<p>Think carefully about the information presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.</p>
<p>People's lives are the result of the choices they makeor fail to make. The path one takes in life is not arbitrary. Choices and their consequences determine the course of every person's life. All people, whatever their circumstances, make the choices on which their lives depend.
I have been struggling with the essay section, but I am working on it. PLEASE Grade my essay to tell me if I am on the right track. Thanks!</p>
<p>Assignment:
Are people's lives the result of the choices they make? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
<p>Every person is born with certain advantages as well as disadvantages in life. It is how that person nurtures those advantages and abilities that determines success or failure. In both the Scarlet Letter and The GReat Gatsby, the characters' lives are a direct result of their decisions.
Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby shows how Gatsby, a man born with nothing, became a symbol of wealth and excess in his town. Gatsby's entire goal in life is to attract Daisy, and he feels that he can not succeed unless he is very wealthy. As a result, Gatsby ignores any moral qualms and decides to go into the bootlegging and gambling business. With his wealth, Gatsby hosts decadent parties in his quest for Daisy. However, Gatsby's choices leave his life hollow. With his choices, Gatsby is able to transform his entire social standing. However, as a result, he lives a life of few friends and little happiness. His lifestyle, success, and failure, are direct results of the choices he made.
Another example of how lives are the direct result of choices that people make is in The Scarlet Letter. Dimmesdale tries to hide the affair that he had with Hester Pryne. However, Dimmesdale is torn over this decision. By hiding his affair, Dimmesdale becomes a well respected preacher. However, he begins to get sicker and sicker. Ultimately, he is becomes consumed by his grief. Dimmesdale lives a sad life of constant sorrow that can only be alleviated if he were to tell the truth. Unfortunately, he does not in order to preserve his social standing, and this decision racks him with constant guilt and ultimately leads to his demise.
The decisions that a person makes in life ultimately lead to his or her failure. As shown in the two novels, moral decisions may not lead to the most success, however, they will allow a person a comfortable life. On the other hand, amoral decisions will consume a person's soul and leave a stain on what could have been a very fulfilling life.</p>