With the help of Lillian Gordon, a woman who helps Jasmine assimilate to life in America, Jasmine finds herself in New York, where she lives with Professor Devinder Vadhera, her deceased husband's former teacher. Upon her arrival at Vadhera’s home, Jasmine soon realizes that her exclusion from American life appears to be beginning yet again. Specifically, she “finds herself stifled by the inertia of this home for it was completely isolated from everything American” (Sharma 34). As a result, she attempts to separate herself from all that is Indian in an effort to continue to make progress in her American life rather than falling back into the confines of her Indian past. After spending five months in this apartment, Jasmine negotiates a deal with Vadhera, who ultimately helps her acquire a forged green card. 

Soon after, Jasmine finds herself working as a caregiver to Duff, the adopted daughter of Taylor and Wylie Hayes in New York. Over the course of her time with this family, Jasmine believes that she becomes truly American and even comes to view them as her own family. A quotation that shows her desire to truly live as an American is: “I wanted to become the person they thought they saw: humorous, intelligent, refined, affectionate. Not illegal, not murderer, not widowed, raped, destitute, fearful” (Mukherjee 171).

Sam Pagliuca