Symbolism of the Journey in the Books - Book Report/Review Example

Symbolism of the Journey Comparing and Contrasting Frost’s the Road Not taken And A Worn out Path by Wendy Presented Symbolism of the Journey A “Worn Path” by Welty is a short story about an elderly black woman, Phoenix Jackson, who walks from her home towards the city of Natchez to acquire medicine for her sick grandson. Nature and landscape play a big role in her journey, as she travels through a landscape that she perceives to beautiful, but with many impediments to her progress. Phoenix in her journey struggles to make through despite her poor eyesight, due to the dense forest. She is worn out with fatigue, and many make it through many obstacles on her way. These include barbed wires, bushes, and thorns. On the other hand, “The Road Not Taken” by Frost is a poem concerning a speaker who travels along road, where he comes to a junction with two different roads and is in a dilemma concerning which one to take. The narrator alludes to the point the path had been travelled many times before, and it looks weary, though he is not sure he would be able to travel along the same path another time. Generally, the poem and the short story are about hardships, and dilemmas that the two speakers are involved in, with serious impediments along their determination to achieve their objectives. It takes both determination and perseverance for both speakers to travel their chosen paths to the end, though full of impediments and uncertainty. The stories are about decisions that are made in life, and the determination and struggles of many to make it through these life impediments, which are in most cases carved out by destiny, and not our choices. Frost opens the poem by introducing the audience to the dilemma facing the speaker, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both” (Savoie, 2004). These first lines portray the speaker as being indifferent to which way to decide or act. The speaker is more confused, and wishes he could travel both roads simultaneously, as portrayed in his indecisiveness. He stares at the roads for a long time perhaps wondering on the right decision to make, and finding claims to support this decision. The poem speaks on the essential decisions made in life, the nature of choice of how to take one decision or one direction as compared to the other, evaluating how one feels about one direction taken, or which one decides not to take and many more life decisions (Pritchard, 1997). These decisions are vague and unclear, as the speaker is not able to foretell what lies a short distance ahead, as portrayed by the last line of the first stanza “to where it bent in the undergrowth.” The speaker expresses feelings of indifference in what lies ahead, as he cannot see well in advance; the path is dense with undergrowth. Frost presents this indecisiveness to express the feeling of the speaker in anticipating surprises and uncertainties on each road that he takes. Similar to Frost’s path, Phoenix in “Worn Path” presents a path that is ridden with obstacles and vagueness. The narrative is complicated by the nature of Phoenix as an old woman who struggles to go through this difficult path to get medicine for the ailing grandson. She is old and weak, but the thought of her grandson makes her undergo this tormenting journey. “While needed rest forces her to stop for a while, she has a vision of a little boy handling her slice of marble cake” (Gilson, 2002). The narrative presents a worn out lady, struggling in a lonely world, almost to give up, but thought of her objectives makes her bring out her inner strength to keep going on. Her poverty and the effects of age on her health are clear; one wonders if it was worthy for her to take this torturous path. This is portrayed when she admits “Something takes hold of me on this hill- pleads I should stay ”(Welty, 151). Phoenix is tired and almost to give up his determination, with nature in the so lonely path feeling her weariness and urging her to rest. In Frost’s poem, the fundamental intimation of the poem concerning human existence is compared to a rut, which is the track carved out by wheels on the surface over which the wheels travel as related to the ego of the persona (Nathan, 1989).This path is carved out as the wheel of life revolving around to create a path to be travelled despite its hindrances. The speaker in the poem proves this by suggesting that taking this path was not his decision, rather it was a matter of destiny that he had to. The speaker talks of a “sigh” with which he would later narrate the story. This might be taken to mean the speaker had made no decision concerning his path, and the sigh might be a sigh of disappointment or anxiety (Nathan, 1989). The speaker, just as the road covered with undergrowth, could not tell what lied ahead, and though it was not his choice to take this path, it was his destiny that he has to make. The same sentiments of perseverance travelling along a path demarcated by the wheels of life are portrayed by Phoenix in her journey. Her perseverance is noticed though she is tired and weary of a path that probably she ought not to have taken. “Keep the big wild hogs out of my path, don’t let none of those come running in my direction. I got a long way” (Welty, 142). Phoenix recognizes she has a long way to go. Though years and tiredness have taken toll on her health, she has to get medicine to her grandson, which is the only determination that makes her to go along. The life of Phoenix is more complicated by being a black woman, and her life as an old woman struggling through a world full of racism would be a hard task. This is portrayed by thorns and bushes covering her way. The difference between the story and the poem is portrayed by the aspect of hallucination and reality in the story and the poem. Phoenix on her journey seems to be tired and in some cases hallucinating. For example, “seems there are like chains on my feet, time I get this far” (Welty, 143). This feeling might be representative of an experience she had got earlier, or had witnessed, which later came to haunt her in her loneliness and struggles. In addition, when resting on a log, Phoenix has a hallucinatory vision: this concerns the vision of a boy offering her a piece of marble cake, a proposition to which Phoenix says “this would be acceptable” (p 143). When she stretches her hand to take it, there are only her hands in the air, which represents an utopian dream or an utopian fantasy, but her struggle then continues through the barbed wire and dead corn. These hallucinations portray Phoenix in her advance age as being lonely, and in the world of her own, perhaps desperate and requires company. In addition, Sykes (2004) argues that Phoenix might be having these visions reflecting the quest for unification between the whites and blacks in the South. The idea of the boy handling him a black and a white cake represent the quest for integration between these races. This quest is portrayed when Phoenix finally walks through the woods to a brightly lit town that would eventually be her destination. Her excitement at the buildings and colored walls is remarkable of the different worlds that these two races live in. On the other hand, the speaker in the poem, though undecided on which way to take, finally settles on the path that he confesses is not much travelled, but is later to discover the paths are eventually the much similar. Though undecided, the speaker in this case seems to be more focused, and with little impediments as compared to Phoenix. The speaker though confesses “I shall be telling this with a sigh” does not portray any evidence of struggles, but the usual life decisions that one has to make. Phoenix’s path is therefore more complicated and torturous, compared to the speaker’s journey in Frost’s poem. The age and weaknesses in Phoenix might be responsible for this difference in struggles encountered. Another difference is that Phoenix seems to be less educated as compared to the speaker in Frost’s poem. As she narrates about her life: “I seen plenty go off clear by in my day and for less than I done” (Welty, 153). The bad vocabulary is presented to portray the lady as having not received any proper education; perhaps this was due to lack of proper integration between the blacks and whites in the South as suggested before. However, the speaker in Frost’s poem portrays signs of wisdom and calculated decision making, characteristic of high levels of education. For example, as Savoie (2004) argues, it is not clear why the speaker chose the less taken road as compared to the road with signs of constant usage. The speaker in his wisdom though knowing the road that was common settled on the less taken road perhaps to find out its difficulties and advantages. As the speaker later states, “the roads were after all much similar” (Savoia, 6) shows that he probably had earlier made a decision to travel along the common road. This time though, the speaker was prepared to do it differently, in evaluating and comparing these decisions, but later found out that though the roads were similar, the little difference made large difference. At the end, he seems to regret taking this path by expressing a “sigh” may be of disappointment that led to huge differences compared to taking the other road (Savoie, 2004). The speaker in Frost’s poem through the entire process of making these decisions must have had some level of wisdom, or education as compared to the low level of education exhibited by Phoenix. Another difference lies in the way the stories have been presented: while Welty presents her narrative evoking feelings in the audience through strategic description of the roads and the hindrances, Frost chooses to hide all this, and makes it imperative to complete detailed analytical work in presenting the feelings, motive and any emotional attachment in the poem. It is therefore easier to be more attached to Welty’s narrative through this presentation, which evokes emotions, compared to the hidden meanings in Frost’s poem, which is short and requires critical analysis. Both “The Path Not Taken” by Frost and “A Worn Path” by Welty are symbolic of our daily decisions and actions that in most cases involve determination and perseverance through numerous hindrances and roadblocks that have to be met in meeting these objectives. These objectives are the determination that keeps one determined to go along the tormenting paths, though some of these paths are carved by the wheel of life and may not involve one’s choice. The age differences between the characters in the poem and the narrative symbolize the difficulties encountered by different people in different ages and races, in making it through life to meet their objectives. Though these goals might seem too far to be met, determination in the rough path despite one’s knowledge and path is symbolic of the quest by many to meet these goals. As the wheel of life evolves, there is no turning back and only memories of yesterday are left to be cherished and portrayed by hallucinations by Phoenix. Any decision made might not be effective as the speaker in the poem portrays, in life one can only voice disappointment; there is no way to reverse this wheel. The two strides are therefore symbolic of the decisions made in our daily lives, as well as the paths taken to meet our objectives, together with the hindrances to be encountered along the way. References Gilson, B., (2002). A Worn Path available at http://www.artistrue.com/details/Essays/LIT2000-A%20Worn%20Path.pdf Nathan C., (1989). Frost’s The Road Not Taken. Explicator, 47(2), 42. Pritcahrd, W.H., (1997). On The Road Not Taken. Modern American Poetry, University of Michigan Available at http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/frost/road.htm Savoie, J.,(2004). A poet’s Quarrel: Jamesian Pragmatism and Frost’s “The Road Not taken” The New England Quarterly, 77(1), 5-24. Sykes J.D., (1998). Welty’s the Worn out Path, The Explicator, 56(3), 151-153. Welty E., (1980). The Collected Stories Of Eudora Welty. NY: Harcourt. 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