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Destiny
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What is Destiny?

Destiny as an academic subject appears across philosophy, literature, history, and cultural studies courses. It invites students to examine whether human lives are shaped by forces beyond individual control or by the choices people make. The topic sits at the intersection of ethics, metaphysics, and narrative theory, making it relevant in both analytical and interpretive writing contexts. Works like Romeo and Juliet, Madame Bovary, and Albert Camus's stories give students concrete literary ground for exploring how fate and free will operate through character and plot. Figures such as Alexander the Great and the heroes of the Chinese Wuxia tradition offer historical and cultural angles on how destiny has been understood across different societies.

Student papers on this topic take several distinct approaches. Philosophical essays tend to frame destiny against free will and determinism, asking how much of a life is truly self-directed. Literary analyses examine how specific characters — including Aeneas and the protagonists of works by Kenzaburo Oe — either submit to or resist forces that seem to govern their fates. Comparative papers draw connections across texts and traditions, while some essays use personal or case-study frameworks to ground abstract ideas in lived experience. Historical and biographical papers treat figures like Alexander the Great as examples of destiny constructed through action and circumstance.

A strong essay on destiny establishes a clear, arguable position rather than simply surveying the debate. Evidence drawn from character actions, authorial choices, or historical outcomes carries more weight than broad generalizations about fate. The most common pitfall is conflating destiny with fate without distinguishing how each concept assigns agency — keeping those terms precisely defined will sharpen any argument considerably.

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Paper Undergraduate

Pain and Joy of Love in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare knew a few things about people and a few things about life as well. One play that demonstrates his astute powers of observation is Romeo and Juliet, where he explores the pain love.

Paper Undergraduate

Slavery and the Slave Economy in Colonial America

Modern observers likely know in general terms that many Africans were enslaved through the 17th to 19th Centuries, but few probably know the extent of suffering that newly enslaved Africans endured from the outset, nor do many modern observers likely know the legal sources that were used to justify and legitimize the practice in the Old and New Worlds. In fact, some authorities argue that it was not until the end of the 17th Century that racial divisions had become sufficiently codified to protect the "peculiar institution" of slavery in the New World. Given the impact that slavery has had on American society, gaining a better understanding of the origins of the slave economy and its implications for civil rights in the United States represents a timely and valuable enterprise. To this end, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to describe the background in which slavery emerged and a description of the slave economy. Throughout most of the 17th Century, the tobacco economies of Virginia and Maryland depended of the contract labor of white indentured servants, who were employed for a term of four to five years, then freed.

Paper Undergraduate

PepsiCo Talent Development and Management Strategy

For any organization the way they attract and manage talent, will speak volumes as to how successful an entity will be in the future. In the case of PepsiCo, they have been engaging in strategy of uniquely evaluating…

Paper Undergraduate

Huey P. Long vs. Maurice Duplessis: Power and the People

The political quest for power can take many forms. Leaders use certain tools to gain power. However, different leaders use similar tools differently. Leaders must often choose whether they are for the people or for the…

Paper Undergraduate

James Hillman's Archetypal Psychology and the Poetic Basis of Mind

Hillman's "poetic basis of mind" is comprised of all aspects of work -- theorizing, analyzing culture, and practicing therapy (Moore 1989). Hillman's archetypal psychology and his "poetic basis of mind" takes root in…

Paper Undergraduate

Broken American Dreams in Walker and Erdrich's Short Stories

The short stories "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker and "The Red Convertible" by Louise Erdrich both concern the American Dream to some extent. Rather than its fulfillment however, the stories describe how the dream has…

African Women's Utopia: Government, Love, and Culture

According to Webster's Dictionary, Utopia is a place of ideal perfection especially in terms of laws, government, and social conditions. The idea of a Utopian society, though subconsciously sought after for centuries,…

Paper Undergraduate

Power and Love in King Lear and The Wife of Bath's Tale

Love and power are two of the most compelling of human desires. People are driven to do sometimes ridiculous things in the name of love and in the conquest for power, many of which do more harm than good.

Paper Undergraduate

Socrates' Trial: Defense, Death, and the Examined Life

Socrates' defense and his decision to face the sentence to death accepting it show that he acted the only way he was able to. He acted according to what he believed in: one's duty to examine life and question the truth.

Paper High School

Oedipus: Greek Myth and Freud's Psychoanalytic Symbol

¶ … Oedipus: Greek myths and modern psychoanalytic symbols

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