1
Yu-Jin Henson
IB English World Lit-14
Authors Mika Waltari and Ismail Kadare’s use of different literary elements, such as
setting, plot and characterization, in order to convey character’s inevitable destiny
An author is a god of the story he or she unfolds. In a novel it is the author that
breaths in to every elements such as behaviors, time, environments, relationships and more.
With these elements, author is able to synthesize their imaginary characters that they desire.
Some creates a fortunate character and reward them with fantastical, happy-endings to tell
their story but others creates rather unfortunate characters to bring their points crossed to the
readers. Authors Mika Waltari and Ismail Kadare constructs a tale of a two men trapped by
unfortunate destiny through the use of different literary elements such as characterization
setting and plot in order to triggers readers own thought about fate and destiny. In this paper I
will explore novels The Egyptian and Broken April to analyze similarity and difference
authors Mika Waltari and Ismail Kadare shares in order convey inevitable destiny of the main
characters.
In the novel Broken April, Ismail Kadare builds his story upon early 20th century
Albania. The significant of this time period and place is the powerful book of Kanun. This
traditional book, past down to its people for centuries, have its hold of lives of high plateau in
Albania and the main character, Gjorg is no exception:
“Its (Kanun’s) power reached everywhere, covering lands, the boundaries of fields.
It made its way into the foundations of houses, into tombs, to churches, to roads, to markets,
to weddings. It climbed up to mountain pastures, and even higher still, to the very skies,
whence it fell in the form of rain to fill the water courses, which were the cause of a good
third of all murders”1
1
Broken April, Ismail Kadare, Pg. 46
2
Such nature portrays Gjorg as a bird caged from any outside world beyond the world
of Kanun. As author introduces the law of Kanun, Gjorg’s inevitability to escape the Albanian
culture and its way of life is also revealed.
But like any law, Kanun cannot exist without one’s obedience. If Gjorg were to
disobey its law and abandoned his fate then “it would have been the first day of its kind-a
blank- in a century, perhaps during two, three, five centuries, perhaps from the time of the
origin of the blood feud.” 25This farther strengthens the bound between Gjorg and Kanun and
the two become almost inseparable. Because only way to evict Gjorg’s fate is by breaking
away from the law of Kanun, such setting his fate inevitable.
Ismail farther confirms Gjorg’s destiny through creating twisted yet compelling plot.
He takes his reader seventy years back from the novel to explain how Gjorg and his family
became tangled up in such terrifying blood feud:
“On that (same) October day, it came out who it was that had shot unknown travelers.
It was young man from Kryeqyqe family…And so, at the end of that October day, the Berisha
found them in enmity with the Kryeqyqe. Gjorg’s clan (Berisha) which had hitherto lived in
peace was at last caught up by the great engines of the blood feud. Forty-four graves had been
dug since then and who knows how many are to come, and all because of the knocking at the
gate on that autumn night.” 3
The Berisha family had close to no relationship with his man. And almost as if sole
purpose of his life existence is to bring the family in to the never ending blood flow in two
families. The man responsible for the death of forty four men and the life of Gjorg is also
described as a ‘ghost’ and ‘fate’. By this, the author conveys hard to believe reality that one
man’s harmless action can cause numerous death and sorrow for decades. Such comparison
and the quote is a portrayal to Gjorg’s helplessness to his fate. Past action cannot be erased
2
3
Broken April, Ismail Kadare, Pg. 139
Broken April, Ismail Kadare, Pg. 33
3
6
nor its consequences; hence Gjorg’s fate is inevitable.
Like Kadare, Mika Waltari also dooms his character by his creations of complex plot.
He begins his novel with use of an element of plot, foreshadowing:
“I (Sinuhe) noticed I that I did not look like the rest . My face was narrower, my skin
lighter, and my limb more slender than those of the other lad and of the people among who I
dwelt.”
4
In this quote the author’s description of young adopted Sinuhe with a different physical
appearance foretells Sinuhe’s journey of lonely destiny. His lonely journey of Sinuhe with
unanswered question of his identify is reveled as the author brings the story to its climax.
Sinuhe come to find out that he was a son of the Pharaoh abandoned by a queen, who was
feared that his mother would gain power with birth of a son. With this discovery of the
mystery of his birth and his birth mother he reacts in sorrow and quoted
“The little head beneath its royal headdress was beautiful, and her limbs delicate and
slender. I gazed long upon the statue…For her sake I could have wished to be as beautiful as
herself, but my limbs were heavy and soft and my head bald beneath the doctor’s wig.
Thought had plowed furrow in my forehead, and my face was puffy with high living in
Akhetaton. I could not imagine myself as her son. Nevertheless, I was profoundly moved and
wept for her loneliness in Pharaoh’s golden house.”5
In this scene of Sinuhe finally being able to reunite with long lost identity through the statue
of his birth mother, portrays Sinuhe as a helpless babe. As he express his sorrow, author
indicates though it is wicked, the past action has been committed and there is nothing else can
be done to change Sinuhe’s past and fate.
Unlike Kadare, Waltari use characterization rather than setting to affirm the
4
5
The Egyptian, Mika Waltari, Pg.16
The Egyptian, Mika Waltari, Pg.334
4
character’s unchangeable fate. Waltari does not encounter Sinuhe in an environment where he
have to face harsh torment, even life or death situation like Kadare’s character. Rather it is
Sinuhe’s own internal philosophical influence that derives his destiny. Through out the novel
every tragedy occurs in Sinuhe’s journey, he repeats his belief in one man’s fate:
“Thus I took flight from Babylon, thought for what reason I did all this I cannot say;
doubtless it was written in the stars before the day of my birth, and was inevitable”7
“I told myself that all had been written in the stars long before the day of my birth,
and this brought me consolation.”8
“All was written in the stars before ever I was born, and I was predestined to be a
stranger in the world.”9
The Author’s use of motif assures the reader with Sinuhe’s unchangeable belief that there are
no needs to fret about inevitable destiny because it is not a man’s matter to determine to
escape or change his fate.
The author leaves the readers linger thinking the alternate situation. “What if the man did not
knock on the door in that fall?” “What if the queen failed to abduct and abandoned Sinuhe on
Nile River?” But further more we began to ask; “What if Gjorg stood against the law with
courage despite the consequences?” and “What if Sinuhe claimed his rightful throne and
decided to saved the Egypt out of its chaos?” It is possible that it is our natural desire to see a
hero rise above his unfortunate circumstances. But Waltari and Kadare created two
unordinary stories with two ordinary human beings. Like majority of the people they were
comfortable with where they believed to belong. Even Gjorg, who had clear understanding
that his fate was going to end up with a bullet through his head, ‘hesitated’ with choosing the
life unchained from the blood feud. Perhaps it is Waltari and Kadare asking readers the
7
8
9
The Egyptian, Mika Waltari, Pg 167
The Egyptian, Mika Waltari, Pg 221
The Egyptian, Mika Waltari, Pg 343
5
question of, how would your story change if you were to step out of your boundary?