"But thou mayst! Why that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win" (301)

This is a high point in the book. The book deals with a lot of themes, but one of the biggest themes, and the theme that the book closes on, is that of human free will. In class, we had a discussion about free will: how the army takes away free will. Adam joined the army later, voluntarily (51), and he did "rot" in the barracks. Adam wanted to escape from his problems, his life, his brother, but the army was definitely not the solution. This also goes with Aron, he enlisted into the army after he found out about his mother because it broke his worldview, the story he wanted to write. So free will is kind of a privilege. You have to learn how to wield it. And you can't wield it perfectly. But the good thing is, you always have a choice. You will inevitably sin, but that doesn't mean you can't "fight through it and win". There will always be more opportunities. Of course, that is also a bit of a generalization, but the point is, most of the time, your mistakes don't define you. You define yourself. And that then ties to identity, and how people form their identities. So, this is truly a high point in the book, the theme of choice is so deeply connected with human nature, and there is just so much to write and discuss about. Timshel!