Men, Rocks, and Mountains: A Look into | Teen Ink

Men, Rocks, and Mountains: A Look into

February 16, 2023
By kathyausten_maltese PLATINUM, Taipei, Other
kathyausten_maltese PLATINUM, Taipei, Other
23 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The fallibility of humanity most of the time lies in people’s unconscious will to make themselves infallible. In “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the intended meaning is to ridicule the misguiding depths of hindsight bias people inevitably descend into to perfect their memories. The poem begins with arresting phrases wrought from simple words, describing the setting at which the speaker encountered his dilemma of choosing between two roads. The overwhelming crisis the speaker faced ironically lies on a minuscule decision; the reason behind the speaker’s hesitation is the identicalness between the two “equally worn roads” that diverged in the same “yellow wood.” After much unneeded uncertainty and consideration, the speaker settled on one of the identical roads. The speaker satirically anticipates that after ages and ages hence, the memory of choosing between two same roads will be morphed into a perfect reminiscence of making the right decision- “the road less travelled by” when in fact only a meaningless decision has been made, far from actually “making all the difference.” The speaker’s anticipation owes to his acknowledgement of people’s proclivity to fall into hindsight bias, distorting memories for means of perfecting the image of themselves. 



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