Are Our Lives Governed by Fate or Free Will Essay

Our lives are governed by free will. In the books Chinese Cinderella and Twisted the main characters use their free will to make choices that have consequences on their lives. Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah Chinese Cinderella is a story of a Chinese girl growing up Shanghai and Hong Kong in the 1940’s. Adeline was made to feel that her birth was the reason her mother died. Her siblings blamed her and her father and stepmother had no interest in her. She spent most her childhood at boarding schools. Although Adeline was sent to boarding school she still used her own free will to chose to study hard and excel in school. Adeline chose to continue to do well in school with the hope of gaining her parent’s attention. Despite all of the bad things that happened to Adeline she continued to strive to be the best in school. She chose to spend her time reading and doing homework. She received many awards. She used her free will to enter an international playwriting contest and she won. The result was that her name was published in the newspaper and this got her father’s attention. Adeline used this as an opportunity to ask to go to college. Her father agreed. Although her father selected her career as a doctor she was so happy to have the opportunity. Twisted, by Laurie Halse Anderson Tyler used his free will to spray paint on the school property. There were consequences for his actions. He had to do community service to pay for the damage, he got a probation officer and got his license taken away. Tyler spent alot of time being the victim. His father blamed him for most of the bad things that happened. He let things happen to him until one day he realized he could take control of his life. Tyler used his free will when he dropped out of the AP classes, started attending all of his classes, returned the stolen keys to the custodian and apologized for stealing them, stood up to Chip, spoke with his probation officer about the consequences of attending the party when he was on probation and stood up to father when he blamed Tyler for getting fired. The result of Tyler’s action to take control of these aspects of his life is it provides him with self-esteem. This new confidence gets rid of the bad thoughts he had (like killing himself). Tyler chose to spend his time playing a video game Tophet. The point of the game was to make his demon (Gormley) powerful enough to make it thru 66 levels of torment. In the end he succeeds and is given a choice to become the new lord of darkness or be reincarnated. He realizes the importance of choosing wisely.