Decisions in All the Pretty Horses and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay

Everyday people are faced with a countless number of decisions they must make. Every decision has a different consequence whether it be good or bad. All the Pretty Horses and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight alike had characters who faced many pivotal decisions that shaped their ultimate outcomes. Throughout each hero's journey, choices, not fate, guided them.

Fate is beyond the contorol of mankind. It was fate that the cowboy life was coming to an end. All John Grady Cole knew was the farm and riding horses and once that was gone he would either have to start anew or continue living in the past. John Grady immediately had a decision to make about leaving the farm that would alter the rest of his life. It was a decision that made him leave the farm and go to Mexico. Likewise, it was fate that Sir Gawain was born into a society that had standards and codes that knights must abide by. It was the decision Gawain made that led him to accept the challenge in place of King Arthur. Gawain decided to keep his word to the Green Knight and embarked on the mission to find him.

In the middle of their journey both heros were faced with their most important decisions. In All the Pretty Horses Lacy Rawlins said, "ever dumb thing I ever done in my life there was a decision I made before that got me into it. It was never the dumb thing. It was always some choice I'd made before it." John Grady was faced with the moral decision of whether to leave Jimmy Blevins or wait for him. He was torn between what was right and what was smart. Leaving Blevins would've made for a smooth ride to Mexico, but waiting for Blevins was only asking for trouble, and they both knew it. John Grady made the choice to stick with Blevins, and choas struck soon afterwards. After they arrived in Mexico, Rawlins and John Grady got a job on a ranch. John Grady made the decision to lie to the owner of the ranch about being in the company of Blevins on the ride down to Mexico. After leaving prison, John Grady made the decision to go back to the ranch to see Alejandra. On the other hand, Gawain was on his journey to find the Green Knight and came across a castle. Morgan LeFay was determined to knock Camelot off its pedestal, and there was nothing Gawain could do to change that. He made a deal with the king of the castle, and he decided to hold true to that deal until it came down to his life. When given the choice of mortality or honesty, Gawain chose the option most would have. He decided to withhold information from the king which, in essence, was lying. Both heros had to make decisions in their journey which were pivotal and had a great impact on their future.

Returning home was the conclusion of the hero's journey. The decision to go home, however, was also one that had to be made. John Grady couldn't return home because he no longer had a home, but he made the decision to go to the judge and tell him and the public that he had killed a man while in prison. Instead, he decided to continue pursuing his unrealistic dream. Gawain made the decision to return home and share his gained knowledge. Even though the people of Gawain's court didn't not heed his knowledge, he made the decision to return home and share his experience with them anyway.

A hero is simply an ordinary person doing extraordinary things. Anyone is capable of becoming a hero, and most don't seek to become one but rather stumble upon the opportunity. Every person, hero or not, is faced with choices and making the right decision is not always simple. Aristotle's ideal protagonist is "a man who is highly renowned and prosperous, but one who is not pre-eminetly virtuous and just. Who's mistfortune is brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error in judgement or fraility." Everyone makes mistakes, but those mistakes are ultimately how lessons are learned. Without choices and decisions to make, life would be redundant and meaningless. Choices give different lives diversity. The decisions people make are based on their form of personality, and with every fork in the road, they are giong to make the same kind of decisions every time. People can change their fate by changing the decisions they make in the process. If the fate is never known, it cannot be changed, but once the fate becomes known, it can be altered by decisions.