48 pages • 1-hour read
Twice
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Background
Philosophical Context: Free Will Versus Fate
The tension between free will and fate has been central to philosophy, religion, and literature for thousands of years. At its core is the question of whether humans truly make choices or if their lives are predetermined by forces beyond their control, such as God, fate, or genetics. Ancient philosophers like Aristotle and Epicurus leaned toward the idea of free will, believing that moral responsibility required genuine human choice. In contrast, Stoic philosophers of this era such as Zeno of Citium and Chrysippus (who lived before the Socratic era) argued that all events unfold according to a rational order of the universe, which they called logos, and that accepting fate was the path to peace.
In the Christian philosophical tradition, St. Augustine grappled with reconciling divine omniscience with human freedom, and he concluded that while God knows all outcomes, individuals still act by their own will. Later, Thomas Aquinas echoed this idea, proposing that divine providence governs the universe but allows humans to participate through free moral action. The Enlightenment further complicated this debate; David Hume questioned whether human will could exist in a deterministic world, while Immanuel Kant argued that freedom was a moral necessity, even if it could not be empirically proven. In other words, humans must be accountable for their actions.
After Kant, many philosophers to varying degrees supported the idea that there is a level of causality to human action. One person’s decisions have effects that carry onward. Arthur Schopenhauer asserted that rejecting the importance of causality leaves humanity completely incapable of predicting their future or assessing how they should or should not act. In the late 18th and into the 19th century, libertarians encouraged a philosophical focus on the role of chance, eschewing both human determinism and divinely ordained fate.
In the 20th century, however, with the advancement of science, many discussions of fate centered on time and humanity’s place in a much larger universe. This allowed for the debate to continue largely through modern literature. Works like Mitch Albom’s Twice and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig illustrate how the illusion of control defines human experience. By granting characters the power to redo time or alter destiny, these stories reveal a paradox. Even with the ability to change the past, true peace arises only through acceptance.
Literary Context: Time Distortion in Fiction
Mitch Albom’s Twice is part of a unique genre in contemporary fiction that blends magical realism, philosophical questions, and romance into a modern allegory. Like Albom’s earlier work The Time Keeper, the novel uses the supernatural as a vehicle for exploring deeply human concerns, specifically the moral consequences of second chances and the burden of limited time. Through Alfie’s ability to relive moments of his life, Albom situates Twice within a tradition of time-based philosophical fiction.
The debate about self-determinism versus fate appears often in genres like sci-fi and fantasy—as well as speculative, urban fantasy, and fabulist sub-genres—as they offer characters the capacity to navigate time or control destiny through scientific or magical abilities. For example, the 1998 novel Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang revolves around a scientist who learns to decipher the language of aliens that see time in a non-linear way. The aliens could see her entire existence, including the birth and early death of her daughter, which caused her to wonder if she had any control over the course of her life. This was later adapted into the 2016 film Arrival.
The 2014 novel About Time (a novelization of the 2013 film) takes a more humorous approach, as well as one similar to the novel Twice, in that it follows a man who has the inherited trait allowing him to “re-do” moments in his life. Through this power, he learns that the intended course of his life—or fate—is sometimes better than an alternative timeline wherein he tries to control the world around him, and he should appreciate his life as it is.
Comparable works such as Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut reflect this fascination with distortion of time as a means to examine regret, loss, and acceptance; however, while Vonnegut’s treatment of nonlinear time focuses on the absurdity of war and trauma, Albom’s approach is sensitive and moralistic, emphasizing the cost of perfectionism and the necessity of forgiveness. His use of urban fantasy works alongside relatable plot points to keep the story grounded in the ordinary world, with extraordinary events occurring within the boundaries of human experience. Twice uses alternating timelines and the “book within a book” framing device (in this case the composition notebook) to tell its story in a way that feels personal and reflective, like a confession. Alfie’s experiences, shared through his own writings and Detective Vincent’s perspective, create a complex examination of truth, choices, and belief.
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