Meditation on Alexandre Dumas’ Concepts of ‘Slender Threads’, Fortune, Fate, and Destiny
“On what slender threads do life and fortune hang,” observed Alexandre Dumas in the Count of Monte Cristo. The concept of “fortune,” akin to fate, destiny, societies’ stability or instability, divine providence, God’s will, envy, revenge, justice and injustice, accidents of birth, and social class were themes that Dumas addressed in the novel. Unseen forces seem to bind or even control our fates. We are dependent upon the destinies of the kingdoms or nations in which we live. To what do we owe our good fortune? And to what do we owe our misfortunes?
These were questions that frequently came to mind during the covid-19 pandemic. The United States, a country with four percent of the world’s population, experienced 25 percent of the world’s deaths. It gave new meaning to the words, “American exceptionalism,” and not in a good way. “For too many Americans, disasters are things that happen to other people,” observed Jim Palmer, an editor of Foreign Policy. “American exceptionalism has finally caught up with the United States.”
We were used to thinking of ourselves as the world’s aristocrats, with one of the highest standards of living, oldest democracies, and most stable systems of government. Rarely in our history were we victims of war, invasion, domestic terrorism, or coup attempts. An American passport allowed “privileged entre
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