Jasmine

Eventually, Lillian Gordon is arrested for harboring and assisting illegal immigrants, and Jasmine regrets not being able to testify directly on Lillian’s behalf. She pens an anonymous note describing how Lillian saved her life, but the letter is ruled inadmissible in court. Lillian is sentenced to jail because she will not reveal her contacts and sources. She becomes sick while incarcerated, and her sentence is eventually commuted so she can die at home in peace.

Jasmine is stunned by the “fluidity of American character and the American landscape” (138) as Lillian’s home is sold by her daughters to an orthodontist who revamps the entire home and makes it a complex for both vacation and residence use. The Flamingo Court, where Jasmine was raped by Half-Face, is remodeled into a sanctuary in paradise.

Arriving in New York, Jasmine is immediately set upon by a beggar who grabs at her to beg for her charity, then turns violent when he realizes she has no money to give him, calling her “a foreign bitch” (139). This encounter sours Jasmine on America, where on the streets she “saw only more greed, more people like myself” (139).