Franklin D. Roosevelt was once quoted saying, “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds”. Within this world of endless possibilities, nothing is certain but the unforeseen. Every person is given the extraordinary power to compose their course of existence, presuming that the individual can summon up the courage to challenge one’s fate. In Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha, Sayuri Nitta recalls her experiences throughout her journey of becoming a geisha. Sayuri Nitta, whose original name was Chiyo Sakamoto, is a strikingly beautiful girl who grew up in an impoverished fishing family in Yoroido. At the age of nine, she was sold by her troubled father to a geisha house in Gion, while her older sister Satsu was
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Sayuri holds a belief that "We must use whatever methods we can to understand the movement of the universe around us and time our actions so that we are not fighting the currents, but moving with them" (127), believing that nothing significance could be changed, but one can only minimize the severity of the effects. On the contrary, western notion of free will involves one seizing control of their decisions. Undoubtedly, both beliefs are valid. Regardless of the speed one moves in, it is more important to ensure that the limitations of their own ambition does not curtail their freedom to the very fullness of living. Sayuri was told that "[her] and Nobu have an en, Sayuri, and [she] can't escape it" (292), which she blindly believed. She believes that her life are entirely a matter of fate and intertwined destinies. She admits, “[people] viewed [themselves] as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them. Nobu's touch had made a deeper impression on me than most. No one could tell me whether he would be my ultimate destiny, but I had always sensed the end between us” (292). Despite this strong bond that was held together by fate, Sayuri made the choice to end it and challenge her preordained path. She came to the understanding that regardless of whether her life was predestined or not, the only thing that will only matter is to have free will. Nobu is certainly a loyal friend that Sayuri values, confessing that “I didn't want to lose his friendship; but in my efforts to reach the Chairman, Nobu was an obstacle I'd found no way around (395). Once Sayuri recognizes the deepness and importance of her personal desires, she sacrifices Nobu to find her destiny. After a war broke out that caused her whole life to change, she realizes that
Sayuri holds a belief that "We must use whatever methods we can to understand the movement of the universe around us and time our actions so that we are not fighting the currents, but moving with them" (127), believing that nothing significance could be changed, but one can only minimize the severity of the effects. On the contrary, western notion of free will involves one seizing control of their decisions. Undoubtedly, both beliefs are valid. Regardless of the speed one moves in, it is more important to ensure that the limitations of their own ambition does not curtail their freedom to the very fullness of living. Sayuri was told that "[her] and Nobu have an en, Sayuri, and [she] can't escape it" (292), which she blindly believed. She believes that her life are entirely a matter of fate and intertwined destinies. She admits, “[people] viewed [themselves] as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them. Nobu's touch had made a deeper impression on me than most. No one could tell me whether he would be my ultimate destiny, but I had always sensed the end between us” (292). Despite this strong bond that was held together by fate, Sayuri made the choice to end it and challenge her preordained path. She came to the understanding that regardless of whether her life was predestined or not, the only thing that will only matter is to have free will. Nobu is certainly a loyal friend that Sayuri values, confessing that “I didn't want to lose his friendship; but in my efforts to reach the Chairman, Nobu was an obstacle I'd found no way around (395). Once Sayuri recognizes the deepness and importance of her personal desires, she sacrifices Nobu to find her destiny. After a war broke out that caused her whole life to change, she realizes that