In the novel Bud calls the girl Jane, as in like Jane Russell, but the narrator would rather refer to herself as Plain Jane. I feel as though she refers to herself as Plain Jane because she is buying into the American Dream cliché. In other words she would rather be a “Plain” Jane, or normal American with no foreign cultural background or behavior. She would rather just fit in with everyone else. The narrator believes that in order to become a part of the American dream you must lose your cultural identity. She refers to it as letting go: “Once we start letting go—let go just one thing, like not wearing our normal clothes, or a turban or not wearing a tika on the forehead…” (pg. 29)
She uses the word frighten or frightened to describe how other people react to her “foreignness.” Throughout the book she restrains herself from divulging or conversing about her past with people who would not easily understand her point of view or who are just not culturally diverse enough to understand her. In Iowa I believe that most people that she encounters are this way. They simply just do not know much about the culture in which Jane was once a part of. And this frightens them and Jane alike because of the vast difference in backgrounds. This makes it all easier to just not talk about these things. Jane is known to be “foreign” but nothing else is known beyond that.
The question is is Jane trying to kill her past identity in order to become a part of this new life? In my opinion, yes. Her English is perfect, she does not talk much about her past and she has distanced herself as far as she can from what she once was. In fact even her name changes. She puts it “We murder who we were so we can rebirth ourselves in the images of dreams.” (pg. 29)
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Your right about her avoiding confrontation with those who view her as foreign, and I'm sure most Iowans would even view Californians as foreigns. That quote is very good in describing her adopted son Du and herself as well. Note, if you start with paragraph not about the book and have a more interesting title you'll probly get a sunglasses! Add pics too!
I think too that if the people in Iowa who know Jane were to start asking her questions about her past and her beliefs, they would be horrified with her answers and then not be able to accept her as part of their community. Most of these midwesterners are of the Christian faith and see Hinduism as a pagan or even a satanic religion. It is easier to accept someone if you can believe that they are just like you. Jane seems to be really good at just staying still and letting them see what they want to see.