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Traveling Through The Dark Analysis

Decent Essays

In life we travel alone. Though this may seem like a depressing statement, it is meant to be exactly the opposite and to represent strength in self. Throughout life we can seek the advice and guidance of others but when it comes down to the final decisions that define us we are ultimately on our own to do what is right. Right or wrong seems like a concept that is easily defined, but as we travel the road of life we realize that the defining line of right and wrong can be blurred. We find that our own conscience can challenge us with questions we are unable to answer, but must ultimately make a decision anyway. This very dilemma is at the core of the poem, “Traveling through the Dark” by William Stafford. Stafford uses the first stanza in, …show more content…

I dragged her off; she was large in the belly. (342) This description leads to detach the reader from the deer as a living thing but then, by description of the large belly, foreshadows a change to come. At this point in the poem we have established that the narrator is alone to make a decision and that he is a person who wishes to do what is right. It is in the third stanza that Stafford blurs the lines of right and wrong. It comes to light that the reason that the deer is “large in the belly” (342) is because she is pregnant. The deer’s belly is described as warm, a word that is used to accentuate that there is still life here. Establishing that there is still life develops the moral predicament; the questioning of right. A decision that was once clear has now become morally jaded. The poem carries on saying that, “I could hear the wilderness listening” (342). This means that even though he was alone he could feel judgment. A feeling of being watched. A feeling of guilt. He takes into consideration life, death and the greater good. This reflection he describes as his “only swerving” (342). In the end he decides to discard the deer into the canyon. Overall, the greater good was to prevent more death, just as he originally

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