Choices in Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken and John Updike's A & P

846 Words2 Pages

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and John Updike's "A & P" are two works that

incorperate using your own personal choice to make decisions that will impact your life. The

stories show the luxury of having the ability to make your own choices. Both stories contain

themes of personal choice, I believe the decision Sammy makes gives the readers a better

understanding of the impact you have with your choices.

In "The Road Not Taken," the theme is personal choice. The poem starts with a man

confronted with a decision to make. Two roads and only one man to travel them. When someone

is faced with two options they normally weigh the two. Perhaps doing the pro and cons between

the two choices. This is exactly what the narrator does, it is stated "And looked down one as far

as I could." The speaker is examining what this one road has to offer before they go look at the

other. It is discovered that the roads "Had worn them really about the same," meaning the paths

have been taken or chosen equally. The poem shows that he figured that he would have another

shot at the other road. Thus, if this was true then personal choice would not be so important if

you have the chance to do things over or twice. When the narrator states that he decided to take

the road thats less traveled, this can show his character and his personality. In the article "Frost's

"Road" & "Woods." redux, Dan Brown states "Given the evidence, who's to say which road was

lesss traveled on" (12). This is showing that maybe he did not even take a path and therefore it

was the on less traveled. His personal choice defines him. Sometimes these choices are capable of determining your fate.

In "A & P" personal choice is one of the themes for ...

... middle of paper ...

... Person choice is mainly what you prefer. Some choices you make may be

small in the long run and other can have a long effect.

Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and John Updike's "A & P" are two stories with the

theme of personal choice. The stories show how the choices play out with thier lifes. Both stories

contain themes of personal choice, I believe the decision Sammy makes gives the readers a better

understanding of the impact you have with your choices.

Works Cited

Brown, Dan. "Frost's "Road" & "Woods" redux." Literary Referance Center 25.8 (2007): 11-13. Web. 30 Apr. 2014

Frost, Robert. Frost's Early Poems. 6,8,2012.

http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/frost/section7.rhtml

Thompson, Corey. "Updike's A&P." ProQuest Research Library 59.4 (2001): 215-216. Web. 30 Apr. 2014

Updike, John. "A&P" 6,8.2012. http://www.tiger-town.com/whatnot/updike/

Open Document