Free Will vs. Fate in the Open Boat by Stephen Crane

A detailed Summary of Free Will vs. Fate in the Open Boat by Stephen Crane

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.

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.

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.

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

They may have been just sailing along peacefully when the boat sprang a leak. Maybe the boat was sabotaged or it was human error that caused the boat to sink. Was it their free will to get on the boat or was it their fate?

related reasons. To a certain extent free will can be justified, however there is a certain point to which a person has no choice to how he must act. This could be considered fate, what he was intended to do. "It is preposterous. If this old women, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived the management of men's fortunes." This statement makes it seem that the men were not out there under their free will. Possibly though, the sinking of the boat wasn't their choice and getting on it was.

Some may say that it was his free will to give up and sink into the depth's of society, but maybe it was his destiny.

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? "Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life?" (pg. 131) Could this have just been irony as they struggle to save their lives and at the last possible moment are denied? Why were they left on the sinking ship? Did they make choices which inevitably lead to their downfall or was this their fate?

The same type of argument can also be used to prove that free will is not by itself. It must be left up to the individual to determine how they want to live their lives. They can decide that no matter what they do they will end up the same way because

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Approximate Word count = 1075
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English