Fate vs. Free Will

Fate and free will is one rather prominent theme in The Secret Sharer. As stated in number six of the big discussion questions, "Leggatt may be a free man, "a proud swimmer striking out for a new destiny", but a captain of a vessel is not free." It makes me wondering, is fate or free will a more powerful, valid force driving the direction of our lives?

Fate implies that no matter what one does in his or her life, things are already decided for him or her. People have control over their own lives. If you are born to be a captain, then you are going to be a captain; no negotiating. Though, some might include karma under the fate category. If you work hard and live a good, law-abiding, life, then you are destined to be rewarded.

I interpret free will as the individual being able to take his or her life where ever he or she desires. There are no commitments, nobody can force another to do anything he or she does not want to do, and the individual does not take on responsibilites that he or she does not feel fulfilled through.

How do you guys feel about fate versus free will?

Comments

[Danielle Z.]

i think that fate intervenes up to a point but thereafter you must take action to decide the outcome. for example people are always talking about how it was fate that allowed them to meet their beloved. i will concede to the fact that fate may have allowed the two people to meet but it was their own actions and decisions that resulted in their relationship working out or not.

[Sara R.]

I agree with you that this is a prevalent theme in The Secret Sharer. Although I believe in fate to a certain extent, your definition of fate seems some what existential to me, and I do not agree with existentialism. In my mind, fate is something like choosing the right college. If you are supposed to go somewhere, you will be accepted and probably decide that that is your dream school. Maybe you will meet your husband there or your best friend, and that is fate. However, I do not believe that you can sit back and ejoy life because no matter what you do it will end up the same (besides ultimately death.) In terms of free will, I completely agree with your definition and I think that life, as well as The Secret Sharer, is more about free will. For example, in The Secret Sharer, the captain had the free will to tell Leggatt that he could not board his ship. In that case, the captain would never have experienced the freedom he felt through his relationship with Leggatt, but he still would have survived all the same. I do not think it was the captain's fate to meet Leggatt.

[Emily A.]

It seems that free will is the stronger force in the Secret Sharer. Consider Leggatt. He is a Conway boy, an upper-class man, a strong character on the Sephora, but when he kills a man he loses all of that. He goes from everything he was to a runaway murderer. Regardless of the karma and fate he sets up in his early life, he becomes an outlaw. Of course this is a complicated question if you consider that Leggatt's fate is to become an outlaw and he does not know it. Also I do not understand what you mean by "the individual does not take on responsibilites that he or she does not feel fulfilled through".