Fate vs. Free Will in Nicola Yoon’s Instructions for Dancing

The central thematic claim of Instructions for Dancing is that love’s value is not negated by its eventual end, and that exercising free will—choosing to love despite foreknowledge—is itself a meaningful act of defiance against fate. The novel uses Evie’s supernatural ability to see the future of every romantic relationship she witnesses to dramatise the tension between fatalistic despair and the courageous embrace of love. Over the course of the story, Evie moves from believing that relationships are worthless because they end, to understanding that the love contained within them is the true gift. Her final choice to dance with Xavier Woods knowing he will die within the year embodies the novel’s argument that free will finds its highest expression in choosing love even when fate is known.

Thematic Claim: Love as a Gift, Not a Curse

The book repeatedly asks: if you knew exactly how a relationship would end, would you still begin it? Evie’s initial answer is a defensive no. After her father’s affair destroys her parents’ marriage, she abandons romance novels and declares that all relationships end in heartbreak. When she gains the power to see relationships’ futures, she interprets it as a curse that confirms her cynicism. Yet the novel reframes this power in the climax: the mysterious old woman tells Evie, “I gave you the power to see love. The heartbreak is just one part of it.” The thematic claim is not that fate is avoidable, but that love within the arc—the joy, connection, and growth—matters more than the final frame.

Fate in the Early Chapters: Evie’s Fatalistic Lens

Evie’s first visions confirm her worst fears. She sees Danica’s relationship with Ben end after he kisses an ex, precisely as her vision predicted. Later, she watches a couple on a Ferris wheel and perceives the entire story: the first date, the college years, and the eventual solitary goodbye. These visions seem to prove that love is a setup for inevitable pain. Evie begins to believe that “the fall is not at all survivable,” a metaphor she uses to describe the lethality of romantic risk. Her initial choice is to retreat: she avoids kissing X, skips her father’s wedding, and distances herself from friends Sophie and Cassidy after seeing their future breakup. At this point, fate seems to dictate not only the ends but also Evie’s emotional paralysis.

Free Will Through Dance: The Argentine Tango as Choice

The dance studio becomes the crucible for Evie’s re-education. The Argentine tango—a dance of intense connection, trust, and improvisation—symbolises the active choice to engage in relationship. Instructor Fifi insists that technique is not enough; dancers must bring “chemistry” and “charisma.” Evie and X initially dance with their heads, carefully controlling every step. But as they let down their hair and move together, they begin to experience the present moment rather than worry about the future. The tango requires partners to respond to each other in real time, a microcosm of free will within a structured form. Evie’s decision to keep dancing with X, even after she learns of his heart condition, mirrors the tango’s ethos: you cannot control the music or the ending, but you can choose how you move.

The Final Choice at the Wedding: Embracing the Known End

The climax occurs at her father Larry’s wedding reception. Evie, having apologised to X for running away, accepts his offer to dance. During the Argentine tango, she receives a final vision: eight months from now, X will die from a congenital heart defect. But the vision also shows the full life they will share—writing music, making love, daily declarations of love. In the present, as X spins her, she catches his hand and holds on. This is the novel’s definitive act of free will: Evie chooses to love X despite knowing the exact date of his death. The power of the old woman’s gift finally becomes clear. It was never about predicting heartbreak; it was about seeing all the love that precedes it. Evie’s choice transforms the Little Free Library book from a curse into a lesson.

Character and Symbol Connections

Evie Thomas embodies the struggle between fatalism and agency. Her arc is a gradual rejection of her initial belief that “it’s better not to have loved at all.”
Xavier Woods represents the present-focused partner. His openness to love (“just say yes”) challenges Evie’s defensive cynicism. His eventual death is fated, but his choice to love Evie regardless is a parallel act of free will.
Martin functions as a pragmatic helper, urging Evie to “go with the flow” and treat the visions as a lesson rather than a curse.
The old woman and the book Instructions for Dancing are catalysts. The book’s literal steps for dance serve as a metaphor for the scripted nature of relationships, while the old woman’s correction—”I gave you the power to see love”—redefines the visions’ purpose.
Danica provides a contrasting example: she moves on quickly from Ben’s betrayal, illustrating that even painful endings do not invalidate the relationship’s value.
The Argentine tango specifically requires surrender and trust, making it the perfect symbol for conscious vulnerability.
The black box song lyrics from the epigraph (“almost nobody gets out of love alive”) set a fatalistic tone, which the novel then subverts through Evie’s eventual choice.

Complexity and Contradiction

The novel does not offer a simplistic triumph of free will over fate. Evie cannot change the endings she sees. Her father’s wedding goes ahead, X will still die, and Sophie and Cassidy’s friendship will fracture. Free will, in the novel’s terms, is not about altering outcomes but about choosing one’s response to them. The old woman explicitly criticises Evie for focusing only on the endings: “Why did you only focus on the ending?” This reframing acknowledges the reality of pain while arguing that love’s interim joy is genuine and worth having. Furthermore, Evie’s power only fades when she is “ready,” meaning the novel implies a narrative necessity: she needed to learn the lesson before the gift could be released. This could be seen as a deterministic structure—she was fated to learn—yet the choice to hold X’s hand is presented as a fully conscious, voluntary act. The tension is unresolved, mirroring real life: we can know a relationship will end (through divorce, death, or distance) and still choose to invest fully in the present.

Study Questions and Answers

How does Evie’s attitude toward love change from the beginning to the end of the novel?
Answer: Initially, Evie sees love as a trap that ends in heartbreak, leading her to avoid romantic risk. By the end, she accepts that love’s value lies in the shared moments, not in its permanence. She chooses to be with X even after seeing his death.
What role does the Argentine tango play in expressing the theme of free will?
Answer: The tango requires both partners to be fully present, respond to each other, and trust the lead. It symbolises the active choice to engage in relationship despite uncertainty, mirroring Evie’s eventual decision to embrace love without guarantees.
Why does the old woman say she gave Evie the power to see love, not heartbreak?
Answer: Evie had been focusing only on the endings. The old woman reveals that every vision contained far more love than pain. The gift was meant to show the fullness of love, not to condemn relationships.
How does Martin help Evie move from fatalism to agency?
Answer: Martin repeatedly encourages Evie to treat the visions as lessons, to “go with the flow,” and to keep returning to the dance studio. He also validates her feelings while pushing her to act, acting as a rational anchor.
Is Evie’s final decision truly an act of free will, or is she simply fulfilling what the visions showed?
Answer: The novel frames her choice as free will because she could have continued to run away. By deciding to dance with X and love him fully for the time they have, she asserts agency over her own emotional life, even though the future is fixed.