Operation of the Rural Road
In many of the films that we have seen the main characters were traveling between an urban and a rural environment. In this film, however, we see something entirely different. This man, already in a rural environment, stays in a rural environment and is given a chance to explore himself within the context of his own life. In films that have an urban/rural adventure there is a creation of a new self, leaving behind of the urban self and a discoverance of a more truthful and spiritually connected self. This rural to rural travel is very different because instead of a new self, Alvin spends his time in examination of self. He looks at the stars at night and recalls his brother, he recalls the war with another veteran and he even talks of family to a young runaway. Through these events his self is revealed to him, not replacing his old self but merely revealing to him that which he once knew but had forgotten. It is through this rural road that he is able to accomplish the inward travel necessary for him to become a more full version of Alvin Straight.