Theme: Symbolism of the Journey
Thesis Statement:
Poem “The Road Not Taken” is written by Robert Frost and Story “I Use to Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys both are based on theme of Journey. Both of the writer has presented different view of journey and shown the impact of a particular journey on the life. Both of the literatures talk about different persons, different locations and different circumstances. The one common aspect presented by both of the writers that is; no matter what path you have taken there will be lots of sufferings and obstacles of the journey.
Introduction:
The meaning of journey varies from person to person. For some of them it is only a distance that needs to be traveled; they do not realize the meaning which is beyond the steps taken by them. People look forward only at the target and neglect the worth of whole journey that enable them to achieve their target. The exhilaration of unpredictable path enables passengers to learn various positive as well negative experiences from the other passengers and different locations visited while journey. Passenger carry all these experience and learning with him through the life. A journey is capable of changing the mind of travelers. It impacts the thought process, perception, ideas and some time even the complete personality of the traveler. Robert Frost and Jean Rhys presented different angles of journey by their writing. There are various other writers who talk about the various other related aspects of journey in a beautiful manner. In the below analysis we will analyze the poem “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and “I Used to Live Here Once” by Jean Rhys.
Discussion:
Robert Frost in his poetry very beautifully described how the road chosen by a passenger today impact his future. At some point of time in life, people need to make a decision; the decision is about the path need to be chosen. He discussed long term impacts of journey and choice made by a person in selecting the road.
On the other hand Jean Rhys discussed the voyage of a lady. The lady is returning to her habitat. On her way back to residence, she noticed various changes in the surroundings. The leady is searching for memories associated with her childhood. The search of leady has presented very uniquely by the writer.
Themes:
The main theme of both the literature is journey that is presently in different manner by both the writers. On one hand “The road not taken” talk about the journey, choice made by the traveler and choosing the uncommon path. On the other hand “I Use to Live Here Once” is journey of dead lady or journey of ghost who come to her place where she use to live when she was live.
Characters:
The characters described in “The Road Not Taken” are diverge road and nature. The poem portrays how these characters help in describing the decision of travelers on which they have to live their whole life. The characters depicts that it is upon traveler what decision and choice he want to make. The characters do not play any role in making the choice by traveler. It is the decision of traveler whether it will be having right impact or wrong impact on his future.
The Lady ghost is main character of the story “I Used to Live Here Once” who is coming to visit her residence where she used to live. The lady is not even aware that she is no longer alive and it is her spirit who is traveling. Lady observed various changes in the surroundings. When she reached home she saw two children. She wanted to speak to them but they overlooked her. The main character of the story is a spirit and she is not visible and audible to any one. She is unable to make any change.
Symbolism:
One more aspect to discuss is the symbolism of both the literary works. Robert frost in the poem, the road not taken has depicted the life journey. Two roads have been presented in front of the narrator and he chooses the harder one. By this poem, author says that there are always two roads before a traveler and it depends upon him, whether he opts for the easy way or the hard way to reach his destination.
On the other hand loneliness and freedom has been symbolized by author Jean Rhys in the story ‘I Used to Live Here Once’. The story is about a woman who uses to travel alone without any travel companion and does not want any companion in her journey. The purpose of this travel is to find the house where traveler was grown up. The story ends with an array of confusing moments as when the traveler find her home finally, she feel happy but at the same time she also feel depressing and alone.
Historical context:
Both the literature works ‘the road not taken’ and ‘I Used to Live Here Once’ have historical context behind them and the contexts seem to be very similar. Both the authors have used journey in their poems though the journey has been mentioned in different scenario. historical context used in the poem, “The Road Not Taken” is the first World War along with urbanization. This literature work depicts how life and time of the author was affected by the poems meaning. Themes of the poem suggest that the author has not taken side of individualism and instead of it, giving a massage that the life is full of options.
However historical context used in the ‘I Used to Live Here’ belongs to First World War, Second World War and exile of the Jean from Dominica. The author herself was born to an English family but somehow felt her connected to the Dominica. In the story, ‘I Used to Live Here’ author tries to depict that nationality does not matter; you always have strong feeling for the place where you grow up.
Conclusion:
‘The Path not taken’, and ‘I Used to Live Here Once’ both the literature successfully suggest that how a single topic can have several different meanings depending upon the interpretation from different point of views. Robert Frost and Jean Rhys portray journey as the main theme in their works though both have their own way of interpretations of journey. Both the authors have tried to show how a journey can be different as well as difficult. Robert frost in the road not taken portrays two roads and let the readers decide which way they want to go. Through this story, he has displayed a practical journey of life. Jean Rhys in ‘I Used to Live Here Once’ gives a massage a person can not forget his roots and in order to complete a journey.
References
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Frost, R. (n.d.). Shmoop. Retrieved March 19, 2012, from www.shmoop.com: http://www.shmoop.com/road-not-taken/
Frost, R. (2010). The Road Not Taken, Birches, and Other Poems. New York: Coyote Canyon Press.
Rhys, J. (1998). Telling Stories. New York: W. Norton & Co.
Robert Frost, Louis Untermeyer and John O'Hara Cosgrave. (2002). The road not taken: a selection of Robert Frost's poems. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
Wilson, L. (1998). European or Caribbean: Jean Rhys and the Language of Exile. Frontiers:A Journal of Women Studies , 68-72.
