Russian Literature: A Hero Of Our Time by Lermontov

"Fate and Will": Pechorin
It is very important to remember the significance of Pechorin's struggle not only with social conventions, but also with concepts of fate and will. The context in The Fatalist provides the reader with the greatest significance of the confrontation between the opposing philosophies surrounding fate and will.
Pechorin throughout the story is testing against his own existence, testing to see whether he can find any justification for his actions in the context of predestination, and he concludes, in The Fatalist that human existence is indeed determined by fate. Thi…