Notes

Reflect
- Walker has to finish a whole entire short story
- "Quote"
- got so desperate that he chose to copy
- acted unlike himself and has to face the consequences
- can assume he will be punished accordingly
- desperation will only make your problems worse
- will likely fail and/or get suspended or expelled

There are many themes in "The Long Journey" such as that you should never act out of desperation. This theme is can be seen being explored when Walker has to finish a whole entire short story the night before it is due since he decided to procrastinate instead of doing his work. "Quote" Then when he couldn't come up with a short story on his own, he got so desperate that he chose to copy one from a magazine and hand that in instead. In this case, because Walker acted out of desperation, he acted unlike himself and has to face the consequences. Although we don't get to see what his consequences are, we can assume that he gets caught since his teacher will probably figure out that he plagiarized his story and will be punished accordingly. "The Long Journey" clearly shows that you shouldn't act out of desperation for it will only make your problem worse than it already is. Walker plagiarized because he didn't want to fail English, but since he plagiarized his assignment, he will likely fail and get suspended or even expelled.

- photo is like story
- Walter chooses between two hard choices and can be hard to choose between the two
- picture shows someone trying to decide which path to take
- Walter is also trying to figure out what path he should take

The picture at the start of "The Long Journey" is an interesting choice given that it's a photo of three different roads this person can take and the story is about plagiarizing. Although it may seem like a weird choice, it's quite smart. The main character, Walter, has to choose between two hard choices; don't plagiarize and fail, or plagiarize and possibly not fail. Both of these choices aren't without their disadvantages and definitely can be hard to choose between the two. That is what the picture is referencing because the person in the photo is trying to decide which path to take, just like how Walter was trying to decide what he should do.