Active or Passive?

I feel there are two ways to go about life. One way is by being active. A "go getter". When there is something that you want to do or become you do it. The other way is being passive. Letting others control and manupulate you. Running away from things that scare or intimidate you. I feel that I am definitely on the side of active. I am doing what I want to do and I am the person who I want to be. What type of person are you?

In the book Jasmine, written by Bharati Mukherjee, the main character Jyoti grows up in India where the women there are seen as home makers. Jyoti is a very talented and smart girl. However the custom for women, no matter how smart or intelligent the mold stays the same. They must not demonstrate an active lifestyle because it is frowned upon. One could say that their destiny is already chosen for them before they are born.

Jyoti has her own plans. She tells her father Pitaji that she wants to become a doctor and move to America. I see this defiance as an active act. For her to stand up to her father and tell him that she is not going to do what she was made for took a lot of courage and strength on her part.

When Jyoti gets to America she finds herself in the busy city of New York. She does not like the feel of the fast pace environment and quickly chooses to move to a small town in Iowa. In our class discussion many people saw this as a passive move. I see the logic in that because she is running away from something she is not used to. I also see this as an active move because she is taking a stand for what she wants to do. When she gets there she is much more comfortable. Possibly because she grew up in a farm town and is now living in a comparable environment.

Jyoti makes another change in her life when she changes her name to Jasmine. Our discussion once again brought up the question if this was a passive or active move. I saw it as an active move because she is making a change that she wants to do. She is in a way becoming more Americanized, which is what she wants. The other side, the passive side, is illustrated in the name change because she is possibly running away from her past.

I think that Jasmine is ultimately an active person. Moving away and changing her name can be seen as both passive and active but I think she is making these changes because she wants to, not because she is trying to hide or run from her past. Being strong and doing what one wants to I believe is a very important aspect in life. I think one has to be both passive and active to balance things out.