Do you believe in fate or is chance more a factor in tragedies such as those portrayed in the novel?

One of the book's main themes is the role of fate vs. chance. Do you believe in fate or is chance more a factor in tragedies such as those portrayed in the novel?

Is it fate or chance? My perception is that there is a tendency to call a result Chance if it is a good result, and Fate if it is not good

For me, the idea that it was fate, implies that there was a higher power making decisions, making choices, of who would survive and who would perish. I believe that it was a marriage of decisions made and chance. Some of the characters made choices that led to their demise or survival, while others may have been simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I believe it is all chance. Being in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time.
It's a matter of how people behave in a situation, the decisions made and how much they do for themselves versus expecting someone else to do for them.

I am not sure that I believe in fate at all. There is a higher Power, but it is not fate. Chance is a closer description and answer to this question.

It seems to me that a belief in fate allows one to disavow any responsibility for decision-making, especially if there is a negative outcome.

I don't believe in fate or that there's any divine plan for individual lives, so I guess that leaves random chance. I like to think karma is at work sometimes, too.