Shantaram

Because Lin is a fugitive, he can never fully feel free. He is always in danger of being exposed and returned to prison, and, even when not in prison, his actions are largely controlled by others—for instance, his actions in India and Afghanistan are controlled by Khan, and he overtly gives Karla the power to keep him near her or push him away. However, there are other types of freedom. Lin is never sure whether freedom is always the absence of captivity or whether freedom must also include the presence of something—namely, the presence in one’s life of the power to control one’s own actions and choices.

Lin’s view of what constitutes legitimate freedom and power changes over the course of the novel. Early on, Didier describes power to Lin in terms of Karla: “You know the kind of power I’m talking about, don’t you? Real power. The power to make men shine like the stars, or crush them to dust. The power of secrets. Terrible, terrible secrets. The power to live without remorse or regret” (56). Karla’s ability to exert power over others gives her freedom to act as she pleases. Karla has this freedom because she doesn’t allow herself to feel love or duty to anyone else by avoiding love for others. For Karla, freedom from love affords the freedom to control one’s own life.

Toward the end of the novel, Lin oversees the passport business and can create as many false identities for himself as he would ever want. Yet, as the rest of the world opens back up to him, it does not feel like tantalizing freedom to him. His confusion is compounded by his visit to Anand in prison. Anand asks Lin not to free him because he is at peace. He wants to experience his punishment because he believes he deserves it. Anand, trapped in the same brutal prison that Lin experienced, has a peacefulness that, at least internally, makes Lin feel even less free. The people in the village of Sunder, and even those in the slums, have a similar attitude of peaceful acceptance of their fate that gives them an internal freedom that Lin envies, even though he is ostensibly freer because he can travel at will.

The gangsters live what Lin eventually comes to see as a false freedom. After Khan’s death, Lin ponders the future of the various gangs and criminals: “Salman and the others, no less than Chuha and the Sapna killers and all the rest of them, were pretending that their little kingdoms made them kings; that their power struggles made them powerful. And they didn’t. They couldn’t” (905). The relationship between freedom and power here collapses because even though those at the top of their gangs have the most power and control over others, they are bound to their positions of authority. They cannot abscond or relieve themselves of the life they have fallen into because so many and so much depends on them, as readers see when Khan leaves Mumbai for Afghanistan. Thus, like Lin’s restless sense of restriction because he is not internally at peace with his fate, those with power are also metaphorically imprisoned by the needs of those who depend on them.

At the novel’s conclusion, Karla refuses to tell Lin she loves him. He thought this would be a tragic moment, should it ever occur. Instead, her rejection is what finally gives him his freedom. He feels empty at the thought of no longer needing her: “Then I knew what it was, that emptiness: there’s a name for it, a word we use often, without realizing the universe of peace that’s enfolded in it. The word is free” (927). Once Lin detaches from the idea of a potential future with Karla, he no longer experiences the longing that held him captive. In this way, the novel purports freedom from desire. Only when we let go of our duties, obligations, and connections do we experience freedom. Thus, it’s not clear whether freedom is a net positive for one’s life or not.