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Area of Study - The Journey

Studying for the Examination
Inner Journeys

Key headings could be

  1. How texts depict journeys of the mind and spirit through
    • the exploration of the self,
    • reviewing one's growth through experiences.
  2. How texts depict the ways inner journeys
    • challenge one's thinking
    • provide new insights and understanding of the world and themselves.
  3. the assumptions behind these depictions

These could be summarised into a table for study in this way.

Note Not every text will provide information to fill each of the categories.

Text is Stimulus Booklet: "The Road Not Taken"
Elements of the Inner Journey Interpretation of the Text How elements are depicted
Assumptions underlying depiction

Inner journeys:

  • are stressful and problematic
  • may occur in everyday situations
  • have a profound effect on one's life
  • have effects that may not always be fully understood.
Exploration of self Moment of decision making for a person who is mature enough to reflect on actions and when choices are difficult because they both have equal appeal. Metaphor of the 'yellow wood' (complexity of mature age) through which the persona is travelling and road with a forked path in which both options are 'just as fair'. The enjambment in lines 2, 3, 9 and 11 impels the reader forward, as if to consider the other option.
Reviewing growth The persona wants both but decides to take the more unusual option. He justifies the decision by thinking that in the future he will have the opportunity to choose more conventionally but suspects that one rarely gets two chances. The metaphor of the journey is sustained: 'sorry I could not travel both/ And be one traveler', takes the fork that 'was grassy and wanted wear' and "kept the first for another day'[yet]doubted if I should ever come back.'
Challenges to thinking Persona knows that in the future he will reflect on the impact of this decision on his life and that this inner journey will have the power to affect his life profoundly. The importance and far reaching impact of the decision/journey is evident in the fact that 'I shall be telling this with a sigh/Somewhere ages and ages hence:'
Providing new insights Although decisions may change one's life radically, one cannot easily determine whether those effects are ultimately good or bad. The ambiguity of tone in 'sigh' and 'that has made all the difference'