The Business Trip

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical abuse, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and cursing.

The Business Trip centers on Jasmine Littleton’s attempts to steal the identity of Stephanie Monroe based on their physical similarities. Unbeknownst to Jasmine, she and Stephanie also share specific personality traits: In addition to their physical similarities, they are both lonely and eager to start a new life. The similarities between these two women—internal and external—suggest that Jasmine acts as Stephanie’s doppelganger, a dark mirror who has a negative impact on her life.

Jasmine and Stephanie are united in their deep sense of loneliness. Jasmine is estranged from her mother and siblings and has no “family to lean on” (10). Lack of family support has made Jasmine “angry and sad” throughout her adult life (10). Although Jasmine doesn’t know it, Stephanie is also deeply lonely. She is estranged from her ex-husband and her son, describing herself as “a divorced woman with a grown child and only a cat” (20). Like Jasmine, she has no relationship with her parents, a loss that created a void. The novel suggests that, for both Jasmine and Stephanie, lack of human connection is an important motivator.