Straight's Road
The road Alvin Straight travels is a slow-moving rural road, not noticeably affected by urban life. While many of the folks he meets along the road stop and stare at first, they are hospitable and never hostile. If this were an urban road, people would be hesitant to welcome him and would instead see him as an oddity. Alvin is determined to remain self-sufficient during his travels, as if this journey is one reminding him of his independence. All those that meet him learn from him, from the pregnant teenager who returns to her family to his brother who realizes the significance of Alvin's visit when he sees he drove all the way on a lawnmower. The country road Straight rides down is comfortable and safe without fear of others, while sometimes dangerous in that he is aging and increasingly feeble. When Straight finally arrives at his reunion with his brother, his trial with himself is complete and we know that he can return home an accomplished and wizened man.