Off the Beaten Path

            The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, a novel by Stephen King can be seen as words put together to create a well-told story or can be seen as a collection of chapters that challenge us as readers to analyze decisions we make in life and our motivation behind these choices. In the very beginning of this novel, Trisha McFarland makes the decision to walk off the main path to separate herself from her broken family in hopes that this would prove something to her mom and brother or make her feel a sense of fulfillment. She truly believed that the act of walking away from the challenge and hardship in her life would make things better, but as we see throughout the rest of King’s novel, this is not the case. Trisha exemplifies a normal human reaction to hardship and the results that come from determining what our future should look like and how we can shape that as individuals.

            From the very beginning of Trisha’s story, King whether intended or not, paints a picture of determinism and free will and how these two concepts play a role in Trisha’s life in the woods. Trisha uses her free will to choose and walk off the beaten path in hopes to be noticed by her family. Free will in this situation does not end in a positive light for Trisha and pushes her to trust in what she believes and who she is. When the McFarland family makes the decision to hike this path, it is stated that the path is a “moderate-to-difficult” 6-mile hike. When Trisha takes the matters into her own hands, this path goes from moderate-to-difficult to difficult-to-extreme in a matter of hours. This small detail in the novel however, can be seen as God’s plan for us in life. He never stated that His plan was going to be easy or always full of fun roller coaster rides, but once you have reached the end of the path, there is nothing but joy to feel. However, when we make decisions for our own benefit and turn away from God’s determined path for our lives, the path goes from moderate to extreme very quickly. We loose sight of the end to our path and turn away from difficulties that God has placed in our lives to change us. Trisha’s decision to step off the beaten path can be viewed as her decision to take her life into her own hands and begin to write her own script.

            King challenges us as readers to realize that we cannot face hardship alone and while we may like to utilize our free will in tough decisions, it brings us comfort and peace to look to someone such as God or Tom Gordon in Trisha’s case to get us back to the path and face our challenges and life decisions. Free will brought Trisha off the path, but determinism for her life and the growth of her family brought her back to it with peace and joy and motivation to get her family back in line.