Preview

Free Will: A Short Story

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
171 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Free Will: A Short Story
(December 31, 2009) Hey Emma, I miss you. I know you won’t get this letter if I send it but it helps me just to write it. I waited for you at the train station on the 28th, but you never showed up. Conner was there too it was kind of strange. We have gotten a lot closer waiting for you to return. I would love to see Chicago with you. Or anywhere. I can’t wait to see the gifts you had gotten us. I had even gotten you something, new ballet shoes. Today is New year’s eve, Conner and I are trying to celebrate but it’s not the same without you. Conner told he me had planed on telling me that he liked you today, by kissing you at midnight. Now I don’t get to fan girl over you two. I know how much you like him. I won’t tell him though I know

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I remember one time I was talking with my friend about what we would wish for if we had 3 wishes. I said “I wish I would get $1,000,000!” and then he started talking about how horrible it would be if there were consequences. Which got me thinking, “If I got $1,000,000 through a wish with a horrible consequence it would probably be that someone stole that money from a bank and threw it in my car or people in my family died.”…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The brain is a powerful, mystical part of every living being. It controls what we think, what we do, and how we act. Every day we are faced with decisions. As a human being, we are given the intelligence and brain to make conscious decisions, whether they are good decisions or bad decisions. We have the free will to make them, but is our decision truly conscious? There are many things that influence or determine our behavior. The brain works in magical ways, sometimes with reason and sometime without. Many times we may question our behavior. Libet's experiment looked at the brain and hot it affects our decisions to act or not act, which is basically our free will. Benjamin Libet wanted to explore whether our free will was really free or tied…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, the main character and narrator Alex undergoes a series of trials as he strives to figure out life. He starts out as a young delinquent who does whatever he pleases whenever he does. There is no one controlling him or enforcing rules upon him. He has complete and udder freedom over his own life, and it affects others in a negative way. His crimes catch up to him one day, and he is charged with murder and thrown in prison. While in prison, Alex must obey rules and regulations set by the prison guards, especially when he undergoes Ludovico’s Technique, a cognitive therapy technique to sensitize Alex to crime and violence. By this therapy technique, Alex is completely deprived of his free will. After he is released from prison, his lack of freedom drives Alex so far as to try to commit suicide. After his near fatal fall Alex’s want, and free will to do violent acts returns and he reverts back to his original ways. By the end of the story he has committed heinous crimes but eventually becomes a good person. Throughout the novel, free will and free choice are the main controversies. Free will can be described as “the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine force” (“Free will”). Alex goes through periods of having total free will and having no free…

    • 1074 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stan Lee, creator of many of the Marvel movies, once said, “With great power there must also come… great responsibility.” Free will is like a great power that has been given to us. It can be used for good and evil. As humans, we believe that we have a choice in everything. Thus the idea of free will. But because of that choice there will always be a downside to free will.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the world today, free will is something a person is born with. Free will is “the ability to act at one's own discretion” (Oxford Dictionaries). As the world becomes more technical and the government continues to grow in power, the less free will the people will have. This idea is what books like Fahrenheit 451: The Graphic Novel, by Tim Hamilton, and “Minority Report,” by Philip K. Dick, represent. In both Fahrenheit 451: The Graphic Novel and “Minority Report,” predictions made about the future and the lack of freedom are presented when the stories discuss the dangers of technology, government control, and the conformity from the world.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Considering your ability to think and make decisions for yourself, you’d believe you’re in control of your fate, right? A popular theme in Greek myths is that of predetermination or prophecy. In Homer’s The Odyssey, and in Serial, people attempt to control their lives while unknowingly conforming to their predetermined fate. Whether or not they were conscious of the acting determinants, both situations were actively being pursued. In book 9 of The Odyssey, it hardly seems like a coincidence that Odysseus has the godly wine, which he uses to disarm the Cyclops, however, it is his fate to survive the trip home and that all depends on his possession of said wine (222). It also seems to be a coincidence…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free Will In The Odyssey

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Destiny, it’s the belief that a hidden power controls one’s future. People throughout history have been fascinated by this and it shows in the stories and heroes that have been created. One example of this is Odysseus from the Odyssey, who was created to face the fear that gods controlled mortals lives. Another example is Barry Allen aka the Flash from the current TV show the Flash. He faced destiny mainly in the third season with the idea of if future events are set in stone. The Flash has struggles with human fears in the same way that Odysseus shows how the Greeks struggled with free will.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    vHarry Frankfurt’s work “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person” discusses the attributes of free will through the concept of first and second order desires. He explains that a first-order desire is a desire to perform an action, and a second-order desire is the desire to perform another desire. When someone wants their secondary desire to become their will and take the place of their first-order desire it is called a second-order volition. Frankfurt’s work centers on how second-order volitions are evidence of free will because free will is only achieved when a person is able to choose which desire to act upon. Frankfurt argues that each second-order volition is an expression of free will and without them a person is left with only…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Although the “free will” problem envelops a spectrum of ideas, I agree with the following belief: “The folk are compatibilists about free will.” While there are, of course, incompatibilists and indeterminists, for the most part, the general population consists of compatibilists. Now, I know experimental philosophy has a problem with the use of generalizations without actual statistics, but throughout this paper, I will explain exactly why the world revolves in a generally compatibilist manner.…

    • 1592 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    1984 Free Will Essay

    • 2609 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Thomas Jefferson once said “Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have … The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.” In his novel 1984, George Orwell demonstrates that even though government control seems like a better way of life, free will ultimately proves to be the better path. He proves that free will is better in the novel through the constant government surveillance, how even the slightest demonstration of free will brings about harsh punishments, and through the government induced manipulation of the citizens’ lives. The Party does use its metaphorical “powers” for some amount of good throughout the novel though.…

    • 2609 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Determinism is a controversial topic to free will with multiple theories proving and disproving it. As printed in The Collins Cobuild Learner's Dictionary, determinism is defined as “...the belief that all actions and events result from other actions, events, or situations, so people cannot in fact choose what to do.” Meaning, all life choices are predetermined from the minute we are born, to the minute we die. In contrast, “freewill is an individual taking control and responsibility for his/her actions according to his personal will” (Freewill Verses Determinism). People who believe in Free will, accept the idea that life is not predetermined, and they can independently act however they see fit. Free will and determinism can be further simplified and have multiple differences as well as similarities.…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free Will in Society Today

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are many boundaries that affect how much we can change or alter what we are set out to become. Growing up a middle class white teenager I have always felt I must become the regular hard-working family man my father is. I have choices, however society’s image of an American male adult plays a major factor in the shaping of the man I will become. In the four pieces from the reader, the authors collectively believe they must conform to society’s perfect image of what they must look like and become. It is this pressure that has transformed me into the individual I am today. My life is pre-determined by my race and gender but I believe I have as much free will as I would like to express myself and change my status as an individual in today’s society. Free will is defined as the ability to choose, and I believe we all have that right to choose what we look like and become when we age. I believe free will is one of the most important aspects of living in a free society, like the one in which we live in today.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “So I have US history with him and art and we talked and stuff and i told him about you and how we’re best friends. And you were right, he is cute”. “Oh my god what did he say!!!” she said screaming. “Damn girl, are you trying to make me deaf, gosh. He said that you were nice and a cool person”. “Ahhhh! Ok im gonna ask him out on friday”. Friday comes and maddie finally asks out marcus. He says yes and they decide to go get frozen yogurt. “So how’s school far?” maddie asks. “Its fine, the people are pretty nice and the teachers too”. “That’s good. Have you talked to anyone”? “I actually met your friend, umm what’s his name..tyler. He’s pretty cool”. “Yeah he’s like a brother to me”. “Is he dating anyone”? Maddie was starting to get confused. “No.. uh, why you ask?” “ok this is gonna be awkward but I thought he was really cute and I thought maybe he would be tagging along with us, but guess not.” Maddie was could not believe on what she was hearing. She was shook. “YOUR…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Choice and free will are necessary to maintain humanity, both individually and communally; without them, man is no longer human but a "clockwork orange", a mechanical toy, as demonstrated in Anthony Burgess' novel, "A Clockwork Orange". The choice between good and evil is a decision every man must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and control his future. Forcing someone to be good is not as important as the act of someone choosing to be good. This element of choice, no matter what the outcome, displays man's power as an individual.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free will - the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments which apply only to actions that are freely chosen. In Christianity, they are told that they have free will and it’s all in God’s plan. If true, these two statements are contradictions. How could one have true free will if there’s a plan? With that being said, The Truman Show is a movie concentrated on a series of fateful events in the life of Truman Burbank and reflects free will/the lack of. Truman grew up in a fake town full of actors.…

    • 468 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays