Are we really free?

"Really , does all this ruuning around like a hamster in a cage get you anywhere? See things as they are, Lucky. Look at the bigger picture. For you, life is a prison. You're always responding to things, never directing them. Learn to live free. When you give other people the power to do what you ought to do yourself, you make them your jailor."( P.31)

Just before she had left Bombay, Lucky's friend Shanti had told her these words. It would seem that by leaving Bombay, Lucky was running away from her old life and breaking free of the prison that it had become. But was she really free? Are we ever "free" of all the shackles that bind us?

Pure freedom is an illusion because there are societal pressures, filial pressures, personal attitudes and experiences that make it hard to really live life without any accountability or responsibility to anyone.

Shanti tells Lucky to direct things but is this really possible? Aren't we all living creatures essentially responding to external stimuli?