The results of his indecisions show, throughout the story, that life is about the choices people make and how those decisions directly and indirectly affect the world around them.Īrchie’s first flip of a coin, with the uncertainty he gains when faced with a choice, in the novel came when Magid needed help in his own ethical decision-making dilemma. Fate (if there is such a thing, which the novel argues against) is standing back and letting him live with the consequences of his own indecisiveness. What he does not understand is that fate isn’t determining his moral decisions for him. He is the true fatalist of the story, because he decides to let fate make his decisions for him. She takes a stand against fatalism by showing that the appearance of randomness is only the results of human beings themselves.Īrchie’s decision-making process is the antithesis of self-determination. The outcome of life’s seemingly random things is and will always come from self-determination.

Smith illustrates how life is not random at all through such devices as Archie’s decision-making process, Marcus’s FutureMouse, and two identical twins that are nothing alike. Life is not random it is the consequences of the ethical decisions people make. Interweaving the ideas together one can see that she ultimately shows that fate has nothing to do with what transpires in life. Her counter-argument is the idea of self-determination and its consequences. In her novel, White Teeth, Zadie Smith argues against fate and the appearance of randomness that the concept of predestination brings along with it.

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