Life: Pre-Destined or Just a Series of Choices?

It is human nature to make sense of the strange coincidences that we come across in our lives.  Let’s say one morning you leave your home, and suddenly realize you have forgotten your wallet.  You hurry back to your apartment, grab it, and rush out the door back to your car.  As you get on the freeway to make your morning commute to work, you drive past a massive scene of an accident that you find out is fatal to all involved.  You were supposed to be at that part of the highway at the instant the accident happened, but because you had forgotten your wallet at home, you missed it entirely.  You think to yourself that it was a “sign” that you forgot your wallet, that it saved your life.  Was it a sign that you are destined to stay alive, or was it just a mere coincidence, a chain of events that caused you to miss the accident?  Do we have a role in our own destiny, or should we just let things happen as they will? 

In Bharati Mukherjee’s novel Jasmine, the main character deals with events that shape her destiny.  In the novel so far, Jasmine demonstrates an overall active control over her life.  She may not be active in the traditional, straight-forward sense, but she is “passively active.”  She actively chooses her direction in life, yet not in an aggressive way.  When she comes across situations in her life, she waits for the right moment for her best choice to reveal itself. 

Her previous life in India revolves around the notion of predestined actions.  According to her culture’s religion, each action that occurs in the world is already mapped out in the form of destiny.  Nothing happens accidentally; everything has a meaning and a reason for happening.  Jasmine rejects this kind of philosophy of life when she uproots herself to move to the United States.   Her move to New York City, and then to Iowa, signifies running toward a different kind of life that she chooses for herself.  While her move to Iowa could be seen as running away from her life in New York City, it is more of a conscious choice to control her future.  Her friend criticizes this decision, telling her that it is dull in Iowa, yet Jasmine desires this lack of excitement.  She says, “Dullness is a kind of luxury” (6).  She compares Iowa to her native country of Punjab, and finds a sense of home there, more so than she did in New York City. 

In the first pages of the novel, Jasmine shows her distrust of the concept of pre-shaped destiny.  As a young girl, she comes across an old man known to be an astrologer who foretells her widowed future.  This man angers her, and she calls him a crazy old man.  She whispers, “I don’t believe you” (4), which would be considered blasphemy by her family.  The culture she is from would accept this prophecy without question.  Jasmine, however, is disgusted by the astrologer’s statement and refuses to believe him.  From this moment on, she rebels against her culture’s belief system.

Another incident in Jasmine’s childhood shows her passively active approach to life.  One morning a rabid dog comes upon her and a group of women.  They are powerless to protect themselves, yet Jasmine is carrying a kind of naturally made staff that she turns into a weapon.  She knows the dog is about to pounce, so she holds up the staff, upon which the dog leaps, tearing through its snout and head.  The dog dies without harming Jasmine or any of the women, and she becomes the hero of the day.  Her family doesn’t view this event as anything special. Her grandmother tells her, “All it means is that God doesn’t think you’re ready for salvation.  Individual effort counts for nothing” (57).  This statement sums up the beliefs of Jasmine’s Indian culture.  Contrary to this way of thinking, Jasmine knows that she did not want to die and passive aggressively prevents her premature death.  She did not actively pursue the rabid dog to end its life; she passively waited on the ground until it came to her, and she used the dog’s strength against itself. 

Being passively active may not be the approach many people take on life.  Just waiting until someone or something comes your way to make a decision about what will happen to you may seem too directionless.  For Jasmine, however, this is the way she chooses to live her life.  She is able to control her destiny with little personal energy invested in the decisions she is forced to make. 

The existence of destiny is something that human beings will argue about for as long as we exist on this planet.  It is a personal choice for all of us to make when we decide to believe in a pre-made future, or to consciously make the choices that shape our lives.