Free Will Vs. Fate In The Open :: essays research papers

The Open Boat, by Steven Crane, demonstrates fate vs. free will. In this story the characters are subject to contemplating how their fate is being determined, however free will cannot be dismissed as a contributor to their situation. The fine line between fate and free will, if it exists, is hard to define.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many philosophical and religious debates between the concepts of free will and fate. Free will is based on a belief that our future is based on the decisions that we make today. Looking back over our life at where we are is a product of our past.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another view that is commonly suggested is fate. Fate can be considered your destiny, what you are going to become. It is a predetermined future. The world can be looked at like it is a giant play and everyone is here to just act out their part and then die.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many arguments that can be used to ratify both of these ideologies. A person being born into poverty in the middle city, in most cases, has certain limitations placed on his future. They will not have the same opportunities that many of have such as a good education, strong ethics and family upbringing. That a person is not able to decide his future, but it has already been chosen for him. The idea of free will can argue that “ in most cases';, in the above statement, is a key. There are people who have developed very successfully out of these urban areas to (1) accomplish great things and proving that a persons free will decides there future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In The Open Boat naturalism comes into play as, once again, humans are shown insignificant to the forces of their world. As their first attempt at getting to shore fails they begin to feel they are not going to make it. They are asking why fate has allowed them to come so close before their lives are taken, “If i am going to be drowned - if I am going to be drowned - if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea was I allowed to come this far and contemplate the sand and the trees?'; (pg.131)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Was it their fate to be given the glimmer of freedom only to have it yanked away from them by the ultimate punishment of death?