Human Choice In The Iliad And The Garden Of Eden From Genesis
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In many of the books we have read, human choice is a crucial factor. Even though some of them may portray it as fate or destiny, it still comes down to a character making a choice. Two books in particular that highlight what can come from the choices that humans make are The Iliad by Homer and The Garden of Eden from Genesis in the Bible. In both books, they show the possibility and value of human choice. In The Iliad, it is very clear that a lot of what happens to the humans is very dependent on fate and also what the gods have planned. Even though the gods could intervene and help the humans that they favor in battle, fate was still the deciding factor. When Achilles and Hector were in their final battle, “Father Zeus held out his sacred…show more content… God made man and woman and everything else in the Garden of Eden, with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil being especially significant. He gave them one rule; do not eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The snake then tricked Eve into making her decision to eat the fruit that she was forbidden to eat and also feeding it to her husband. Once God found out what they had done he started punishing everyone. For the snake he said, “cursed are you… on your belly you shall crawl, and dust you shall eat… I will put enmity between you and the woman” (Gen. 3:14-15). For the woman and man he said, “I will intensify your toil in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children… To the man… By the sweat of your brow… until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:16-19). Eve’s choice caused repercussions for everyone and all humans after her. As explained in the footnotes in Genesis chapter 3, “the punishment also affects the man directly insofar as he is now mortal.” One of the most important effects is the fact humans are now mortal because of the man and woman’s decision to disobey god. This story explains that because of the human choice, all of the struggles and suffering of the world exist. Eve had to possibilities to choose, stay the garden and obey the one rule or eat