The Middleman and Other Stories 813land of opportunity becomes one of manipulation.
Jasmine, Blanquita, and Rosie become trapped in
“contracts” that deprive them of economic indepen-
dence and freedom. They allow themselves to be
sexually exploited by their employers and/or lovers
because their survival depends on it. They become
mistresses, surrogate mothers, and unstable lovers
who reinstate their males into traditional roles that
had been lost or undermined in this post-Vietnam
America. Paradoxically, even as they restore these
gender power relations, they transform and recon-
stitute American family structures and relationship
patterns.
Thus, survival for Indians abroad is more than
a question of economics and finding a place to
live. It entails complex psychological negotiations,
brutality, and rebirth. It creates possibilities for
both self-development and regression. It is a rite
of passage for each of Mukherjee’s migrant char-
acters that determines his or her trajectory in the
new land.
Saadiqa Khan