Rural vs. Urban
The importance of the Rural road in Alvin Straights journey is one of creation rather than destruction. Most of my classmates have already commented on the importance of Alvin's character not solely trying to escape, but create something (a re-relationship with his brother). The representation of the rural road as something that runs through farms and growing things is important, compared especially to an urban road which controls the land. The fact that Alvin is also traveling this road in a rural means (the tractor) and is set to travel his own way also mirrors a typical idea of a rural community, independent. The characters he meets remind him of his past, and how things have changed. The hardest part for him in growing (old) is remembering how he was before the transition (being young). This is also the hardest part in his journey, remembering his transgressions as he tries to right them. This is exemplified in the point where he is talking to the vet in the bar and talking about how he accidently killed one of his own men, and how he had never talked about it, this is what the rural road is, something that travels into the past and the future at the same time.