The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, 

And sorry I could not travel both

 And be one traveler, long I stood 

And looked down one as far as I could 

To where it bent in the undergrowth; 

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

And having perhaps the better claim, 

Because it was grassy and wanted wear; 

Though as for that the passing there 

Had worn them really about the same, 

And both that morning equally lay 

In leaves no step had trodden black. 

Oh, I kept the first for another day! 

Yet knowing how way leads on to way, 

I doubted if I should ever come back. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh 

Somewhere ages and ages hence: 

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- 

I took the one less traveled by, 

And that has made all the difference. 

    In Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken" the protagonist represents a person who is debating which path to take at a crossroads in the middle of his life. Once he chooses a road, he doesn't come back to take the other one like he tells himself he will. The speaker wishes he had chosen the more adventurous life.
     In stanza 1, when the protagonist says, "two roads diverged" and "sorry I could not travel both" it reveals two options in life that the speaker has. He can't take both but has to make a decision. In stanza 3, the line, "I doubted if I should ever come back" shows that the speaker knows that he won't return to see where the other "life" will take him. This is because he's already on a path. In stanza 4, the protagonist says, "I shall be telling this with a sigh" meaning the speaker regrets his choice and wonders what would have happened had he chosen the more adventurous life. And in the end he decided to take "the one less traveled by."

     This, wondering what would happen had you taken the other option, has made me think deeper about humanity because in life everyone tweaks their story to make it seem more desirable, this seems to make them feel better. Still, no matter how much you rave over your great choice, you always wonder how different your life would be if you had chosen the other path. 

Soda Ban Essay

     To fight against obesity, Mayor Bloomberg wants to ban all sugary drinks over 16 ounces, but only in all city regulated restaurants such as fast-food joints and movie theaters. The ban doesn’t include banning soda from grocery and convenience stores, like 7-Eleven. The NYC ban should be opposed because it takes away the peoples free choice and is full of many loopholes.

This ban is not effective enough because there are too many loopholes. The New York Times video “Soda Ban Explained” by Caesy Neistat, mentioned all the many loopholes in the ban. You can still buy a drink with 50% milk [juice, milkshakes, teas and coffees] and drinks that you add your own sugar to. And if that’s not enough, you can still go to non-regulated stores or just buy more than one. With all these loopholes people that really want soda can still go out and buy it, so it doesn’t do much to help curb obesity. 

The ban is unfair and takes away peoples choice to buy whatever quantity of soda they want. “Fundamentally we don’t need government telling us what we need for ourselves.” says Justin Wilson from Center of Consumer Freedom. Zara Atal, a college student said, “ If people want to buy a 24oz. drink, that’s their decision.” And Veronica Majerol, the author of article “Sugar Wars” stated, “While government has an interest in protecting the wellbeing of citizens some argue that people should be free to make their own decisions--even if they end up choosing poorly.” Many people agree that the ban takes away peoples’ rights and that people should be able to buy as much soda as they want. 

Others say the ban should be passed even though it takes away peoples’ free choice to buy whatever size soda they want. People for the ban state the government is trying to help fight against obesity and that it cares about the people. But some things need to stay private. The government can’t control everything. Supporters of the ban say, while there are many loopholes, it’s a step in the right direction and at least the government is trying to do something. Still, the ban doesn’t even start to make an impact on obesity. If the government really wanted to stop obesity they would cut soda out all together. And soda isn’t the only component of obesity. By doing something else, like making physical education a bigger deal in schools, people would become less overweight.

The NYC soda ban shouldn’t be passed. It’s not effective enough to even put a dent in the massive issue. But more importantly people will lose the power to chose what portions they can buy. We have to think, how far can we let the government decide whats best for us? If the ban is passed, pounds aren’t what people will be losing, they will be losing their free choice. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime (spoiler alert)

     Just recently I did a blog on "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime." Now I finished the book I want to do another one talking about the end of the book and how my last blog post compared to this one. In the end of the story Christopher finds out that his father was the one who killed Wellington, Mrs. Shears dog. He also finds out that his mother is alive! His father was lying to him about his mothers death. So he runs away to his mothers house. Of course his father finds him and after awhile they come up with a way to make Christopher happy.

     In my last blog post I talked about how Christopher relates to animals and not human emotions. Christopher learns more about the emotions of humans and other people and learns to relate to them more. Christopher grows as a person and becomes closer to his family. He becomes more mature and learns the value of the many different things and how to be independent. He learns how to think before doing things and weighs his options before jumping to a conclusion. And of course he gets to take a level math.

     Overall I think I just good job of analyzing the book before I read it. I recommend the book to anyone who usually doesn't read mysteries. I have never picked up one and actually enjoyed it but this one was captivating and interesting.

Stay by Deb Caletti

     I just began reading the book "Stay" by Deb Caletti. Again I decided to write a blog before I started reading the book. This way I really get to think a lot about what could happen. I get to analyze and hypothesize with the author could do. I also think of all the different characters and how certain things will unravel or happen. The main character is a girl named Claire. She begins to have a strong relationship with this boy named Christian. She's never experienced love before, but what starts as devotion quickly becomes obsession. And it's almost too late before Clara realizes how far Christian is and what he's willing to do to make her stay. Now Clara has left the city and Christian behind. No one knows where she is. But still can't shake off the fear. She knows Christian will never let her go, no matter how far she runs it's not far enough.

     All of this has already happened in the book. It could go so many different ways. Clara is going to have to really look inside herself and find out what to do instead of acting like there's nothing that she can do at all. She has to realize that she has family and people that love her all around. Together with the help of the people she loves she can fight Christian. Her whole life won't stay like this.

     A book with this much going on could have so many things happen. I can't wait to find out what does. And after I'm done with this book I might pick up another one of Deb Catelli's books they're really great. I'm starting to get really interested in realistic fiction and romance.