harold and oedipus

One question that was answered in Stranger Than Fiction was can we change our fate. The answer the movie gave to this question was no. Harold runs around the city searching for help and ways to change his fate and escape his inevitable death, but comes up empty every time. Also the question of whether or not we have the freedom to choose for ourselves is answered with a big fat no. Harold thinks he is choosing for himself in brief moments of the film, when really the greater being in charge of his fate is just suffering from writers block. Who we are and what is our role in the world is a question that Harold and the professor tried to answer when narrowing down which role and in which book he was in, when they came to the conclusion that the book that he was in was in fact his life.