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Many of us often wrestle with the idea if our destiny is predetermined by the fate or is shaped by
the gift of the freewill. Such issue seems to be more difficult to determine when we face challenges and
tragedies in life. Is the unfortunate outcome always result of our poor use of freewill or is it something
inevitable to avoid because it was bound to happen long before it became an issue? It is likely for us to
believe that our lives are result of how we have handled, managed, and react to situation since we live in a
society where the natural right is highly valued and adored. But is really only the pure freewill that guides
the destiny of our lives when it is the fate that brought us in to a culture that is expectable to natural rights
and freewill? Although we may never know the answer to the question, through the novel Broken April
and The Egyptian, we can examine the lives lived by men who believe that destiny is solely concluded
through fate. In a plot where escaping fate didn’t seem like an option, authors Kadare and Waltari trigger
their readers to rethink fate and destiny.This paper is an exploration of the similarity and difference
authors Waltari and Kadare shares in their novel The Egyptian and Broken April as they convey inevitable
destiny of the main characters.
The early 20th century Albania setting in the novel Broken April, introduces a powerful, and
significantly influential book, Kanun. It has been passed down to its people for centuries, never losing its
hold of the people of the high plateau in Albania, as well as the main character of the novel, Gjorg. As
Kadare explained,
“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”(KADARE 46)
Kadare lists the everyday life subjects to show that the law affects fundamentals of human
existence such life, death, relationships and personal belief. Author’s description of Kanun, reaching over
all aspects of living, brings captive tone towards Gjorg’s life. Like a bird, Gjorg has been caged away from
the outside world beyond the book of Kanun. One book of law has essentially defined the culture of a
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society. Since nobody has ability to choose what culture they wish to born into, it was fate that originally
brought into the confined way of life of Kanun. The author foreshadows that Gjorg will soon encounter his
destiny which will bring him to take a part in the law of blood not by his free will but by fate.
Kadare also introduces a stranger with no name who plays a vital role in the plot of the story. In one of his
flashback, he tells the story 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.” (KADARE 33)
In the explanation, the stranger who is responsible for the death of forty four men and the life of
Gjorg is described no more than just an ordinary traveler. It is almost easier to believe that he was a ghost. .
The Berisha family had to fulfill the duty as the host under the law of Kanun and welcome the stranger
into the house, even if they knew that the man would be murdered the next morning. Once the man was
killed it was once again their duty to provide the blood to power the engine of the law of the blood feud.
Just as Gjorg did not have an option to become a citizen of a culture that believes in blood feud, he did not
have a free will to change the actions of the murderer in the past.
Similar to Kadare, Waltari also portrays destiny of the main character, Sinuhe, determined by fate
thorough use of foreshadow and revealing a new vital character in his flashback. To begin with, Waltari
starts 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.”(WALTARI 16)
In this quote, the author’s representation of young adopted Sinuhe with different physical features than
those around him indicates the primary factor of Sinhue’s childhood - isolation. However, it also further
indicates the foretelling of Sinuhe’s inevitable journey as ‘a man who is lonely’ in his later life. As Sinuhe
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enters physical journey of manhood, he also begins his lonesome search of his true identity
When Sinuhe come to discovery that he was a son of the Pharaoh abandoned by a queen, who feared that
Sinuhe’s mother would gain more power with birth of a son, he reacts to such finding with distress and
quotes:
“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 Akhenaton. I could not imagine myself as her son.
Nevertheless, I was profoundly moved and wept for her loneliness in Pharaoh’s golden house.”(WALTARI
334)
Sinuhe finally comes to reunite with his long lost identity through the statue of his birth mother. Though
the quote portrays Sinuhe as a helpless, feeble child, it is important to note that he is no longer a child.
This truth has been revealed farther in to his life as a middle age man. Through the flashback of the tragic
death of a mother due to the unbearable agony of losing her son, the author signifies that despite the
iniquity of the situation, committed past action cannot be undone and change present destiny of Sinuhe.
Like the fate of Gjorg, Sinuhe’s fate also was determined by an action made by others out of his control.
Therefore, like Gjorg, Sinuhe’s destiny was determined by fate rather than free will.
Unlike Kadare, Waltari affirm the character’s destiny determined by fate through characterization
rather than setting. Waltari does not encounter Sinuhe in a culture or an environment that results in tragic
captivity. But it is rather Sinuhe’s own internal, philosophical influence that derives his belief in destiny
chosen by fate. Throughout 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”(WALTARI 167)
“I told myself that all had been written in the stars long before the day of my birth, and this
brought me consolation.” (WALTARI 221)
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“All was written in the stars before ever I was born, and I was predestined to be a stranger in the
world.”(WALTARI 343)
In these quotes, stars symbolize the unreachable and unchangeable matters in life, such as fate.
The repetition of these quotes portrays the Sinuhe’s philosophy that destiny of his life was not molded by
his will but was predetermined.
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 how the stories of these men could have been changed if they saw the
possibility of changing their destiny through freewill. For example: “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?” However do we ever ask those questions to ourselves? Even Gjorg, who
knew that his fate will lead to his own death, hesitated to go against his fate in his thought of life
unchained from the blood feud. Perhaps Kadare and Waltari are asking readers the question. If we could
compare our live determined by fate we were born with to our life today, would it show drastic difference?
Or would it be the same because we are also hesitated to use the gift of the freewill?