Reflection Statement

My discursive piece ‘​On Breakfast and Other Life-Changing Things​’ interrogates the notion of

free will and the philosophical concept of hard determinism, raising the possibility of the

aforementioned being simply illusions. It directly challenges individuals who subscribe to hard

determinism and complete self-determination, encouraging discourse and interrogating the

incompatibility of these beliefs by disputing them. The discussion was prompted by extensive

research into the nature of free will and a cogitation of the quote, ‘The past is tense, the future

perfect’ which underlies the discussion of human actions as catalysed by cause-and-effect rather

than individual volition, wherein the past and future exist as ‘unalterable’ and ‘uncontrollable’ in

their ‘perfect’ state within the context of free will. This is supplemented by incorporating Kate

Chopin’s depiction of freedom and emptiness in her novel ​‘The Awakening​’, where her

protagonist, Edna, gainsays social convention in the pursuit for freedom to escape the emotional

emptiness that engulfs her existence. I portray a peripeteia of this journey, presenting a narrator

who transitions from their acceptance of freedom to a growing sentiment and nihilism and

restriction as they arrive at the realisation that free will might be an illusion.

In effectuating introspection within the audience on their personal beliefs of free will, my piece

underlies its discourse on determinism and autonomy through the extended metaphor of

‘breakfast’, similar to Geraldine Brooks’ metaphor of the ‘membrane’ of fiction in her piece ‘​A

Home in Fiction​’. The personal voice in Brooks’ speech allows for greater insight into the

narrator’s perspective and simultaneously enables a casual tone that enables a

stream-of-consciousness in the exploration of all concepts, which has been emulated in the

personal authorial voice that is underscores to my piece. My piece, similar to Brooks’ attendance

of a maths lecture, prompts its discussion with a personal anecdote that allows for a synthesis of

ideas and examples referenced throughout the piece. It harkens back to the anecdote of breakfast

through puns and metaphors such as ‘the bowl inside my head’, as the extended metaphor

cohesively strings together all the ideas. Coupled with my use of rhetorical questioning, these

maintain a consistent structure, accentuate the confusedness of the narrator, and encourage

self-deliberation within the audience on the dilemmas presented rather than imposing conclusive

answers.

My piece’s seemingly postmodern integration of multimodal elements, such as checklists and

quotes, are inspired by George Orwell’s ​Politics and the English Language in its inclusion of

quotes and extracts, ultimately presenting a seamless but varied flow that reflects the narrator’s

disorganised mind. Additionally, Wallace Stevens’ poem ‘​Thirteen Ways of Looking at a

Blackbird’ depicts a progression from observations of the blackbird to sophisticated and abstract

descriptions. ‘​On Breakfast and Other Life-Changing Things’ appropriates this progression to

highlight the ramifications of self-determination being a farce, advancing from micro-level

(breakfast), to meso-level (consumer manipulation in shops), and culminating with macro-level

interactions (justice and the legal system). My discursive piece raises complex moral questions

masked in a light-hearted tone, ultimately asking: Is free will an illusion?

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