Luck in Q&A Anonymous

Vikas Swarup’s <i>Q & A</i> tells the story of a young orphan who miraculously transforms from being penniless to possessing more money than he could ever imagine. It seems Ram’s ability to answer all of the questions on a quiz show correctly is the result of destiny, or at least luck. However, the theme of Swarup’s novel suggests differently. Best articulated by the hero himself, the moral of Ram’s story is “luck comes from within,” meaning a person’s actions create the lucky or unlucky situations they experience (Swarup 318). Swarup’s lesson is an applicable one, since successful people know that a person makes his or her own luck.

Due to the way Ram acts, he brings luck into his life. Though his lifestyle is not one that would be envied by many people, Ram is quite fortunate in his unfortunate conditions. One example of this occurs when Ram is saved from the police station by Smita. It seems incredibly lucky that a lawyer would come out of nowhere to help Ram. Luck is based on chance, and lucky things happen when the odds are in a person’s favor. But it is revealed that Smita’s appearance is really not a chance occurrence at all when she tells Ram, “I am Gudiya. I am the girl you helped in the chawl” (Swarup...