Chance

Consider our semester question: how do words and actions influence who others become? To what extent do actions change intentions?

Chance affects who others become in war. Chance can decide whether you live or die, "It is just as much a matter that I am still alive as that I might have been hit." This quote shows that Paul could have died if it weren't for chance. Chance brought him to leave his dugout, and if he hadn't left he would've been dead. Many soldiers experience chance, "No soldier outlives a thousand chances." this shows that every soldier has his chances and hopes for the best of luck. Chance plays an affect on how actions change intentions because they may intend one thing, and chance completely changes it. For example, "...after a while I stood up and went to visit some friends in another dug out. On my return, nothing more was to be seen of the first one, it had been blown to pieces by a direct hit." In this quote, Paul only intended to visit some friends, but chance ended up saving him. Because of that it changed his intentions of only going to visit the other dugout. Chance affects who soldiers people become after war.