Compare And Contrast The Bass The River And Sheila Mant

Do Our Decisions Determine Our Fate?

Decisions are made everyday like what to have for breakfast or doing homework after school instead of playing video games. One might believe that our choices have no impact on our fate, or that luck is the only factor in determining our fate. The most popular opinion being that our decisions make or break our future. Though the popular opinion is not always the best one, the leading idea is that our actions have the most impact on our fate, is true.

In the short story, “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant.”, the narrator changes his fate, unfortunately it is not the fate he thinks. He goes on a date with his crush next door, taking her on a boat ride down a river. While on the river Sheila tells him about how much she hates fishing, while it’s the narrator's favorite hobby. A fish suddenly hooks on to his fishing pole line in the water and he wants to try to reel it in but he is afraid of what Sheila will think. After a lot of compilation, he cuts the line. Thinking he made the right choice, he expects Sheila to fall for him later in the night. She doesn’t and takes off with another guy. While his decisions might have still come out to the

One decision in particular is that he isn’t thinking too smartly and decides to build his fire under a tree. He gets the fire going, but then a big pile of snow falls from the tree and ruins the fire. This is a prime example that our actions determine our fate. If he did not build his fire under the tree, he might have actually survived and made it to his friends house. But since this was not the case, he practically invited the fate of death right through the door in this story. He made other decisions that lead to his death too, such as not wearing warm enough clothing, and not bringing enough food. Ultimately, his disappointing choices lead to his