The Age of Innocence Lesson Plan

What is the significance of Newland's obsession with details of his trip to Boston being "predestined"?

Newland repeatedly shows a desire for his relationship with Ellen to be orchestrated and confirmed by fate. This is clear when he waits for her to look at him on the beach, and is again clear in this section. He alone has made the choice to go to Boston to see her, but insists that many of the trip's details show that the hand of fate was involved. He first says this when Ellen needs an envelope and he realizes he has one, and then when they need a cab, and one is waiting on the street. Newland may be partially joking—aware that these coincidences are trivial—yet the...