THEIR TEN

Senior Seminar 2022-2023

Dr Lauren Holt

Warm Up
You’ve written your Ten Things. Now pick a character from your text and spend some time writing in
your CPB on what you believe to be their possible Ten Things. Make a long list. Be picky about what you
include. Play with what belongs and what doesn’t. Consider how their story changes as you change what
you include on this list. Then complete the steps you completed before, but from the perspective of
your chosen character.

Model Texts
● “Amandla Stenberg Sees Beauty Underwater, and Strength in Maya Angelou”
● “Grace VanderWaal Doesn’t Want to Exist Without ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’”
● “Sam Smith Is Finding a Place Inside Queer Spaces”
● “Gloria Estefan Wants to Get Inside Your Head”
● “Riz Ahmed Finds the Beat Between Qawwali and House Music”
● “David Chang Loves Beethoven’s Ninth (but Won’t Finish ‘Infinite Jest’)”

Reminders
Make sure that your list is diverse and interesting and, most important, that it represents your character
fully, vividly, and persuasively. This piece should include:
● A list of ten things that your character can’t live without.
● An explanation for each choice that shares why this item is important to your character,
what role it plays in your character’s life, and any relevant anecdotes from the text.
● A tone similar to that of the “My Ten” column.
● A brief introduction that tells your audience a little about your character.
● A headline that follows the formula of the other “My Ten” columns.

Further requirements:
● This is an individual task; do not use outside resources beyond those linked above and
your novel, of course, to determine the content of your piece.
● You will complete a cover letter that describes the approach you took and how your
choices in this assignment achieve the assignment’s goals.
● Additionally, you will complete a written analysis. Through completing the artifact
above, you should have arrived at an interpretation (or your take) on the novel. If you
are feeling stumped, try to answer the following question: if you looked at the creative
 artifact, what would you think the novel is about? Your answer to that question is,
potentially, your take on the novel, an interpretation of its message. Your written
analysis should present that interpretation briefly, clearly, and persuasively.
● You will also complete a reflection assignment on Canvas.
Jackson Wright

Dr. Holt

English 12

September 19,2022

Cover Letter

At first I had issues deciding what to do as the project for the book, Jasmine, because I

originally planned on working with people to make a newspaper. However, I soon realized that I

was running out of time and did not have enough people to make a newspaper so I decided to

change course and to the Their Ten instead. Due to the lateness with which I decided to go with

Their Ten it lead me to do a lot of rush work before the peer review.

From the very beginning of starting the Their Ten project I knew I wanted to include her

different identities as part of her ten since they play such an important role in the different

sections of the book. The problem was with coming up with other since she doesn’t really seem

to have that much memorabilia that she really likes apart from her husbands belongings. That

was when I realized that a lot of the things she holds dear are also people such as her husband,

Taylor, and Duff. Due to this I decided to add Taylor and Duff onto the list but choose to keep

Prakash, her husband, off since I already had his belongings as well as a lot of other people on

the list, including her identities. At this point I started looking for more vague things that also

still had some relevance to the book such as the star-shaped scar. I picked this one because it is

one of the first things mentioned in the book and also the definition of the sage with which she

provides in a way directly relates to the weird life that she as lived with her personalities.
 An Indian Princess’ Identities, Family, and Memorabilia

1. Jyoti
a. My first identity that my parents gave me when I was born. This identity of mine
was a curse who duty was to be married off before dying. I was in a sheltered
world and didn’t know much except for that world, the little education I had, and
that of the American things that Masterji showed me such as Seven Village Girls
Find Seven Boys to Marry.
2. Jasmine
a. My second identity was given by my husband Prakash. This identity was a further
evolution of the now old Jyoti. I could now call my husband by his first name and
began to learn more and more through my Prakash’s technical textbooks.
Although we lived a simple life we were destined for so much more and were so
close to getting to where we wanted to be…America. However, those Lions stole
my husband from me forcing me to flee without my husband to the place we had
always hoped to go.
3. Jase
a. My third identity was created in America when I came to stay with the Hayes.
While with them I my name was shortened to Jase. With this identity I started to
learn and embrace American life. There I joined my first American family where
“Duff was my child; Taylor and Wylie were my parents, [and] my teachers” (Page
165). I laughed more as Jase than I probably did in any of the other identities. It
was nice to be in such as exciting, fun, and loving environment.
4. Jane
a. My final identity was given by a sweet man from Iowa and the father of the child
in me, Bud. It was a relief to escape the danger of the man who had now stolen
two identites from me, Sukki. However, life was stressful, unfulfilling, and boring
especially after Bud was shot and could no longer walk. It was nice to adopt Du
as he was someone that could relate to the same experiences I had been through.
Although this identity may have not made me content it still gave me some joyous
time that I will never forget.
5. Prakash Belongings
a. One of the main items Prakash owned that interested me were his technical books.
With these books I developed my english skills and also learned some about
technology and how it worked. With this Prakash and I created a vision where we
would have our own store called “Vijh & Wife” or “Maybe even Vijh & Vijh”
(Page 89). When Prakash died his belonging, especially his suit, became more
important to me. My plan was to take his suit with me to America and light it on
fire and commit suicide by then throwing myself into it.
6. Taylor
 a. I fell in love with Taylor soon after meeting him. Not because of anything sexual
but because “I fell in love with his world, its ease, it careless confidence and
graceful self-absorbtion” (Page 171). I also love his goofiness and ability to make
me laugh with just a look. After Wylie, my feeling for him developed and I really
did fall in LOVE with him.
7. Duff
a.
8. Star Scar
a. I am a sage. The reason is due to my scar which I got right after my future was
told by an astrologer from Hanaspur. My sisters believed that the scar would risk
me finding a husband but from the stories my mother told me the scar would be
my third eye. Due to this I would now be holiest sage who could peer into
invisible worlds or one might say lives.
9. Education
10.
Jackson Wright

Dr. Holt

English 12

September 19, 2022

Written Analysis

What do I think this novel is about? Well, I think the novel is about how one makes or

defines themselves through the people they interact with and settings they are in. For example,

when you look at yourself you probably have different personalities to some degree depending

on where you are at or more likely who you are with. An example would be if someone interacts

differently at school or work then they do with their friends and even then how they act

differently around their family. And that is what we see in the book. We Jyoti/Jasmine/Jase/Jane

take on different roles/personalities based on where she is at wether it is India or America and

based on who she is with.

There are, obviously, for different personalities that Jasmine (that’s what I’m going to go

with since it is the name of the book) is given or adopts. The first is Jyoti. She is a young Indian

girl whose dream, which is mostly based on her parents belief, is to get married. When then see

her adopt a new identity when she gets married to Prakash. The reason for this change is because

of the new main person in her life who influences. Due to him she then becomes a caring wife

who comforts her husband while he is working for a corrupt man. During this time, she changes

from her traditional Indian raising as Prakash encourages her to call him by his name and to also

learn and become educated, mostly through reading his textbooks. She also adopts his belief that

they can together go to America and flourish there just as Prakash’s mentor had. Her husband is
killed though and this identity dies with her husband and we see her as now a person who doesn’t

know what to do and clings on to her husbands dream.

When Jasmine does make it to America she meets different people before finally settling

with the Hayes who help create her new identity, Jase. Again, we see her personality change as

she learns to cope with the new freedom she as now that she is in America. We also see her

become more Americam which is shown by the shortening or her name. This personality is

temporarily subdued for a while though when she flees to Iowa where she will make her new

identity.

When she arrives in Iowa, Jasmine meets Bud an American farmer turned banker. While

with him she adopts a new name more suitable to the people and place she is at, Jane. The

changing of her name symbolizes her new, more-American life as we see her embrace more of

America as she gets a job and becomes pregnant.

At the end of the book Jasmine seems to pick the identity that she truly wants, Jase. We

see this as she decides to leave Bud and join Taylor and Duff Hayes so that she can have the

exciting and fun life that she had been searching for across different areas and with different

people.