The Road Less Travelled

Submitted by Orlando Belisle

I'm writing to you about the Matrix FAQ that asks What does Trinity mean when she says "You've been down there, Neo. You already know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be."

When I saw this section of the movie, I realized that there was something symbolic. In it, Neo has been picked up by a group of people who know Morpheus, the man Neo wishes to meet, and they drive him over to where he is. As they were riding down, they stopped the car and gave Neo a choice: Either join them or leave. With that, Neo decided to forget about the whole thing and go home. Just when he was ready to get out of the car, Trinity stops him, and tells him that he should reconsider. When asked why, she responded to him, saying, "You've been down there, Neo. You already know that road. You know exactly where it ends. And I know that's not where you want to be." As she is talking, Neo notices a smooth, clean, wide road in front of him. It is spotless from the rain. No one or nothing is there to get in his way. However, from a distance, the road begins to darken, and you are not able to see what is there. What could that mean? After listening to what she had to say, Neo decided to stay with them.

This scene is very important, not only to the movie, but life, itself. This road symbolizes the wide road and the road less traveled, AKA “The narrow road”. As I said in the last paragraph: Neo saw a road that was nice and clean, but dark as the road went further. A lot of us have gone down that road, and maybe still are. When you decide to not pay for your bills, stand up to someone who has been giving you trouble, or even do you homework, then you are taking the wide road, because you refuse to go through all that trouble and worry. But as that road begins to darken, you will begin to see the consequences that come ahead: If you had not paid your bills, something will be taken away (Water will shut off, if you hadn’t paid for your water bill). If you refuse to stand up to that person, then he or she will continue to give you trouble. If you decide to not do your homework, then you fail the assignment (or fail the class, if you had not done any).

These rules are just as similar as they are in The Matrix: Neo has always been on that smooth, clean road, and Trinity tries to tell him that as many times as he has gone down there, it was unable to give him the answers he was looking for. He knows that Morpheus can give him the answer, but it will not be easy. However, Neo knows that it is the only way. If he were to back out now, he would have wondered “What if…”, or “Maybe I should have…”; or anything related to that matter. It was up to Trinity to get Neo to open his eyes and understand the truth, or else he would have regretted it, in the long run.

We all take that road, sometimes, in the hopes that the problem will go away, or possibly come to us, without any struggle. The odds of that are slim, but we hope for it, anyway. But no matter how many times we try to trick ourselves into believing that the best will come without trying, we will only witness the worst. If we can stop denying the fact that life is not always easy and that we have to sometimes give 110%, maybe then we can become more civilized with ourselves. Neo knew the truth, he knew what was out there, and he knew that was not where he wanted to be.