Qadar is the concept in Islam that Allah has decreed what will occur in the universe. This concept is simplified in the novel, Brick Lane, to the common concept of fate, “that which is inevitably predetermined”. The book focuses on the fate of several characters and their view on fate itself. The novel has an epigraph by Heraclitus in it that follows this theme, “A man’s character is his fate.” The quote relates to the novel through the characters personalities. A person’s personality is something that is predetermined. A person cannot change their personality no matter how hard they try. This means that their life is ultimately based off a predetermined set of characteristics that define them. Nazneen, Chanu, and Hasina are both key examples …show more content…
of how a person’s character is their fate. Nazneen is a complex character who has a firm belief in fate.
She is obedient, strong, caring and family oriented. This brings her both pain and joy throughout the novel. Her obedience brings her much pain; her marriage is the main issue that arises out of her obedience. When her father tells Nazneen about the marriage he has arranged, she does not question the decision; even after she sees a picture of Chanu and finds his appearance distasteful, she says nothing and goes along with the marriage. Caring about her family also contributes to the fact she goes along with the arranged marriage. This is the beginning of her unhappy marriage, a marriage where she continues to be obedient. She believes that her pain is because women are meant to suffer, but ultimately it is her fate to suffer in the relationship because of her own obedience. If she was not obedient and was willing to challenge the arranged marriage her fate may have been different, but that is not part of her …show more content…
personality. Her obedience is not the only trait that affects her choices greatly. Nazneen is a very caring; though this could be a good thing in many situations, her caring nature causes Nazneen more emotional strife. Though she does not love Chanu and can find him annoying and repulsive, she is both too obedient and caring to let him know this. Instead, she wallows in her own sorrow because that is what a good Bangladeshi wife does. Nazneen’s fate is also to stay in England because of her caring, strong, family oriented personality. While staying in England disobeys what Chanu wants, she cares about her daughters and their happiness more than obeying her husband. Her family oriented personality seals her happiness in the novel. While she still full heartedly believes in fate, she changes her mind on whether her decisions can affect her fate. She decides that her decisions are part of her fate; this is a conclusion she can only make after she is able to stop focusing on her obedient side and begins to focus on her family oriented side. Without her family oriented trait, she may have ended up going back to Bangladesh with Chanu but that was not a part of her fate. Chanu’s character is a self-important, argumentative man of little action.
His self-importance makes him not develop as a character. He values himself too highly to realize that he can still grow; this allows Chanu to stay static during the novel. It is his fate to stay unhappy with his life but not do anything about it. Even though he could obtain a better job if he got a degree in England, he does not do so because he believes that his prior degree from Bangladesh and his intelligence should be enough. It is also hinted in the novel that Chanu knows that Nazneen is having an affair with Karim; instead of trying to fix the problems in their relationship, Chanu chooses not to bring the issue up and allows their relationship to stay an issue. This may be partially because he is a man of little action and because bringing up the issue would make it real; if the issue is made real then Chanu will not be able to save face anymore. His self-importance is also the reason he leaves his family. His own image is more important to him than staying with his family. He knows that he will never achieve any of the great things he wants to do in the United Kingdom, so he decides that it is best for him to leave. In Bangladesh, he believes that people will finally give him the respect he deserves and he can start a company to finally achieve something in his
life. Chanu’s argumentative nature makes it his fate to stay disconnected from those around him. His relationship with his daughters is destined to be in shambles. Instead of talking with his daughters when there is an issue, he argues with them, especially with Shahana his eldest daughter. While Chanu does not normally argue with Nazneen, probably due to the fact she is obedient, it still pushes them apart. Nazneen tends to pick the side of her daughters and dislikes when Chanu and her daughters argue. Chanu and Shahana’s fighting brings Nazneen closer to Shahana and distances her from Chanu. Dr. Azad’s relationship with Chanu is also complicated by Chanu’s arguing; while debate seems to be something that draws the men together, ultimately the men never get to know each other on a personal level because they are always too busy arguing. Hasina, Nazneen’s younger sister, is a spontaneous and naïve woman. As a young girl, Hasina chooses to run off with a man in the village against her father’s wishes; this causes her much strife and pain. She married the man without any warning and was very naïve about the way things would turn out. Even after Hasina runs away from her husband, she is still naïve about the world around her. An old man, Mr. Chowdhury, allows Hasina to live in his apartment building without rent and Hasina does not find this to be a strange occurrence; she believes that he views her as a daughter and that is why she is allowed to stay at the house without rent. At one point, Mr. Chowdhury brings up bringing her to his house, “If a girl comes to a mans house as servant there is no trouble. She must come as servant. Or as wife. Then all is well (129).” Hasina is thoroughly confused by this statement; she still sees herself as a daughter to him and does not realize that her stay at the apartment is not really free. Her naivety is later crushed when Mr. Chowdhury breaks down her door and rapes her. Even after these situations happen to her, her naivety does not stop. Hasina ends up marrying an albino man named Ahmed. She believes that she will finally be happy with this man. At first everything is fine, she takes care of everything the way he likes and he thinks she is a good wife. Something changes during their marriage which causes Ahmed to act differently; Ahmed becomes convinced that Hasina has changed her face and cursed him. In her naïve way as always, she believes it is a rough spot in her marriage and does not want to admit that there is something truly wrong. Nazneen, Chanu and Hasina’s lives are spelled out for them. Their personalities dictate the choices that they make and seal their fate for them. No matter how hard they try they cannot fight their fate because they cannot change who they are. Their own misery is sown into their being though none of them realize this fact.
In the book, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, it follows a Olympian named Louie Zamperini, and his journey. Louie Zamperini was born in Olean, New York, his family later then moved to Torrance, California. Louie is: rebellious, resourceful, among many other things. Louie is who he is because of how he grew up, and the obstacles he overcame. Louie Zamperini shows rebellious and resourceful characteristic traits through his actions.
G.K.Chesterton once quoted, “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” The novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, recounts the struggles of a Canadian soldier through his tedious and terrible experiences fighting for his country against the Germans. Throughout the novel, the protagonist was disgusted by the blood and trauma war brings, however, he knew that it was imperative to kill, or else he would not have survived. In war, it is kill or be killed, someone who is wise will kill to survive and protect his country, as well as avenge his family or comrades.
Abuse is a subject that should be considered important. There are about 960,000 abuse incidents reported annually. 85% of them are reported by women. The resting 15% are reported by men. In Fried Green Tomatoes, abuse is a recurring part of the book, Fannie Flagg does an admirable job in describing in detail the abuse incidents that happen throughout the book. Ruth is a character that receives abuse from her husband, she believes she deserves everything he does to her, even push her down the stairs. She finally takes the decision to escape from the abusive relationship she is in when her near death mother advices her to. Along the way characters develop some effects caused by abuse. People who suffer from abuse may develop fear, low self-esteem, or strength.
Jeanette Walls is the picture-perfect illustration of an individual who finds righteousness for herself. She is the protagonist in the book “The Glass Castle”, who has an unfair miserable childhood due to how her parents were. Walls stands out for her determination as she goes out to the real world to seek her own justice, with the ultimate goal of being stable for once, and take responsibility for herself, not for the whole family.
In the short story The Devil and Tom Walker, written by Washington Irving, the protagonist Tom Walker, is characterized as being a negative man. This is demonstrated through Tom Walker being characterized as being meager, outspoken, fearless, greedy, stubborn, and unloving.
Our perspective on life can have a significant impact on our life. Depending on how you were raised it can impact your perspective on life very differently than others. For example if you were raised in a home of poverty or drug abuse you are use too that lifestyle when you're young. It wouldn't be till your older you would realize it is not a normal way of life. It shapes our life. In the novel the Glass Castle Jeanette is a perfect example of how your perspective changes throughout life as you experience life in addition to maturing. Her change in life had an unbelievable impact on her life that made her a well round mature adult despite her upbringing in poverty.
The Glass Castle is a novel that follows the life of a dysfunctional family from the perspective of Jeannette Walls, the third child of the Walls family. Throughout the stories, the readers see all the hardships the children face, as their lunatic parents do what they think is right. After reading the book, it seems to agree the quote “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands” by Anne Frank.
Mariam’s strength is immediately tested from birth and throughout her whole childhood. She has been through a lot more than other children of her age, and one of those challenges is the hope for acceptance. She is looked at as an illegitimate child by her parents, and they say there’s no need to attend school. We learn right away what the word “harami” means when Nana uses that to describe her own daughter. She says, “You are a clumsy little harami. This is my reward for everything I’ve endured. An heirloom-breaking, clumsy little harami” (Hosseini 4). Nana especially pushed Mariam away from pursuing her goals. She said there was no need for education and men always find a way to blame it on a woman. This pushed Mariam away from her mom and closer to Jalil, but he refuses to acknowledge her and his wives look at her with cold stares of disgust. Mariam only feels loved by Jalil through all of this, mainly because he brings her things and shows her some love. She asks him to do something with her outside of the kolboa and he first agrees, but never brings her because of his fear with his wives and the structures of Afghan culture that frown upon it. He starts to act as if she was a burden to him and Mariam’s hope for acceptance is crushed. She realizes the truth, especially once she reaches adulthood. In Afghanistan, marriage is not all about love for eachother, it is about traditional role...
... by it. This is symbolic of her marriage which started out as happy and desirable and in such a short time she doubts her love for him and starts to see him as undesirable and animal-like. Women are afraid not to submit to the male species in fear of losing what they have and not being able to make it on their own.
*Hassan was crying because of the shame he felt after the encounter with the soldier who said he had slep with his mother at some point.
In my fourth and final meeting for book club, my group and I have read the whole novel of Shattered. And when our roles were shared, I learned new things about the novel such as why the novel is called Shattered as well as a connection between the main character Ian to myself. To begin, I obtained knowledge of the reason to why the novel has the name Shattered. Evidence to support from the novel is when Jacques says “You see those shards of glass? He said, pointing to the jagged pieces of the bottle on the ground. Do you think you can put them together again? Do you think anything or anybody could ever make it whole again? Well, do you? It’s not just broken, it’s shattered into a million pieces and it can never be put back together again. Never.
In J.R.R. Tolkien's, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring is the first novel. The setting of the story takes place in Middle Earth, which is a world Tolkien created himself. It rotates around the One Ring that holds a considerable measure of power, and that power is held by Frodo Baggins. He leaves the shire to keep the ring out of Sauron's hands, which grasps all Sauron's power and if he holds that power again, he can enslave Middle Earth and do incredible evil things. Along their adventure, they meet a man named Tom Bombadil. Tolkien purposely made Bombadil a puzzling character, yet significant. Bombadil is mysterious because he does not have a classification and the ring does
Irvine Welsh’s novel Trainspotting centres on Mark Renton and his group of friends, who are drug addicts living in 1980s Scotland, and follows their misadventures as their lives begin to deteriorate. While the detrimental effects of heroin and other drugs are clearly displayed, the negative effects of their unhealthy friendships are less obvious but equally toxic. Friendship in Trainspotting is a destructive force because it is corrupted by selfishness; it becomes an addiction which mirrors that of drug abuse.
“Do you think that the Prince no the emperor would find it in his heart to overlook all your….. shortcomings?” (pg 300) This quote has a lot of meaning to it and very important to me because it proves that all people in this world are different in their own way, some people don't have an arm or a leg like Cinder didn't have one. Most people can overlook those things like i can, but some people can't and look at them with a disused look. It allows me to understand that no one not even me is perfect. If you compare me to someone else they might be better than me at something but they would never be perfect at that something. I like this quote because of the meaning of it. It's just telling to not bring myself down because i'm different.
Ramatoulaye realizes that she was obeying and depending on her husband and following the societal norms and urges all the other women to unite and be independent of a man that doesn't appreciate a woman. Also, Ramatoulaye makes a choice to be a single woman that will do anything for her children and doesn't want to be with a man like Daouda who might be rich, but has a wife already.