle identity regarded as a burden to thecommunities nations join. Aside from initial shock panic at sheervolume of refugees, process resettlement, which relies heavily on both localsponsorship federal social welfare programs, is prolonged aggravated byseemingly insurmountable cultural differences. Thus, aim this paper focus onthe issues surrounding refugee resettlement assimilation Bharati Mukherjee’snovel Jasmine (1989). Accordingly, I contend that refugees can identify themselvesagainst condition also explore call attention their'undecidedness'. The main question how far Mukherjee's anovel deals directly with organization foreignness, traces, aspinpointed by Bonnie Honig, foreigner founder character Jane andthe asylum seeker Du, Vietnamese refugee. Exploringthese layered models hospitality, community, kinship, exhibits therefugee character’s pivotal role within fields studies contemporaryAmerican literature drawing refugee’s liminal ambiguous position acomplete permanent guest, victim survivor, collective anindividual.