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Choices

In: English and Literature

Submitted By Katrenia
Words 468
Pages 2
Theme and Narrative Elements in the Short Story

Did I make the right choice? There are always at least two choices. In the short story ‘The Road Not Taken’, by Robert Frost, 1916; the theme is clearly spelled out as life choices. Living life in the fast lane or living day by day is important. In this short story the last line solidifies that the author chose the right road. There is no rule book to dictate what is right or wrong when speaking in terms of someone questioning and reflecting on whether they have taken the right road for them. “I took the one less-traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Frost, 1916. There is a sense of melancholy in this short story that pulls at my nostalgic heart strings. I wonder while reading whether or not I will be “telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by.” Frost, 1916. As the plot is built I am drawn to believe that perhaps this is a present situation and I imagine a person standing at the fork of these two paths quietly pondering while weighing the options of which way would be the better choice. The reason I get both a nostalgic and present situation feel is because the story is told in a first person point of view. The story starts off making me envision the previously mentioned image of the person weighting the options. The nostalgic portion of it comes to me towards the end of the story when the author states that he will be telling about this situation later. This part of the story seems as if it could be a passing memory of the fact that the author foresaw the evaluation when previously standing at the two paths. The comparison revealed that although there were subtle differences, the choice made was the right path for him. The author was satisfied with the outcome of the course of his life based off of

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