The philosophical theme of fate versus free will crops up several times in the story. Is human life ruled by a predetermined fate, or can people influence and change their fate by the exercise of free will?

The first hint of this theme occurs when Ebarito alludes to the ‘‘wheel of fortune.’’ He says that the handicap the other players give him in the game of dominoes is only useful if it ‘‘wobbles’’ that wheel, in other words, if it can somehow alter his luck and change the outcome of the game. The wheel of fortune, which occurs often in literature of the medieval period, suggests that human destiny is a matter of fate. A person may do well with the wheel of fortune for a while, but as the wheel keeps turning, eventually his luck will run out, and his time for misfortune will come. There is little he can do about it.

The theme becomes explicit when one of the characters, Wilson, tells Alma that he believes in fate. But he has an unusual definition of what that belief implies: ‘‘Men who are real men can live their lives anyway they like—because their destiny is clear.’’ This is a paradox. Wilson believes in fate (that each man has a destiny), but he believes that knowledge of that destiny, rather than binding a man, actually sets him free to chart his own course in life.

Agüeros cleverly links the theme of fate and free will to the game of dominoes. The game thus becomes a metaphor for human life. For Alma, dominoes is ‘‘just a matter of following the numbers.’’ The winner is determined when the dominoes are first dealt because the hand given cannot be altered. The same idea is later expressed by Tito, who says to Paco, ‘‘the game is over as soon as you get your hand. Isn’t it?’’

But Paco disagrees. He argues strongly that strategy is involved in the game too. A player can overcome or mitigate a less than ideal hand by the skill with which he plays it. If a player has a two-five and a four-five, for example, he has a choice of which piece to play. That choice can be based on his shrewd assessment of what pieces the other players have; he can play his own hand to maximize his own advantage. The parallel with human destiny is clear: People have choices; their fate is not fixed; they can forge their own destinies.

It is appropriate, then, that at the end of the story it is Paco (the character who believes that a man can alter his fate in dominoes) who manages to alter his own fate in his final, dying act. He defies fate. Fate, the narrator tells the reader, had decreed that Paco die where Ebarito also lay. But Paco manages to stagger away, the instinctive movements of his stricken body overruling the fate that had been decreed: ‘‘[I]t had refused to die where fate had ordained—he didn’t want to be near Ebarito. Death had wanted him there, but he would go here.’’

The simple game of dominoes is a matter of great importance and pride to the four players. They play it day and night, whatever the season. It seems to be a test of their standing as men. Each man has his own pet strategy for the game and even a distinctive way of holding and arranging his set of dominoes. Because Ebarito is not as good as the others and has to be offered a handicap, his pride...