The Road Not Taken
Paula C. Thomas
ENG 125
Victoria Schmidt
May 23, 2011
The meaning of “The Road Not Taken” is the ability to have choices and how the effect your life. Using the reader-response approach, I will try to analyze and interpret the literary work. The ability of choices and the ability to make the choice to take a path less travelled is a profound undertaken that most people are choosing to follow.
Have you ever been given the choice of two different paths in life? The road most taken and the road least travelled, two different life choices. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” (Clugston, 2010, section. 2.2, para. 5). The fact that he took the road less travelled on caught my imagination and made me think about my recent choices. ...view middle of the document...
“Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear” (Clugston, 2010, section. 2.2, para. 6).
This literary work had no desire to escape the past or present it had the desire of wanting to make a better choice than those previously had. As the speaker look at the paths that looked so similar, but different due to the wear by travelers he wondered why no one chose the other path. He approached the path less traveled with a little resignation and ended up happy with his decision.
The connection I made with this piece of literature is that the choices we make in our life and the impact it has on our lives. Although we never know if the choice we chose to ignore would have made a better impact in our lives, we cannot go back and choose it only move on. “Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back” (Clugston, 2010, section. 2.2, para. 7).
The connection I made between this piece of literature and others is not just the choice but also the outcome of those choices. Not everyone ends up with a happy conclusion when their faced with two similar choices with two possible outcomes. In some literary work some are faced with the choice to be loved and love in return. Two similar choices with the possible outcome of life altering conclusions.
In “The Road Not Taken” Robert Frost gives you the option of choices. Choices that no matter what you choose have the ability to alter you life in a way that could leave your life the same, make it better, or completely shatter it. The ability of choices and The Road Not Taken is road most chosen by people who have the ability to follow their heart ad their dreams.
Reference
Clugston, R.W., (2010). Journey into Literature. Bridgepoint Education, Inc. San Diego, CA.