Throughout Monica Ali’s “Brick
Lane,” Nazneen undergoes a series of transformations as she adjusts to life in
London. Ali offers a multi-dimensional
view of Nazneen’s relationships, memories, and fears as she attempts to find
her purpose in life. As a character who
is constantly absorbed in her own thoughts and confusion, and who is constantly
changing her mind, Nazneen struggles with the idea of her fate. It seems that as the novel progresses, she
seeks to come to terms with her fate, until she ultimately decides that only
she can really know what’s best for her.
Nazneen’s mindset on fate is
heavily influenced by her mother, Amma.
Amma truly believes that Nazneen’s life is purely a result of the power
of fate. In her frequent telling of the
“story of How You Were Left to Your Fate,” Amma instills in Nazneen that,
“Fighting against one’s Fate can weaken the blood. Sometimes, or perhaps most times, it can be
fatal.” Subsequently, “Not once did
Nazneen question the logic of the story…” (Ali 4). From the youngest possible age of
recollection, the idea that fate controls everything has been engrained in
Nazneen’s mind. She grows up and goes
through life believing in and relying on fate’s role in her life. She fears the idea of straying from her
pre-determined destiny, and her Amma has made her believe that her role in life
as a woman and a wife is to endure whatever plan God has for her.
Occasionally, Nazneen’s fear of
fate causes her to break down. She
sometimes has visions of her mother coming to her to encourage her to “endure,”
or to scold her for killing her son by trying to alter his fate. It seems as if she feels pressure from her
Amma to follow her direction, or that she feels like she has betrayed her.
Karim’s presence in the novel
instigates a change within Nazneen. She
fights with her inner self on the idea of fate.
At times she feels utter guilt for her sin. Other times, she uses fate as a coping
mechanism, something that will comfort her inner turmoil. With Karim she reminds herself, “You are
nothing” (Ali 246). With him, she
realizes, “If ever her life was out of her hands, it was now…She gave in to
fate and not to herself” (247). He
sparked inside her a new sense of life, and it is his sense of certainty and
purpose that makes him irresistible to Nazneen.
To fight the guilt inside, she reminds herself, “Whatever I have done is
done,” leaving her life to fate (282).
The comfort of fate leaves her “indifferent” at the thought of Chanu
seeing her in bed with Karim (287).
Karim leaves Nazneen feeling powerless over her life. However, this powerless feeling in Nazneen
manifests itself into a desire to overcome her fate with will.
Nazneen transforms from a passive
woman into one who decides to defy her fate and create her own life through her
will. She no longer finds comfort in her
destiny. She takes charge at home. She no longer wants to be “tied to [her]
corner of the room” (Ali 300). In the
end, she realizes that fate can be powerful, but that she had looked to fate
for answers before she knew what she was fully capable of. After her transformation in the novel, one
might argue that Nazneen replaces her belief in fate with a stronger belief in
free will.
While I highly agree with your distinction between fate and will within the novel, I believe that it goes past what you have mentioned. Yes, her transformation began with Karmin, but I believe that it went past him to a point where she was continuing her own transformation without the influence of anyone else. As she touched his hand for the last time, Nazeen says “Oh, Karim, that we have already done. But always there was a problem between us. How can I explain? I wasn't me, and you weren't you. From the very beginning to the very end, we didn't see things. What we did--we made each other up" (382). She is acknowledging the fact that whilst they both may have spurred a change in each other, if they stayed with each other they would end up in a place where they would not truly be themselves. From this point she makes the decision to not only leave Karmin, but to also stay with her children while Chanu returned without them. I admit that these decisions would never have been possible without Karmin having begun her new ways of thinking, but if she had not broken away from the path he started for her, she also would never have made the decisions she did. If she had stayed with Karmin, it is highly plausible that his influence would have had them married while Chanu and the children went back to Bangladesh without Nazeen.
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ReplyDeleteI also have to say that while I do agree with your distinction between free will and fate, I would disagree with you on when the transition to free will began.
I agree that at the end of the novel, Nazneen reaches a level of free will previously unattained throughout the novel. However, I don’t think that her affair with Karim was a point of stasis in that journey, nor do I think that she thought of Karim in that way. In Nazneen’s view, Karim’s certainty was most likely something that put him in contrast with Chanu, whose fruitless ambitions annoyed her. Near the beginning of their marriage, “Nazneen wondered if he really had a degree from Dhaka. Perhaps he used to finish things in those days” (70). Nazneen is unimpressed with Chanu’s weak ability to execute his goals. She sees Karim as a confident alternative to that, and she perceives his participation in meetings (as well as hers, since he includes her in the vote) to be substantial to the efforts he pursues. In addition, Karim includes her in his endeavors in a way Chanu does not. After the first meeting, Nazneen “put[s] the newsletters on the table for her husband to see” and thinks to herself, “you are not the only one who knows things” (198). Nazneen sees Karim as an opportunity to advance her knowledge, while Chanu provides her with no such opportunities. Thus, while I agree with you that Nazneen reaches the most heightened point of her free will at the end of the novel, I do think she moves slightly towards her goal through her relationship with Karim. Albeit based on erroneous assumptions about Karim, her intentions in pursuing the relationship seem to be for the sake of challenging her fated marriage to Chanu.
As the story progresses, Nazneen does undergo a transformation in how she views the concept of fate; this transition is certainly triggered by her observations of how others view fate. One example where Nazneen makes a realization about fate occurs on page 282. After reading some of Hasina’s letters, Nazneen reflects on her sister’s approach to life. Nazneen believes that “Fate, it seemed, had turned Hasina’s life around and around, tossed and twisted it like a baby rat, naked and blind, in the jaws of a dog. And yet Hasina did not see it. She examined the bite marks on her body, and for each one she held herself accountable. This is where I savaged myself, here and here and here” (282). Clearly, Nazneen has observed how complex the concept of fate truly is. By reading her sister’s letters and learning more about Hasina’s approach to life, Nazneen learns that people can blame themselves for happenings beyond their control. Such a realization is a milestone in Nazneen’s transformation from blindly following fate—allowing life to occur without any hope of controlling its outcome—to questioning how one responds to life events. She only makes this realization after observing the lives and attitudes of those around her.
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