Analysis Of Joyce Carol Oates 'The Journey'
As Mandy Hale once stated, “Sometimes when you lose your way, you find yourself.” This is certainly true for the traveler, the protagonist and only character from Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “The Journey”. The traveler, who is not identified as female or male, sets out on a journey on the highway towards a city that they have visited many times. Along the way, the traveler finds themself lost after turning on a different road that they usually follow towards the city; they suppose that the new route is going to be scenic and therefore different. In Oates’ short story, it is revealed that the process of becoming and learning is vastly more important than reaching one’s end goal in life.
During the story, the traveler comes to a realization
that despite an uncertainty of being lost in the forest, it is the journey to get there that becomes the ultimate triumph. After driving through small villages and the deep forest, the traveler soon becomes bored and discovers a small unpaved path. A last minute decision leads the traveler to turn onto the side road which soon becomes overgrown with grass and obscured with fallen rocks. After navigating through this rough terrain, the traveler decides to stop the car and walk on foot; they are assuming that they must be close to the city. As night approaches, the traveler becomes weary with aching muscles. There is no regret, however, since “if [they] had the day to begin again, [they] would not have varied [the] journey in any [other] way” knowing that in the adventure itself that there is satisfaction (Oates 2). The traveler experiences the wonder and excitement of descending a hill which leads through a forest to a meadow filled with lovely flowers, still uncertain of the destination ahead. The reader can only assume that the traveller is pleased with his decision to discover a new path to his destination even though they did not reach it by nightfall.
Despite the traveler’s efforts toward their destination not proving successful, the journey still proves fulfilling because of the delight that they face never truly knowing where the road is leading them. There is never a single moment where the traveler doubts the reason why they decide to stray from their usual route to blindly trust one that they have not taken previously. Restate thesis but I cannot figure out how to so i'm going to wait for mom to get back since I suck at this. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm A person must always be able to see the importance in one's journey to truly appreciate obtaining their end goal.
During the story, the traveler comes to a realization
that despite an uncertainty of being lost in the forest, it is the journey to get there that becomes the ultimate triumph. After driving through small villages and the deep forest, the traveler soon becomes bored and discovers a small unpaved path. A last minute decision leads the traveler to turn onto the side road which soon becomes overgrown with grass and obscured with fallen rocks. After navigating through this rough terrain, the traveler decides to stop the car and walk on foot; they are assuming that they must be close to the city. As night approaches, the traveler becomes weary with aching muscles. There is no regret, however, since “if [they] had the day to begin again, [they] would not have varied [the] journey in any [other] way” knowing that in the adventure itself that there is satisfaction (Oates 2). The traveler experiences the wonder and excitement of descending a hill which leads through a forest to a meadow filled with lovely flowers, still uncertain of the destination ahead. The reader can only assume that the traveller is pleased with his decision to discover a new path to his destination even though they did not reach it by nightfall.
Despite the traveler’s efforts toward their destination not proving successful, the journey still proves fulfilling because of the delight that they face never truly knowing where the road is leading them. There is never a single moment where the traveler doubts the reason why they decide to stray from their usual route to blindly trust one that they have not taken previously. Restate thesis but I cannot figure out how to so i'm going to wait for mom to get back since I suck at this. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm A person must always be able to see the importance in one's journey to truly appreciate obtaining their end goal.