If your entire life was written in a book, would you read
the ending? This question has been posed many times, but however cliché, there
is still truth to be taken from it. I think that the point of this question
refers to the fact that if you knew when and how your life ended, would you
live it any differently? Could you live it any differently, or is your fate
already determined?
After watching the Supernatural
episode “The Monster at the End of the Book”, I could not help but reconsider these
questions. The episode deals with the complexity that comes along with trying
to change ones destiny. It seemed as though every time Sam and Dean tried to
rewrite their fate, they somehow always ended up doing exactly what it was they
were trying to avoid. Whatever Chuck, the prophet, saw seemed to be absolute,
and it appeared as though the two brothers did not have any free will to make
their own decisions.
This idea of free will and destiny calls into question what
role we play. Dean and Sam appear to be puppets in someone else’s grand plan.
Therefore, are we all just pawns in a pre-established game made by a higher
power than ourselves? People often say, “things happen for a reason,” but can
we know for certain that they do? This episode made the viewer consider what
role they play in their own life. Do we all have the power to make our own
decisions, or are we somehow only living out what has already been decided for
us?
This idea of fate and destiny is seen in many works of
literature. Authors use this as a way to get the reader invested in the story.
Even if the author sets up from the beginning how each character will end up,
the reader will always try to change the characters destiny and root for the unexpected.
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ReplyDeleteI really like your point about reading into the future if you had the opportunity. I think humans as a whole are scared of the future and destiny/fate because it is so uncertain. The idea that "everything happens for a reason" follows the same ideology. People use this saying to justify things that happen to them because ultimately we don't know why these things happen at all. Giving it a justification makes us feel more at ease especially when we experience tragedies or hardships. Supernatural enforced the idea that fate is meant to be and cannot be changed. This was clearly exhibited by Sam and Dean because no matter how hard they tried to escape their fate, whatever was said to happen, happened. Whether or not this is true in the "real world" is a question that will probably never be answered but makes for a great debate. I do believe in the saying everything happens for a reason and back it up by the saying "someone's misfortune is someone else's good fortune." In this case I think it's important to distinguish that we cannot look at ourselves as being the center of the world and that bad things may happen to people so that better things could happen to others.
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