Michael Walton

English 102

Mrs. Hammond

November 16, 1999

Decisions

In Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, the speaker suggests that an individual has come to a turning point in his or her life and must make a choice to progress to the next stage or chapter in life. Throughout life, one is quite often faced with decisions that may at times have little or no effect on their lives, like what time to wake up on the weekend or which movie to rent for instance. However, some decisions could have a tremendous impact on their lives, like which college to go to or rather to re-enlist in the military and receive a hefty bonus.

In the first stanza the speaker points out a dilemma, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler, long I stood” (1-3). The speaker points out that he has a choice of which road he wants to take. What exactly do these paths represent? Personally, I am at a turning point in my life. These two paths can represent two decisions I have to make in order to progress in life. My choices are to either get out of the military upon the end of my contract or to re-enlist.

The speaker is taking a hard look at one of the paths, “And looked down as far as I could” (4). He notices that one has low growth on the ground, could be seedlings or shrubs “To where it bent in the undergrowth” (5). This could mean other travelers have taken this path often.

In the second stanza, the speaker takes a glance at the other path as well. He makes an assumption in line 8 that “Because it was grassy and wanted wear” that maybe this path is the one he should take for it is the path that is less worn and thus travelers before him most likely did not take. Why is it that others did not take this path? The other path looked as though it had been walked upon before. Other travelers could have taken this path either because it was already laid out in front of them or maybe because someone like a father or a mother had walked that same path and urged their children to do the same because it was an easier way in life.

Line 14 in the third stanza the speaker states, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way”, could have different meanings. However, the word way is repeated in this line as to suggest the one traveling this road knows the course traveled from will eventually lead to another. This could possibly mean more choices that he will eventually have to make in the future.

In the fourth and final stanza the speaker seems pleased with the path that he took when he states, “I took the one less traveled by / And that has made all the difference” (19-20).

In the end, the traveler is satisfied with his choice, his decision. Many of us sometimes feel we need to make a point to others that what we do matters and that we fit in. Someone might be made fun of or told that they will never become good at a sport, instrument, or hobby they love. This could be motivation to take a path that would be “less traveled by” for them. Of course, as individuals, we have to make our own decision on what path we are to take. For it is the individual, in the end, who has to be happy with themselves of the choices they make and then, maybe it will have “made all the difference.”