A Selfless Soul: Lillian Gordon & Compassion

On a highway surrounded on either side by swampland, a haggard looking young woman stumbles slowly down the road.  She comes upon the front yard of a house and beckons to a boy.  She opens her mouth, trying to ask for water, but only jumbled sounds come out of her mouth.  She looks to be on the edge of starvation, with blood on her mouth from some kind of wound.  She is the ultimate picture of desperation.  Not many would help this destitute woman, most likely throwing her into the category of homeless, crazy, or drug-addicted, or perhaps all three.  To the compassionate soul that takes the time to help this woman, they would discover she is a kind immigrant who has suffered from indescribable horrors and simply wants a new beginning in life.

In a world filled with cynicism and distrust, true compassion is a quality found few and far between.  In Bharati Mukherjee’s novel, Jasmine, a strong willed woman named Lillian Gordon embodies the very definition of compassion. 

Jasmine, the Indian immigrant whose story is told in the novel, has the worst possible experience upon entering the United States.  After illegally traveling thousands of miles on various planes, she then boards a boat which eventually docks in Florida.  A man she calls “Half-Face,” who has been engineering the transport of illegal immigrants to American shores, takes her to a disturbingly run-down motel and proceeds to rape and humiliate her.  In a fit of rage, Jasmine murders Half-Face and leaves the motel, feeling like a new life has begun.  She walks for miles down the highway, in search of any place to find shelter.  She comes upon a neighborhood in the Florida swamps where she meets a woman named Lillian Gordon.  Lillian becomes the most important figure in Jasmine’s first months in the United States.  A kind of teacher and care-giver for illegal immigrants, Lillian helps Jasmine assimilate as best she can in the few weeks she stays in her home.  She becomes a secret guide into the American way of life, which helps Jasmine start a new life in the United States without being caught by the immigration authority. 

To the many illegal immigrants Lillian Gordon selflessly aids, she represents the compassionate spirit each one of them desperately needs.  Lillian “wasn’t a missionary dispensing new visions and stamping out the old; she was a facilitator who made possible the lives of absolute ordinariness that we ached for” (131).  Jasmine sees Lillian as more than a volunteer helping new residents of the United States to find footing in a new country.  She sees her as the creator of comfort in a foreign land, a person who is not self-righteous or judgmental.  Lillian exists for Jasmine as the compassion she had not experienced in her excruciating journey to America, nor during her traditional village life in India.  

One of Lillian’s strongest words of advice to Jasmine is given within the first week or so of Jasmine’s stay.  She tells her, “Let the past make you wary by all means.  But do not let it deform you” (131).  With all that Jasmine has suffered, from the death of her husband from a bomb explosion in India, to her rape and subsequent murder during her first hours in America, she is a person who can especially apply this advice to her life.  What it ultimately means is that Jasmine should learn as much as she can from her past, but not let it negatively affect her future.  All of the extremely traumatizing events in Jasmine’s past could easily cause her to fall into depression, or even lead to a mental breakdown.  However, Jasmine takes Lillian’s words to heart and decides to start with a clean slate in the United States, yet does not forget the trials she has learned from in her previous years.

As the novel continues the story of Jasmine’s new life in the United States, she always remains grateful for the kindness and compassion Lillian Gordon displayed during those early months in Florida.  Rather than being condemned for being foreign or for wanting new-found independence, Jasmine feels a sense of acceptance from Lillian. 

Compassion is one of the most important qualities a human being can express to others.  Even in the smallest ways, such as Lillian Gordon teaching Jasmine how to “walk like an American,” a person can help another on a tremendous scale.  When a person feels understood, comfort and peace will soon follow.