Fate

Unrealistic, impossible, and adventurous ideas are produced by fiction in order to form a relationship with the reader. In the episode of the Supernatural, demons and angels are species that exists only in the imagination or in the lines of fictional writing; however, that does not undermine that as readers we want to believe in the idea of some sort of Supernatural. Believing in magic is exciting and allows us to escape the mundane actions of everyday life. From a primitive age, we are programed not only with this infinite imagination, but also with the capability to believe in it too. A common thread in fictional writing is the idea of destiny and fate. In the Supernatural episode, Dean and Sam, although they are initially unaware of it, come to find out that “someone else” or “something” has already decided how the series of events in their lives are going to occur. There is almost nothing the characters can do to change that. It is chilling and unnerving that Dean and Sam are completely powerless. This similar concept of being controlled by some “higher being” is evident on the first page of Kurt Vonnegut’s, Cat’s Cradle. The author writes, “If I had been a Sam, I would have been a Jonah still- not because I have been unlucky for others, but because somebody or something has compelled me to be certain places at certain times, without fail.” (Vonnegut). Both Dean and Sam in Supernatural, and the narrator in Cat’s Cradle are simply animated objects controlled and manipulated by a “higher being”. Fiction thrives not only on fantasy, but also on the idea of how the “higher power” decides or has already decided, before the story even commences, the fate of the characters. In an Occurrence at Owl Creek we learn from the very first paragraph, regardless of what happens in the following paragraphs, Payton Farquhar will die. His fate was to die. No one can prove that everyone has some pre-destined fate, but fiction articulates and constructs the idea of destiny and fate in such a realistic manner, that we start to believe it is possible, outside the lines of fiction, something or someone has already mapped out our own destinies.