Ms.Williams response

A. Free Fallin'
"I can tell you, and I will. Apollo said through his profet that I was the man who should marry his own mother, shed his father's blodd with his own hands. And so, for all these years I have kept clear of Corinth..."

The play, Oedipus Rex, defined the idea of fate. Throughout the story the characters try to escape their fate by making choices that lead them to other alternatives. While the characters try and change their fate, they realize that even by their own free will, they can not escape what is destined to happen. The entire play was based on the idea that fate is the defying factor in life, and each decision made will only lead to the same outcome. The characters learn that no matter which choice or action they take, they can not change their predestined fate. Oedipus struggles to change his destinty of killing his father and marrying his mother, by leaving the town he was raised in, Corinth. However, because his fate was already decided, when he leaves determined to alter his fate, he kills a man on his journey home, his father. Then, once he arrives in Thebes Oedipus marries a woman, his mother. This exemplifies the main theme of the play, that free will can not change fate.


B. What's in the bag?
The idea of fate is very definite. I don't think that there is a set outcome in each person's life that can not be changed throughout the course of many choices and actions. The future consists of many unanswered questions that are answered during an individual's lifetime. Each day a person can make many small, simple decisions that eventually make up the majority of their life. These small choices that may seem meaningless actually all add together to determine the outcome in someone's life. While every day each person is faced with an insignificant decision, the combination of those decisions give each person their true character. As you make one decision, it leads you to another choice based off of your previous choice. So with each action you take or choice you make, you have the ability to alter your previous changes, but you can not go back on any decision made. Each choice has an outcome and by using free will, you can change that outcome. Therefore, I think that each individual has can control their own fate using their power of free will.