Essay about Traveling Through the Dark by William Stafford

Throughout the entire story, there is death imagery. At the beginning, as the Grandmother gets ready to go on the trip, she dresses in a way that is foreshadowing of her own death. She says she dresses so that "anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (O’Connor)." While on the highway, they pass five or six graves fenced in on the side of the road indicative of the deaths of the six passengers in the car. Finally, as they see the Misfit's car, it is described as a hearse - a vehicle in which the dead are carried. These images all foreshadow the death of the grandmother and her

The idea of death can be, and is an enormously disturbing, unknown issue in which many people can have many different opinions. To some individuals, the process of life can progress painstakingly slow, while for others life moves too fast. In the excerpt We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates, a innocent farm boy named Judd Mulvaney has an eye-opening encounter by a brook near his driveway. During this encounter, Judd faces a chain of feelings and emotions that lead to his change of opinion of the issues of life and death, and change as a character. This emblematic imagery of life and death, as well as jumpy, and retrospective tones benefit the development of Judd as an innocent child as he begins to change into a more conscious and aware adult.

In the Robert Frost poem ‘’The Road Not Taken’’ there is a pervasive and in many ways intrinsic sense of journey throughout. In such, the poem explores an aspect associated with human decision, or indecision, relative to the oxymoron, that choices with the least the difference should bear the most indifference, but realistically, carry the most difficulty. This is conveyed through the use of several pivotal techniques. Where the first such instance is the use of an extended metaphor, where the poem as a whole becomes a literary embodiment of something more, the journey of life. The second technique used is the writing style of first person. Where in using this, the reader can depict a clear train of thought from the walker and understand

How can an author effectively convey a universal message to the broadest audience possible? Simple. The author must simply create a completely impartial narrator, devoid of sex, status, or age. The Road Not Taken is a poem told by an impartial narrator who has come to a crossroads in his/her life. The crossroads is represented by a forked path that leads through a forest. The setting is also impartial; the forest is anytime and anywhere the reader desires it to be. The narrator is forced to make a life-decision, thus changing the course of his/her life forever. Symbolism and imagery are used effectively to reinforce the main theme of the poem.

Driving down a narrow mountain road, “Traveling through the dark,” the narrator of the poem encounters a deer. This line might fool the reader into believing the poem has a happy theme however, the first word of the second line reverses this belief. The deer is actually “dead on the edge of the Wilson River Road” (2, 911). The traveler decides to send the deer over the edge of the canyon,

A study done by State Farm shows that there have been about 1.23 million deer and car collisions, with just between 2011 and 2012. Just over that one year time span, the 1.23 million crashes have caused 200 deaths (www.insurancejournal.com). In William Stafford’s poem, “Traveling Through the Dark,” the speaker has to make a decision, whether to throw the doe over the cliff and kill the fawn in the mother or to leave the deer there and possibly jeopardize human lives. Although it may seem cruel to some readers, the speaker’s choice to push the dead pregnant doe off the cliff was the best decision, it prevented human deaths and it saved the unborn fawn unnecessary suffering.

Reading and understanding literature is not as easy as it sounds. Being able to dissect each piece of information and connect it to the overall theme of the story takes lots of rereading and critical thinking. Reading the story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” takes lots of critical thinking and understanding the literature in a different point of view than the average reader would. The theme of this particular story quickly came to mind after initially concluding the reading, the author is trying to convey that nobody can escape death and how thoughts in the mind are so substantial in the consciousness that it can take over the reality. The author comes to this theme by incorporating specific literary elements such a symbol, irony,

In William Stafford's "Traveling Through the Dark", there are conflicting themes between birth and death, man and

The gripping fear of the imagery of Death is enhanced when the speaker states, “stepping from the black car” (11) and “parked at the end of the lane” (12). Death is coming closer and closer to the speaker. The speaker acknowledges Death has found him and has a true purpose. The imagery affiliated with the grim reaper such as “the familiar cloak” (13), “hood raised” (14) and “the scythe” (15) creates a frightful picture. True fear is evident when the speaker exhibits an uncomfortable humor when he states, “scythe?” (15). The question mark represents a form of disbelief and unsettling feeling. The speaker undeniably is questioning the intent of the grim reaper before him. The speaker continues to express this uncomfortable humor when he questions, “Did you have any trouble with the directions?” (16). The speaker is clearly upset that he or she was found in the secluded cabin tucked away in some remote place. However, the speaker is still finding ways to elude the inevitable when he remarks,” I start talking my way out of this” (17). The speaker’s uncomfortable fear is still exhibited as plans are made to have a conversation with Death. The speaker wants to continue to humanize Death with persuasion. On the other hand, the speaker no longer refers to Death as “he” (4) but rather “this” (17) in the last stanza. The change in tense demonstrates that the speaker

What do people think of when they see a dead deer on the side of the road? Do they just drive by it without a thought? According to Carol Breen, spokesperson from the New York Department of Transportation, “on average, 65,000 deer are struck by vehicles in New York state alone each year.” People do not even think about how many deer die in head to deer collisions, because it has become a regular thing. In the poem “Traveling Through the Dark”, by William E. Stafford the speaker is faced with a dilemma. One late night the speaker comes across this dead deer on Wilson River road. He decided to stop and push the deer off the cliff because he knew it was the best thing to do. Once he gets out of his car and goes to precede to push this doe off the cliff, he realizes that this doe is

Everyone feels burdened by life at some point. Everyone wishes they could just close their eyes and make all the problems and struggles of life disappear. Some see death as a release from the chains and ropes with which the trials and tribulations of life bind the human race. Death is a powerful theme in literature, symbolized in a plethora of ways. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Eve" Robert Frost uses subtle imagery, symbolism, rhythm and rhyme to invoke the yearning for death that the weary traveler of life feels.

In the poem “The Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost uses an extended metaphor of two roads to develop the theme of the hard decisions in life. One example of this is, “And be one traveler, long I stood” in (Frost 3). That means that the author is a traveler with a hard decision to make, also meaning he stood for a long period of time thinking about his decision. Another example is “Through as far that passing there, had worry them really about the same.” (Frost 9). One last example is, “Two roads diverged into in a wood and I took the road less traveled by.” (Frost 18.) Meaning, instead of taking the road that everyone else traveled he took the one less traveled. You’re going to have hard decisions in life, but sometimes dare

In "Travelling Through the Dark", the literal meaning of the word "swerving" means to physically move to avoid an accident. The fiugurative meaning is to move away to avoid something. The narrator uses imagery and symbolism throughout. The significance that he "hesitated" was because of the internal struggle that he was having after discovering that their was a living fawn inside the deer. The wilderness is listening is used as eaxample of the struggle the narrator has with his conscience about what he had to do. I think the effect it has on him is that it forces him to think of his role as an individual in nature or the natural

The poem begins with a literal fork in the road. Almost automatically Frost allows us to picture ourselves as the subject of the poem. His vivid imagery describes how the road looks with the leaves turning colors during the fall season “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” () we are transported into the poem. Due to the beauty of both paths the speaker wants to travel both roads but he understands that is not possible. The man in the poem does not want to stay a long time in the middle of the two roads so he knows he has to make a choice soon. He begins to examine the roads closely and one seems like the better option but he chooses the other one despite peering onto the path of the seemingly better choice .

Robert Frost's poem “The Road Not Taken” describes a traveler facing a choice, he can either choose the road not taken, or he can choose the road most traveled by. He does not know where either road might lead, but in order to continue with his journey, he can pick only one road. He analyses both roads for the possibilities of where each may take him in his journey. Frost's traveler realizes that regret is inevitable. Regardless of his choice, he knows that he will miss the experiences he might have encountered on the road not taken. Frost, uses literary elements, such as Denotation and Connotation, Symbolism, alliteration, consonance, and assonance in order to convey massage.