“We are free to choose our actions, but we are not free to choose the consequences of these actions,” Stephen Covey said. Karma can be defined as destiny, fate, or an effect of a cause. Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology is a collection of epitaphs of people who lived in the town of Spoon River. The collections represent a small town of many people who have had very different lives. Many characters would be related to each other through work or religion, moreover, while some characters would be related to scandals. Some of the origins of the scandals would come from the secrets that people would die with. Butch Weldy is a character who is deeply affected by karma. Butch is a man who would take advantage of women, consequently one of them …show more content…
One piece of evidence that supports that states, “A year passes and one day they found him dead, that made me rich,” (Lines 5-6). This is the setup for her karma as well as other quotes like, “He died one night right in my arms, you know,” (Line 11). And she continued with “There was almost a scandal,” (Line 13). This is the start of her downfall, as she gets suspected of killing her husbands after 3 of them die already and each of them adds enormous amounts of money. The biggest quote that would show the most karma would be, “I wed Count Navigato. He poisoned me I think,” (Lines 19-20). As it shows that she has finally found the person she loves most, but she gets poisoned and shows the worst case of karma from all the damage she inflicts. Dora Williams wouldn’t be the only character affected by her actions. In Spoon River, many characters would see setbacks from the harm they cause others. From Butch Weldy impacting other citizens like Dr. Meyers to Dora Williams impacting other people away from Spoon River. In the end, all of them have the same end goal. They all inflicted karma on themselves. Karma still plays a role in society