Free Will In George Lucas's 'Star Wars'

The Dark Side

In George Lucas’s beloved saga, Star Wars, Anakin Skywalker is haunted by a dream that his pregnant wife, Padmé dies. In reaction to his dreams, Anakin is desperate for help to save his wife. Emperor Palpatine offers Anakin a way to save Padmé: “the dark side… [can] keep the ones he cared about from dying” (Star Wars). Anakin becomes obsessed with preventing Padmé’s fated death that he betrays the light side. He tries to alter fate, but fate cannot be altered because it is destined to occur. The events that follow his betrayal lead to Padmé’s death. Anakin’s actions to save Padmé were useless because death is fated. Many people believe that free will doesn’t exist and that our lives our planned out. The existence of free will

In the beginning of the article, Schwartz uses an anecdote to question the idea of free will in making decisions. When Schwartz chose to be a psychologist, he believed that it was his choice, but he questions the role that free will played in his decision (Schwartz 2). This questioning implies that free will doesn’t exist and that decisions are made for us. Free will is defined in the article as “[the ability to] choose what we will do with our lives” (Schwartz 1). If a person didn’t have free will or “the ability to choose” then the decisions we make wouldn’t be ours. Without free will, decisions are made for us by someone or something else. Additionally, Schwartz suggests that free will is determined by our biology and environment (Schwartz 5). A study conducted to find the relationship between oxytocin receptor genes and young girl’s attitude found that “girls with a specific oxytocin gene felt more lonely than girls without this gene” (Schwartz 5). This study suggests that biology affects our decisions and attitude, which implies that our free will is determined by our genetics. Along with genetics influencing our decisions, Schwartz uses another study to prove free will doesn’t exist. Neuroscientist Ben Libet conducts an experiment in which he asks patients to move their arm while he scans their brains. He

Henley begins his poem with a metaphor, “Out of the night that covers me” (1). The word “night” has two meanings; it can literally mean a time of darkness during the day or metaphorically stand for the struggles that life faces us with. Henley implies that he is “out” of his troubled past that followed him. Henley believes that we have to power to control our actions: “I thank whatever gods” (3). The word “gods” represents a higher power that creates a person and their soul, but in Henley’s opinion the gods don’t control our lives. He thanks the “gods” for the power to choose. Henley’s use of dark tone continues: “not winced nor cried aloud” (6). Since death is the only guaranteed fate, he did not “wince” or fear his destiny. He accepted it and understood that one day it would occur. By definition fate can’t be altered, but our actions can change our life. Using gruesome imagery, “My head is bloody,” (8) Henley suggests that we are wounded from our troubled experiences. But we are unyielding to fate or “unbowed” (8). Normally we bow to a higher being like a king or godly like figure. Higher beings control fate, so when we are “unbowed” to higher beings, we deny fate and make the decisions for ourselves. As the poem continues, Henley describes the afterlife: “Beyond this place” (9). The word “this place” refers to our world and