Throughout history, free will and moral responsibility have been longstanding debates amongst philosophers. Some contend that free will does not exist while others believe we have control over our actions and decisions. We control our own fate because it ultimately comes down to the decision we make everyday. Many people think that outside sources determine what we do or that our fate is already paved for us, but I think we get to choose. In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, Grant, an African American teacher, is obligated to go see a black boy in prison due to wrongful conviction. His assignment was to make him a man before he was sent to the electric chair. Grant was obligated to go but, It came down to him making the decision to visit him.

Throughout the book, Grant faces many people who either feel superior to him or more educated than him. When Grant confronts these people, it makes him want to leave town. Grant never left Bayona because he knew that he had to be their for the kids and Jefferson because he he committed to seeing him. Matthew Antinone, a mulatto (a person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially a person with one white and one black parent) teacher, who taught Grant says …show more content…
Many people think we are because people can sway our judgement but it ultimately comes down what we choose to do. In Macbeth, he made the choice to kill Duncan and listen to the witches. In A Lesson Before Dying, Jefferson could have died a hog but, he knew that he was actually a man. The 44th President of the U.S., Barack Obama said “It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our