The Essays I wrote

The Path

The Path

Characters, especially main characters, and the path they take to find their true identity is a common and interchanging theme found throughout literature and media. One of the most prominent ways in which this is achieved is by forcing the characters to grow and change. Protagonists find their true identity by leaving their comfort zone because they are forced to look at life from a different perspective. When facing something unexpected, dangerous, or tempting, characters are forced to make certain decisions that they would not normally make. This paradigm shift leads to personal growth and the development of their true selves. Characters such as the unnamed narrator from "The Road Not Taken", Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit, Ebenezer Scrooge from "A Christmas Carol", Tony Stark from Iron Man, Eliza Doolittle from Pygmalion, and Thomas Anderson from The Matrix all find their true selves by being taken out of their comfort zone, willingly, unwillingly, or coercively.

The unnamed narrator in Robert Frost's Poem, "The Road Not Taken", willingly chooses to go on a different path to find his true identity. The unnamed narrator is at a fork in the road, a point where "two roads diverged", undecided which one to choose ("The Road Not Taken"). However, he is not in any danger, as it is a "yellow wood," a color that is connected to the sun and suggests positivity and optimism ("The Road Not Taken"). He hesitated. On one side, there is a safer road, a road with expected results. On the other, the road was, not newer than the other is as time "had worn them really about the same," but not as popular "because it was grassy and wanted wear" with "leaves no step had trodden black" ("The Road Not Taken"). The narrator wanted to go down this path of uncertainty, but he hesitates because he knows that it could have consequences that could change everything he has already achieved, and he is not sure that he would be able to "ever come back" ("The Road Not Taken"). After thought, he chose the "one less traveled by" ("The Road Not Taken"). He willingly chose the road that held more uncertainty, because he does not want to lead such a planned, conventional, and unexceptional life.

Bilbo Baggins is an example of one who was coerced to leave his "hobbit-hole" and "share in adventure" (Tolkien 11,13). In J.R.R. Tolkein's The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins was "a very well-to-do hobbit" who was considered "very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected" (11). When Gandalf shows up at his door talking about adventures, Bilbo is very opposed to going on any such thing. When Gandalf notes that it is difficult to find someone who would join him in an adventure, Bilbo cries out, "I should think so – in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventure. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can't see what anybody sees in them...We don't want any adventures here thank you!" (13). The thirteen dwarves who come looking for a burglar to join their group express their uncertainty about him. Gandalf, however, defends Bilbo stating, "there is a lot more than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself," but Gandalf also references Bilbo's hidden talents, strengths, and personality (24). However, when all the dwarves show up and then leave him behind without so much of a trace, his feeling for adventure sparks, something which he blames on his mother's side of the family, the Took clan which had "something not entirely hobbitlike about them" (11). In the beginning of the first chapter, it is written, "This is the story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected," meaning he will change into a new, unexpected hobbit (11).

Most of that change happened on Bilbo's confrontation with Gollum, and his acquisition of the ring. The life threatening game of riddles that Bilbo plays with Gollum shows the quick thinking, cunning, and courage that he contains. Telling his comrades about his quarrel with Gollum and a story of his escape, lifted him to higher position in the group and "the dwarves looked at him with quite a new respect" (81). In this moment, Bilbo is forced to act and view things in a different perspective, as he is actively keeping an important piece of information a secret while also continuing to be an honest and helpful member of the party. Bilbo once again shows his inner courage and wit when he defeats the spider. He recognizes his bravery and makes it official when he commends his sword and says, "I will give you a name...and I shall call you Sting" (128). Bilbo continues to change throughout the quest, becoming a proclaimed courageous adventurer in the end.