Free Will By Nazneen

Through Nazneen’s growing opposition to the absolute power of fate, Ali shows that challenging an inherited, cultural, belief does not lead to corruption of oneself, but instead is a crucial step to the discovery of one’s self-efficacy.
In establishing one’s life around a belief that is acquired at birth, one relinquishes the innate ability to think for themselves. For most of her life, Nazneen is intent on always following her mother’s teachings. Amma influences her to believe that trusting in fate is a pivotal part of Bengali culture and can not be overlooked; however, as a result, Nazneen spends much of her youth ignorant to her own thinking capabilities. Whenever Nazneen was upset as child, Amma calmed her down by saying, ‘Just wait and
Once Nazneen accepts her fate as being a wife to Chanu in London, she allows life to make “its pattern around and beneath and through her” (Ali 26). She has no will to engage in any other aspects of life except those that pertain to her idea of being a respectable wife; doing the dishes, cooking, cleaning and caring for herself diligently, day after day. While visiting Dr. Azad, his wife discloses the reality of Nazneen’s situation by saying, “Some women spend ten, twenty years here and they sit in the kitchen grinding spices all day and learn only two words of English” (Ali 89). This monotony can be detrimental to one’s sense of purpose and worth. Many women who come to London are eventually given a plethora of opportunities to branch out into different areas of society; however, because they are so focused on their fated purpose, it becomes impossible to follow through with these opportunities. By mindlessly living a life based on an integrated belief, one can easily become lost in a repetitive cycle of the same daily activities and find their own personal goals
After a multitude of years, Nazneen is finally led to realize that allowing fate to take ahold of her life has been stifling the potential of her mind. One morning, her sari is distracting her from work and she is abruptly “seized by panic and clawed the silk away as if it were strangling her. The sari...became heavy chains. Suddenly, she was gripped by the idea that if she changed her clothes her entire life would change as well...For a glorious moment it was clear that clothes, not fate, made her life” (Ali 228). The idea of being tied down by her culture’s reliance on fate has become a terrifying prospect to her and sparks the momentum she needs to start making decisions for herself. Sitting with her husband and lover in the same room, she relishes in this new awareness and gives way “to a feeling of satisfaction that had been slowly growing...She considered how much of her life, how much time, how much energy, she had spent trying not care, trying to accept...Do you see me now, she said to Amma” (Nazneen 294). Gradually, she is breaking the ties she had with the beliefs of her mother, and in doing so she unleashes a new sensation of empowerment over her own actions. She realizes how much better her life can be if she simply takes the initiative to think for herself. She even feels confident enough