Tess of the D'Urbervilles: Coincidences Lead to Consequences

The choices we decide to make build our path in life. If we make the right choices, then your life will be the life you want to live. I believe that we were all destined with some kind of purpose. However, the choices we make will determine whether we fulfill that purpose or not. Thus, our choices will ultimately decide our fate. Through the years, we have been taught about choices and their impact on our actions. We have free will in the sense that we can either go on one road or the other. We decide what we do on a daily basis, moment by moment, and we decide what path we want to go on. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag was a fireman who had his life entirely changed when he met a 17 year old girl named Clarisse, and an old woman who

AlecÕs first words to Tess , ÒWell, my Beauty, what can I do for you?Ó

fate or determinism and say this was all planned out from the beginning of time knowing some things in nature happen randomly--

Fate works in mysterious ways, everyone makes choices out of their own free will which affects their

I think that we would all like to believe that our lives are pre-planned: that some higher power has bestowed upon each of us a great destiny. In Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey five people die when the bridge collapses. Wilder’s novel indirectly explores the question of fate versus a higher power through the lives of those that died on the bridge. I believe that each person who died on the bridge that day had made a series of decisions that lead them to that moment. After reading The Bridge of San Luis Rey, I believe that our fate is random and that every decision we make can have the power to change our destiny.

Fate determines each person’s will that believe it is meant to happen. In the book, In the

Once the Hutchinson family was chosen by the black dot, Tessie’s attitude towards the occasion changed. She became agitated and insisted on, “[starting] over,” (paragraph 62) to lessen her chances of winning. In fact, she suggested something most mothers would scorn her for--adding her daughter and son-in-law, Eva and Don, so they could, “take their chance.” (paragraph 51) Finally, the winner of the lottery was announced, and it was Tessie. Her attitude changed again from slightly agitated to furious and scared as she screamed, “It isn’t fair, it isn’t right!” (paragraph 81)

Tess tries to show excitement to Mick, her current boyfriend, after starting her new job as an assistant for Katherine Parker. Katherine explains to Tess their relationship is a “two way street,” essentially making Tess believe that working for her first female employer will easier while even holding the possibility of advancing her career. With every reason to be joyful, Tess could not wait to Tell Mick about the new opportunity, but Mick is a sexist 80s working man in the 1980s: getting the pizza home before it gets cold has more importance than his girlfriend’s career. Cyndy is not supportive of Tess either—something uncharacteristic of a best friend. As the film progresses, Tess receives a visit from Cindy at work while working on a big deal for Trask Industries. Cyndy has witnessed Tess’s extraordinary and questionable strategy to make it big, and Cyndy confronts her. Acknowledging her recklessness, Tess swears that she will come clean when the time is right and that she knows what she is doing. Cyndy replies, “Yeah, so do I. Screwin' up your life!” (59) Although Tess has no moral support, she seizes the opportunity and eventually thrives. Mick and Cyndy are both limited by a lack of vision and ambition, and Nichols’ negative portrayal of these working-class stiffs further suggests that the film has a pro-capitalist agenda. Nichols infers that if you have the resourcefulness like Tess, you can succeed in America. Mick and Cyndy, on the other hand, are

One of the most influential characters in Middlesex was Tessie, Callie/Cal’s mother. Tessie had many roles in shaping Callie’s development, both social and physical. One of the first instances of Tessie’s influence on her daughter began when Tessie was being raised by her own mother. In Book Two, Chapter Five the author describes the

    Fate seems to defy humanity at every turn.  A man may have his life planned out to the last second, but then some random force intervenes and he dies the second after he has completed his life plan.  Some believe in fate, believing that our lives are predetermined from the moment we are born.  Other people believe that everything is random, the result of some god rolling the dice in a universal poker game.  Still other people believe that each and every person is in total control of his or her destiny, every step of the way.  Who is to say which viewpoint is false?  Every culture has a unique perception of the role of fate in our lives, and no group has the "right answer," simply a

Moreover, the town who originally made Tess feel like an outsider was shown from the start. The fact that she is late to the lottery and yet still eager is the first sign of showing that she did not fit in with her community. Even though the town treated her tardiness in an abundant way, several people did not and felt the need to say a comment, “in voices just loud enough to be heard across the crowd, ‘Here comes your Missus Hutchinson,’” (433). Another example that displays how the town acted in not so nice way towards Tess and her

She does not help with the ranch or the cultivation of the orchard, but rather tends to her own garden. Her reportedly stellar chrysanthemums represent her delicate side. By maintaining and ensuring a yearly exemplary flourish, Elisa sustains and nourishes her suppressed womanly essence. Although Steinbeck reveals that, “The

Participants in the action, some of them in parts that are minor and seem insignificant, contribute one by one the indispensable stitches which make the pattern, and contribute them not knowing; that is to say, they act when they do not know the truth of the situation in which they act, this truth being known, however, to us who are spectators." (The Brevity of Friar Laurence, 850) The idea that Fortune dictates the course of mankind dates back to ancient times. Those writers of the medieval world incorporated the goddess Fortune into Christianity and made her God's servant, responsible for adding challenges to our lives so that we would see the importance of giving up our tumultuous earthly lives to God. The most influential treatise on the theme of Fate was The Consolation of Philosophy, written by the scholar Boethius (A.D. 475-525). Written while he awaited execution, it is a dialogue between himself and his guide 'Philosophy', who explores with him the true nature of happiness and fate, and leads him to hope and enlightenment. Here is an excerpt from Book IV:

Chance is a very interesting concept. The belief things happen unknowingly and by mere luck. In the play chance is over shadowed by fate, a pre-determined destiny. A prime example of

One of the most pondered questions in human existence is whether our lives are determined by forces which are beyond our control or by our own free will. It is widely believed that one's own destiny is created by fate. However, some also consider the possibility that one's own choices can determine the reality of one's existence. In Harry Potter, JK Rowling uses fate and choice as forces which shape the events revolving around her protagonist, Harry Potter, as well as the other characters in the story. Rowling does not side with one idea over the other, but instead, argues that both fate and choice are significant factors that determine the events which happen during the course of an individual's development. Although Rowling lays out