The Road Not Taken - Essay Example

The road not taken In the Road not Taken, a traveler comes suddenly upon two paths diverging in woods. Setting upon one of them, he regrets that he cannot travel in both of them and with a big sigh; he is doubtful whether he will ever come back and explore the other road not taken. If you choose one road, you never might know what happened if you followed another path. Life is therefore a choice and being able to determine what to take indicates self-reliance, the importance of human right in the running of life and the doer’s dignity. The traveler in this case encountered two paths of which he had to make a choice so as to continue with his journey. The diverging roads could have taken any form, the most common being a Y shape, which has the traditional meaning of binary root. Thus the traveler was not dealing entirely with binary opposition but rather two identical paths. The traveler therefore has got an inner battle in the decision he has to take and thus he has to rely on himself. He must have lots of believe in himself for a very strong self-reliance. Clearly self-reliance and self-confidence take a central role in this issue. This ultimately resulted in the making of a decision that indicates the importance of the difference made by the traveler.(Edi,2013) Life is thus a choice and being able to figure out what choice to make indicates a lot of confidence and self-reliance. The character in this poem best depicts this particular situation. The traveler in this case is faced by such a daunting task when he encounters two roads and as a matter of fact, he cannot enquire form other people which road is the best to travel. He has to rely on his own intuition and decide which path to follow. A story of a person encountering a difficult situation can be found in day to day life. The main traveler in this piece of literary work eventually makes a decision which comes about as a result of a lot of inner struggle. It is therefore both a challenging and interesting feat for this traveler as he comes up with a solution and attaining dignity as a result of determination of the option to pick based on self-confidence and self-reliance. (Edi, 2013) Being different is taken to be the key for a person to make any significant progress in life and can lead to one becoming great or even greater than the rest. Being self-reliant is therefore the essence of making a difference in one’s life. Uniqueness is therefore a feature that is inherent in human life. This is exactly what happens to the character in the Road Not Taken. The traveler’s dilemma is therefore evident and leads to questions such as which road is to be taken? Curiosity further emerges pertaining the intention of taking a particular road and not the other. Thus there must be some causes and reasons backing up the traveler’s will in choosing one road as opposed to the other. The traveler must therefore weigh his decision very well so as to arrive at the best choice and avoid regretting later. Eventually after wise consideration, the traveler takes the less travelled road. The Road Not Taken thus signifies quite a difficult decision in an individual’s life that presents an easy or hard way out. There is isn’t any assurance of what the future holds and there could be sorrows or success. No matter the risk involved, an individual has to make a choice on the path to take since it is the first step ever in heading into success or failure in life. The Road Not Taken is thus a commentary with an ironic twist on the independence of decisions in a life that is ruled by instincts, limited possibilities and unpredictable contingencies. It greatly borrows from Biblical reasoning that God is the only sure “Way” that can and must be followed versus the American thinking that spiritual enlightenment is provided by nature. The poem’s title doubly refers to the courage of choosing a less travelled road but also the regret resulting from lost possibility and changes and eliminations that choice produces. The Road Not Taken is thus a reminder of the consequences brought about by selection principle in all parts of life and that all choices in action or knowledge lead to exclusion of many others and usually lead to ironic realizations of our own achievements. The drama of the Road Not Taken is of the speaker making a decision between two paths. Human beings being evolved creatures should be able to decide but the poem claims that our decisions are aesthetic and irrational. By taking the harder path, the traveler shows he is rebellious against the popular opinion as illustrated by the other road. He goes against the grain and refuses to conform to societal norms by taking a choice that is less popular. The traveler of course shows the typical reaction in human and the basis of selection is variation, “difference” and individuation;”taking the less traveled by”. The fact that he “could not travel both/And be one traveler” shows that not only will he never travel that path again, but also the experience alters him and therefore would be completely different by the time he returns. The significance of the poem lies in the traveler’s making a choice and carrying on with his life. This act of choosing a road represents his ability to move forward without stopping and his being unique. Frost deliberately chose to the word “roads” as opposed to “ways”. Thus this poem is actually about roads that are real and figurate: these are the roads we take through our lives, walk on and drive on. As the narrator of the poem points out, for every road we choose, there is another road we leave. Whether wrong turn or right paths, the roads that we take end up having a lot of significance in our lives. It is also true that we will forever be left wondering about the roads we never took. The road in this poem therefore assumes various meanings and in the first line, the metaphorical and literal fork is set. The splitting of the road in the woods metaphorically represents a choice. Thus the traveler’s life has taken him this far and has stumbled upon a point whereby to go any further, he has to make a decision. The road in lines 4-5 metaphorically represents the future. Thus just like the traveler can only see a part of the path through the woods, we can also only see for a short while into the future the consequences of our choices. In line 6 the traveler makes a choice that even though he has taken some time looking down at one road, he decides that he is going to take the other which is equally interesting. This is a metaphor illustrating sudden decisions that human beings can make. For instance we could have stayed with a boyfriend or girlfriend for some time and then all of a sudden we just decide to dump them, and chart out a new path in life. There is no particular reason why we could have done it; apart from the fact that we thought we would be as happy with our new choice.(Robert,2010) In line 13-15, the traveler wishes that he could take the two roads, but then discovers that the form of this road s is such that once you have taken one, you cannot travel the second. This is metaphorically stands for a choice that can change everything and once made you can never reverse or go back again. In line 19, we see the affirmation of the road that is less travelled, though the narrator was not sure before. And then we encounter the popular line “and that made all the difference,” which solidifies and concludes the figurative level of the poem by claiming that the road taken by the traveler and the choice that he made, finally changed his life.(Robert,2010) The poem leaves us wondering just what “difference” is made by all, knowing that the two “roads “are already in existence and that there are limited possibilities. Thus exhausted possibilities of personal experience reduce a lot of regret over “the road not taken” or lots of bravado for “the road not taken” by everybody else. This poem raises questions on whether there exists any justice in the results of a person’s choices or something other than aesthetics, and being “fair’especially in our moral choices. Work cited http://studentacademichelp.blogspot.com/2009/12/literary-analysis-of-robert-frosts-poem.html Robert, Frost. The Road Not Taken,Birches,and other Poems. California: Coyote Canyon Press, 2010. R.B, Pramano Edi. "Self-Reliance:The essence of making difference in Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken." International Journal of English and Literature (2013): pp 19-27. Read More