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The Symbolism of the Journey

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The Symbolism of the Journey

ENG 125 Introduction to Literature

According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Life is a journey, not a destination.” The journey is a central focus of Robert Frost’s “The Path Not Taken” and Jean Rhys’s “I Used to Live Here Once,” although the destination is also an important part of the latter. While both stories have similar themes, they have different points of view; both show that life can change during the journey. In addition, both stories illustrate that things aren’t always as they seem. This paper will compare and contrast the two stories and how despite the different viewpoints, there is one thing in common; regardless of the journey a person takes, there are many obstacles and hurdles.

Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” has been often interpreted with different meanings but is one of the most quoted poems of all time. Many interpretations of the poem believe it encourages individualism and self-reliance. There are others that believe it is not what the author intended. Upon closer examination we can determine that Frost’s intended message is that life choices are inevitable, a natural part of the life process, and that we cannot know whether the decision was the right one until we are in the future looking back at that particular moment in time, nor can we ever know what choosing the other path would have meant for our future. As the poem goes on, we see the author lamenting over his choices at the beginning of the final stanza: “I shall be telling this with a sigh (Clugston, 2010).” Perhaps this is Frost thinking back about the road he did not take and whether that truly may have been the right choice. While many interpret the final line saying “and it has made all the difference”, the author never indicates one way or the other whether that difference was a positive one or a negative one. It is similar to the choices we

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