Choices

When reading O' Brien's experience with Elroy it reminded me for some odd reason of Robert Frost and his poem The Road Not Taken. I can't help and feel that at length Robert Frost's poem was more about the feelings that come with making a life altering decision. O' Brien brings to life the feelings of trepidation,anxiety,doubts and the craziness that comes when you're in that limbo state of indecision. He knows this is the moment where he will make a choice that will change his life forever; I think this why his whole life flashes before his eyes. I find it interesting though that that when his life does flash before his eyes that it's not really events of his life, but the people that are in his life. I this shows what O'Brien's other passion is besides writing. His other passion is people: what their thinking, what their feelings are, their history, their choices, their stories. I like how he describes Elroy " He was a witness, like God or like the gods, who look on in absolute silence as we live our lives, as we make our choices or fail to make them."

O' Brien also gives example of the freedom that comes with the young and old. First when his mind flashes to when he is a kid; I don't think it was because his mind was flashing from beginning to end, I think it was because when he was a child he was safe from extreme decision making. Then I think Elroy is significant because if he can maybe reach Elroy's age he will have the calmness that comes with experience.