Your Fate Hurtles Down at You by Jim Shepard - Book Report/Review Example

Fate Like Love In this short story, “Your Fate Hurtles Down at You,” the argues that life can be comparable to an avalanche, which no one can unquestionably foretell. One cannot predict what fate has in store for them, things just happen so randomly with no precise motive. Fate can be like the budding of plants during spring, you cannot discern when and where the next bud will sprout. Just like the hostility of winter or the raging of an avalanche, fate strikes at anyone no matter how careful or careless a person lives. For some were created to succeed, some to fail, some to laugh and some to cry, some to die young, and some to live long enough to feel the pains of losing. Those left have to learn to survive, and find the reason for their existence, or at least hope that fate will lead them to finding that reason. Fate just like love is an avalanche that hits when least expected, hurtling down at you, leaving you without an alternative, but to oblige to it. First, “Your Fate Hurtles Down at You” reflects more of the life that is comparable to the sting of cold in an icy setting. The setting of the story may not just have been a chance choice for the author to develop what he wanted to communicate to his readers, but must have been carefully considered to emphasize on his points. Davos is a place, perfect for research about ice and snow because of its geographical composition. Although some occurrences within the story took place in different localities, the settings are similar in that, they are prone to avalanches. This circumstance is what the author uses to emphasize the title of the story, used as a metaphor. Like an avalanche that falls anytime without warning, fate hurtles down inevitably on people, whether they like it or not. Moreover, the narration of the death of the storyteller’s twin brother, Willi, is a strong demonstration of how fate hurtles down on a person. He did not like to die, he was young, and in love with Ruth who was pregnant with their child. Nevertheless, he was destined to die young and as his death came suddenly and unexpectedly, this event and the cause of death portray the suddenness of how fate could hit an individual. On the other hand, the fate of Willi’s brother is to love the same woman Willi adored, Ruth. Despite the fact that Ruth showed interest on Willi more than his twin brother, the other did not stop loving her. This is Eckel’s fate, to love the woman who only loves his brother, and is not ready to love him even after his brother’s demise. This fate could be different to that of Willi’s, but it is comparable to it. If the cause of Willi’s death is an avalanche, the cause of his brother’s end to loving other women is Ruth. Then, Willi’s brother competing with Bader for the affections of an Alsatian widow but he withdraws all his efforts on her when he meets Ruth in Davos (Shepard 12). It was an unexpected encounter and only fate can explain how the two have to meet in a place they do not expect to. Unfortunately, for Ruth, her fate was to be devoted to her lost lover. Despite the affections, the surviving twin brother shows her, she still clings to the love of Willi. This is her fate. In addition, fate reunites people to face their destiny together, where choice has no will against it. Although Ruth dislikes seeing Will’s brother, as it rekindled the pain caused by the death of her loved one, she cannot do anything to change her destiny. She had to meet her deceased lover’s brother. The reunion causes her to reencounter the pain of Willi’s death once again Willi and his twin brother were not close enough to share their fears, secrets, and thoughts. This strongly compels the surviving Eckel to find answers to what might have caused the avalanche that killed his brother, and if he is in any way to blame like he frequently feels, for having initiated the move that probably caused a glacier movement, causing the avalanche. Even though it is not emphatically shown, his conscience drives his attempts to take the blame for his brother’s death may imply his feelings towards the incident. This feeling is due to his inability to admit that fate was sometimes inevitable. Probably, one of the reasons that drive him to do avalanche research was to clear himself and his mother of the blame as his mother took the blame on herself, claiming that she might have caused the avalanche that killed her son. She accounted this claim to the story of a man who called on the ice from the mountain to bury his wife, son, and cows (Shepard 12). As a person inclined to science, Willi’s brother disagrees with her mother’s belief, and thus becomes determined to do his research, to take off the burden from his mother’s shoulders. This passion could be linked to how he reacts to Haefeli’s words saying, “The process by which the ratio changes can be gradual, or some kind of incident.” In addition to his claim, avalanche prediction involves as much divination as science (Shepard 25). He weeps when he somehow confirms that he in some way initiated the cause of his brother’s death. On recalling the excitement that transpired between them as they challenged each other for a race, he now understands that “Fractures streak away from his ski at the speed of sound, find the stress lines beneath the surface, and generate the ruptures that cause the release” (Shepard 25). Still, one cannot do without considering being in the wrong place at the wrong time as their parents taught them that “In winter, however much we thought we knew, there were always places where our ignorance and bad luck could destroy us” (Shepherd 26). Ignorance can be cured with knowledge on sciences while bad luck is accounted for as superstitious belief. For Willi, it was a bad luck for him to have not been aware that he was situated on the stress lines so that their years of skiing experience was not a help at all during that time of trouble. In addition, that was his luck to have survived. Why did the linguist die instead of the chemist? This is analogous to Willi’s brother inquiry on why the woman loved his brother whom they both doted while he was not. The point is that every individual has an appointed luck or fate that he/she has to go through and it is up to the person to find out the reason for such fate. In the case of Willi’s brother, being inclined to science, he was spared a tragic end in the accident. In addition, being a relative to the victim and the people who were devastated by the incident, he feels compelled to research on avalanche. It could have been more of a personal reason in the beginning that brought him to the research area in Davos; however, it eventually became a global cause. The pain that the surviving Eckel brother has gone through could have served as a guide to his fate, to do research on the very cause of his misery. Consequently, this tragedy offers much help to the prevention of similar tragic incidents, a sort of redemption, one might say. Last but not the least, tragedies can stir up passions that consequently help lives of other people. Sometimes, such are the happenings that drive people to indulge in things they end up being passionate. One would almost wonder what path Willi’s brother might have taken, if the tragic incident did not happen to the family. An avalanche, not just because he was the appointed leader of the team, but prompted by the death of his father, that caused Haefeli’s devotion to the study at hand when he was just eighteen. This shows that, every circumstance good or bad somehow leads a person to what must be undertaken. With the knowledge the world now holds because of the research the author was involved in, tragic avalanches are not much of a mystery. He is now reckoned as a contributor not only to scientific researches but also to the safety of people who cannot avoid being, where avalanches are inevitable. In short, fate, like love, can be enjoyed or endured. The fate of most of the characters in the story was more of endurance than enjoyment, although not exclusively a life of tragedy. Ruth had to endure the loss of a loved one while Willi’s brother endured being unloved by the woman he adored. Despite such circumstances, life has to go on and things would depend solely on how one balances unavoidable circumstances with that which is controllable. Death is inevitable and no one is to blame for it because man is destined to die. Where, when, and how remains the question to which no one is has an answer. What matters is how one lives his life while it is still there and lives what he was fated to accomplish. Work Cited Shepard, Jim. “Your Fate Hurtles Down at You.” The Pen/O. Henry Prize Stories 2011. Ed. Laura Furman. New York: 2011. 2-26. Print. Read More