Fate and Free Will Quotes in Cloud Atlas

You might say that Timothy Cavendish has chosen to end up in Aurora House (you know, because he chose to be a total jerk), but it might also be fate. How else can we explain this mysterious man who shows up, lights a joint, and gets Cavendish so stoned that he thinks he's signing a hotel guestbook instead of giving over his rights to a nursing home?

Zachry believes it is his fate to be a coward. As such, he sees accusing eyes everywhere, and makes cowardly choices. But does he actually turn out to be a coward? Is his fate actually to be courageous? Or is fate partially controllable? Maybe you can work with your fate? Maybe fate and free will coexist?

Perhaps because this action isn't cowardly, Zachry attributes it to fate as well. He doesn't believe that he's capable of making a courageous decision, but his choice to not kill Meronym is just that: a choice.

Sonmi believes that her fate was orchestrated by Unanimity from the beginning, yet she made her own choices, anyway. Was Unanimity playing her, or is that just want she wants to believe?

Here, Cavendish is talking about a solitaire game, but he could be talking about something bigger: he could be talking about life. Of course, a man who ends up being punished for his own horrible actions would want to blame it on anybody—or anything—else to avoid taking responsibility.

The fates definitely conspire to put Joe Napier and Luisa Rey back on the same path. Without Joe, Luisa would have been killed. Without Luisa, Joe would still be alive, but the Swannekke reactor would have gone Chernobyl. Fate works in mysterious ways.

This is pretty much what fate vs. free will boils down to. Maybe fate just wants us to make these choices? Like Unanimity manipulating Sonmi, maybe fate is manipulating us all, to the very end.

Luisa's mother tried to choose the daughter she had—a daughter who followed in her dainty footsteps. But Luisa chose to be like her father instead, choosing Pulitzer Prizes over debutante balls, and ended up with a more interesting life.

Here's another card metaphor, this one courtesy of Robert Frobisher. Like Cavendish, he believes our fate is in the cards. Maybe that's why he feels he has no other choice than suicide in the end.

And here's I-saved-your-life-you-saved-mine, part 2. This time, it works out a little better, with both Adam Ewing and Autua being fated to survive. Ewing could have chosen to let Autua die, so by making the choice to save him, he saves his own life.