The Importance Of Fate

Hard work and success can oftentimes go hand-in-hand. To become successful, one must also be hardworking; however, that can become meaningless once fate enters the equation. There is nothing to do to alter one's fate, no matter their wanted profession, status, or anything else. Fate is prominent throughout the story as a thematic element, which becomes obvious once one analyzes the near-impossible hurdles the protagonist attempts to clear to save someone he loves. At the beginning of this story, the unnamed protagonist is watching a movie he had seen three times previously. The movie demonstrates how life is predestined with a definite beginning, middle, and end, though this fact is not known to the protagonist. The main character then remarks on how “everything was fixed” (Ellison 75) in regards to the movie, even going on to imagine the movie changing its content, having different and more exciting things happen. To this end, he states that “If a picture got out of hand like that those guys up there would go nuts” (Ellison 75). It should be no surprise to anyone that

The protagonist is prepared for this; the entire reason he goes there is because he is desperate to win the jackpot to save Laura, his assumed wife. The protagonist daubs five separate bingo cards in an attempt to increase his chances of winning. However, luck is not in his favor, for “even with five cards he didn’t have much of a chance” (Ellison 75), and indeed he tragically misses a bingo number on all five of his cards. This is extremely unlucky, and given the stakes it must have been agonizingly painful for him. However, ones should not argue that his luck is terrible, but that his luck is insignificant. Whether he would win or lose at bingo that night was not up to how many four-leaf clovers he had in his pocket, everything was up to what fate had planned. It turns out that what fate had planned for him that night was