The Glass Castle When being put on this Earth, there is one of two options that can be made. To follow our fate and let life take us there, or chose the power of free-will. In Jeanette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, the Walls family are faced with stimulating and challenging decisions that can greatly affect the rest of their lives ahead, depending on which path they chose. It’s all a matter of fate or free-will.
No matter how we try to change our situation or better ourselves in society, variables will obstruct the path we choose. One cannot take control of everything that surrounds us as fate decides what happens to us. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote explains the murder of the Clutter family in the quiet town of Holcomb, Kansas. The murderers, Richard (Dick) Hickock and Perry Smith, try to escape the consequences of their actions, believing that they can get away with what they did. The story tells what the murderers were thinking after and before they committed the crime and their various interactions.
“The books are to remind us what asses and fools we are”- so what happens when those books are taken away? In Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, a wayward firefighter by the name of Guy Montag comes to realize the shallow, thrill-seeking nature of his own society, eventually choosing to overcome the pressure to fit in and rebelling in want of knowledge. Throughout the book, the struggle between the need to conform to society battles characters’ internal questioning reveals how pursuing only temporary pleasures leads to a meaningless, unhappy life, an inability to process the world around oneself, and ultimately strips away what makes one human- the ability to think and make decisions about oneself. Faber’s struggle between outward acceptance
Vuong Do Ms. Hinshaw English 3H, 2 13 September, 2015 Timshel Seashell at the Seashore Sean Covey once said, “You are free to choose what you want to make of your life. It's called free agency or free will, and it's your birthright“. A life is only worth living if there are rights and freedom. East of Eden is a bibliological novel, written by John Steinbeck, that is based on the Bible. The author uses the characters to symbolize the conflict between good and evil.
People ultimately have control over their life choices, something that is easily observable within both William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021). Throughout the play, the major theme of fate versus free will has been a focal point. Several times, the play mentions the lovers Romeo and Juliet being ill-fated in their pursuit of love. However, they manage to push through upon their own accord and determination, therefore within this play, the strength of free will overpowers that of fate. It can be argued that fate overpowers free will due to several instances within the play where the lovers feel hopeless against what has been decided for them, along with the lovers in the movie feeling a deeper sense of loyalty to their own
A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess, deals with the essence of humanity and morality. Being difficult topics to grapple with, many turn to a religious perspective to inform their beliefs on these subjects. Burgess himself is a strongly Catholic individual and this ideology shows through in the ideas presented by A Clockwork Orange. The book contains a number of allusions to the Bible, Jesus and God’s intentions for humanity. These religious references build upon each other to develop Burgess’ notion that God created humans with free will, and how this leaves humankind flawed and prone to evil tendences.
The mind it not simple, it is not black and white. Instead, the mind is a very complex space filled with various types of emotions and ideals. Throughout The Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac focuses his attention on an eventful journey, more specifically, enlightenment. Ray Smith (Jack Kerouac) is a man who has been through thousands of life-altering experiences and has let his mind reach its potential of free will. Thankfully, Japhy Ryder (Gary Snyder) guides him into the religion of Buddhism.
“Actions are the seed of fate. Deeds grow into destiny” said by Harry S. Truman is about actions creating fate which then turns into destiny. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho is a story of a boy called Santiago who decides to follow his destiny. Santiago’s adventure takes many turns caused by his fate and free will. The momentous events that happen in life are caused by a combination of both fate and free will.
He lives only by obeying to his own rules and the rules of nature but not following the law. Alex lives at his own interest. At one point, he is caught shooting a deer and is caught in between trouble because no Alex actually exists and also that he did not have a hunting license. When he Is finally let go he refuses to go get a hunting license because he believes that the government has authority to know Alex’s business and know what he hunts and what he eats. This goes back to the way that he wats to be free but also free from the entire world.
Free will is merely an illusion in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. To give an example, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern attempt to intercept Hamlet on stage, but they always end up following anything Hamlet or Claudius proposes. When are are watching the play that foreshadows their fate, Guildenstern ironically remarks: “Keep back — we’re spectators” (Stoppard 39). Their illusion about their status makes them wander aimlessly until they meet their tragic end (Draudt 4). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are destined to die, not because of fate, but because their incapability to handle their own situation leads them to be unable to alter the situation at all.
Does arresting someone before they commit a crime remove the perpetrator’s free will? What if they changed their mind? These topics are discussed at length during the 2002 film Minority Report by Steven Spielberg. The plot of Minority Report centres around protagonist John Anderton, the chief of a futuristic police department, that uses “pre-cogs”, humans who can see crimes before they happen, to arrest the perpetrator before they have committed the crime. This polarises audiences, who either believe that they have a right to arrest someone for planning a crime, and those who believe that everyone is capable of changing their mind, before committing the crime.
A Clockwork Orange is a novel about free will and duality in society. One of the first themes that the novel addresses is that every individual in a society should be allowed to choose their own moral path. Burgess believed that choice was a morality issue and that each individual’s choices lead to a moral decision. Alex’s decision led him to a life of violence and a habitat of raping and stealing. Alex states, “ ‘A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man.’ ”
Romeo and Juliet Essay Chaos in the streets of Verona erupt again. A day after a fight with the Capulet and Montague family, Tybalt kills Mercutio. Soon after, Romeo kills Tybalt for revenge. Is this controlled by fate, or by the character
The Truman Show’s plot revolves around the average, mundane, daily life of Truman Burbank. As Truman goes through his seemingly normal life, he is unknowingly being observed by the vast majority of the earth’s population in the form of a television show. However, Truman does not know that his whole life is a lie that is being perpetuated by the creator of the show, Christof, who controls the outcome of every situation Truman is presented with. Truman becomes somewhat aware of the idea that his life may not be what it seems when a girl attempts to tell him the truth. Eventually through a number of discoveries, Truman finds that it is in fact true that his whole life has been contrived by Christof as a form of entertainment for the masses.
He states in his essay, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, that “a man in respect of willing, or the act of volition, when any action in his power is once proposed to his thoughts...cannot be free” (§23). That is, a man is not at liberty to decide whether or not to will. For instance, if he is presented with a thought, which leads to the willing of an action or nonaction (that is in his power) in accordance with that
