Jonathan Valencia
April 13,2106
ENG 1121-D465
2nd Draft – Textual Analysis
The Road Not Taken
     “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway,” Earl Nightingale said. Many of us wish we could stop time, but in reality have to accept the fact that no matter what we do it keeps going on. As many grow older, as humans we have to accept that time is limited, and the choices made in life will have an impact in our future. Even though time is limited and there’s nothing to do prevent it, that doesn’t give us a reason to make excuses for the things we love doing in life. Everyone dreams and hopes to have a better future or life but have a difficult path to achieve it, as we constantly make excuses that there is not enough time. Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” can be similar in our type of situations as to achieve something we always dreamed off. Not making up your mind can be very stressful in reality as it takes up time, brings up excuses, and delays to your dreams and hopes.
     Sadly time is a major issue within people’s lives as they don’t have enough to enjoy the things they love. In the poem, “The Road Not Taken,” a theme related to daily life and struggle is time. Time is a major point that can be discussed related to the traveler and day-to-day life. The traveler knows that time is limited, yet he wants to return someday to the woods hoping he can travel the path he didn’t chose. He says that he want to return, but knowing there won’t be a next time he says “Yet knowing how ways leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.” This shows us that there won’t be another opportunity to travel the path he would have preferred. It relates to our day-to-day lives by time interfering with the things we love doing. We as humans want to have enough time for family, friends, and acquaintances but always have something interfering in the way and always tell ourselves that next time there will be time, as we know that there will be a next time but don’t know exactly when.
Surprisingly, excuses are used to cover up the truth in which people are hiding every day to avoid being in trouble or getting out of troublesome situations. In the poem, “The Road Not Taken,” by Frost the traveler makes excuses in his journey in the woods. The traveler’s first excuses are that one path is shorter than the other as he says, “Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim.” Another excuse he makes for taking the shorter path is “Because it was grassy and wanted wear.” The traveler is constantly making excuses for the path he would have loved to have traveled, but always insists that the shorter path will make him reach his destination quicker, even though both will lead the same way.
Excuses are used everyday but sometimes they are not structured good enough to convince the person your telling it to. In Frost’s poem the traveler always insists that he will return to the woods and that he will travel the path he choose not to on that day. Knowing that there will? be a next time, he will have to travel the same woods again at some other point. Another excuses he uses is that he is only one person who can only travel one road at a time when he says, “And sorry I could not travel both.” When stating that he will come back and return to take the other path the traveler says, “I kept the first for another day!” He also alludes to the idea that another day won’t be happening when he states, “doubted if I should ever come back.” Not having enough time might force people to deal with the decisions and actions the traveler and we as humans make. Excuses might be temporary and not permanent. Eventually people have to stop hiding and accept the fact that there will be time, and once that comes, take that opportunity, to reflect between good and bad, as humans make many mistakes in actions that they’ve taken.
Everyone dreams and hopes are big and want to achieve them but some fail on the way there. The traveler in “The Road Not Taken” has hopes for a moment in time in which he could take the path he would have wanted to travel. He wishes that he could go back in time and travel a specific the path or hopes that in another time he can travel the path he would of love to taken. He hopes and dreams that he will have a second chance to travel the woods again, but this time he will take his time to travel during his next journey. The traveler dreams that time doesn’t go by quick as he says “I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence” describing that time is making this impossible for him to travel both paths as there might not be another opportunity. Our dreams and hopes can shatter to pieces if we don’t make the proper decisions in life. Not doing the things we would have love to do in the past, like accomplishing something in life, will bring regret in the future and always second guessing yourself if you should or not do it.
Not making up your mind can be very stressful in reality as it takes up time, brings excuses, and delays to your dreams and hopes. Every action a person takes might have or not consequences in life. As in the poem the traveler might have regretted taken the path that was suppose shorter to him and not taken the path he would have like to travel making him might regret the choice he made during that time he was traveling in the woods. Time has a big part in our lives as it goes by quick and the choices we makemight have a positive or negative outcome in our lives and to enjoy every aspect of it or soon as we go old might regret it.
