In “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost, there are many themes in the poem. A theme can be described as fundamental, universal and explored in the whole story. Two of the themes out of many are that you must stand up for what you believe is right and that you must make important decisions in life sooner or later. The first theme is that you should stand up for yourself. This is shown when it says, “Then the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear.” In these three lines, the character took a risk, standing up for what he or she believed in by taking the path that was not usually taken by people who came to the “Two roads that diverged in a yellow wood.” Also, it says, “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
The character, knowing the chance of failure and the small chance of coming back, the character took the road that was not that much traveled by and was rewarded by making a difference. Next it says, “And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day!” The character stood up for what he or she believed in and was rewarded by being the first one on the road. Therefore, standing up for you must happen just as the character in the poem did and he or she made a difference. Standing up for what you believe in is a theme since it is explored throughout the story shown by the many examples throughout the story. It is also accepted as an universal concept.
The second theme is that you must make important decisions in life sooner or later. This is shown when it says, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could.” The character could not change the two paths into one path and had to take one. This is just like I reality. The road can be related to as life while the two roads that the path turned into can be decisions. This is an important choice to a character, just like everyone needs to make an important choice in life sooner or later. The character could not avoid a situation and neither can anyone. It is possible to put it off for a while but later, the decision will arise again. Just like the character stood there trying to figure out what to do. At the end of the day, the choice was still there and the character had to make it.
This shows that important decisions have to be made no matter what. No one can avoid them. Decisions are important as said in the theme because they can make a big impact on you. At the end of the poem as stated before it said that after taking the road that barely anyone takes, the character made a difference. Thus, in the poem, decisions are important no matter what they are just like this decision was important to the character.
Therefore, as shown in the poem, decisions are important and are unavoidable, meaning you have to make them sooner or later. Having to make important decisions sooner or later is a theme because it is mentioned over and over again in the story and can be accepted as a fundamental concept throughout the world. Therefore, the themes in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, the themes are that you should stand up for yourself and that you must make important decisions in your life sooner or later. These two themes match the definition of a them which is accepted as universal, is fundamental and is explored throughout the whole story, or in this case, a poem.