As foreigners who inevitably change the communities they enter, refugees,
who typically materialize swiftly and in large, noticeable numbers, are often blamed for
disturbing the stable American lifestyle and identity and regarded as a burden to the
communities and nations they join. Aside from the initial shock and panic at the sheer
volume of refugees, the process of resettlement, which relies heavily on both local
sponsorship and federal social welfare programs, is often prolonged and aggravated by
seemingly insurmountable cultural differences. Thus, the aim of this paper is to focus on
the issues surrounding refugee resettlement and assimilation in Bharati Mukherjee's
novel Jasmine (1989). Accordingly, I contend that refugees can identify themselves
against the refugee condition and can also explore and call attention to their
'undecidedness'. The main question of the paper is how far Mukherjee's Jasmine as a
novel deals directly with "the cultural organization of foreignness," and traces, as
pinpointed by Bonnie Honig, both the foreigner as founder in the character of Jane and
the foreigner as asylum seeker in the character of Du, the Vietnamese refugee. Exploring
these layered models of hospitality, community, and kinship, this paper exhibits the
refugee character's pivotal role within the fields of refugee studies and contemporary
American literature by drawing on the refugee's liminal and ambiguous position as both a
complete foreigner and a permanent guest, a victim and a survivor, a collective and an
individual.