To begin the poem, the speaker describes the various causes for the damage of the wall. When he refers to something there “that doesn’t love a wall,” he is referring to a tree, which by nature is consistently causing damage to the wall. As the roots of the tree grow, it causes the frozen ground beneath the wall to swell, and “spills the upper boulders in the sun.” Clearly this tree has a problem with the wall, and yet the speaker and his neighbor continue to fix it every year. The speaker and the neighbor have two very different opinions about the wall. The speaker questions why there must be a wall between his and his neighbor’s land. There isn’t any plausible reason for it. None of them own any cattle to keep from wandering off. The …show more content…
But that is the way it has always been, and the neighbor is “like an old-stone savage armed.” He is much more conservative, not daring to go behind the reason given by his father, “good fences make good neighbors.” The speaker is much more critical. He does not see any use for the wall, besides causing them to constantly repair the wall year after year. He scrutinizes the necessity of the wall, while the neighbor is satisfied with the reason that that’s the way it has always been.
This annual task of mending the wall, is not exactly necessary to the welfare and safety of the characters in this poem or their families, if they have any. It does not provide them with any food, or any income. It goes beyond the elementary necessities of life. Mending the wall isn’t really work, since it is not necessary for their survival, it is more of a game. Albeit it not a game in the classical sense of being for fun. This kind of game is a modern game, not done for pleasure, but to satisfy the demand for a wall. The speaker and the neighbor both have their own land, with a set boundary of where it ends. The wall is a product of modern society, which says that land is the property of a certain individual, and that individual is the owner and overseer of that property. In order for society to know what property belongs to the speaker, and what belongs to the neighbor, there must be a barrier to show the definitions of their property. Why do they continue to rebuild the
‘Our Wall’; written by Charles Bowden; is one of the essays focused on border problems, especially with the illegal immigrants and smuggling; and the wall to prevent the same. The author is an American non-fiction author, journalist, and essayist who mainly depicts the realism, and presents it to the society with the hope of change. In this essay, ‘Our Wall’, he cites the wall is made by U.S in order to control the illegal immigrants from Mexico. The essay collects views and comments before and after the establishment of wall of the people from both sides. This essay seems to be in against of the wall, which generally breaks up the personal ties and humanitarian relationship of the people in and out of the wall, and the wall stands still
The wall that Bowden discusses is the barrier between the United States and the country of Mexico to the south. He uses the terms fences, borders, and barricades. Part of the wall is constructed of metal. Other portions are concrete. Each of the materials that are used is hard and designed to be uncomfortable and discouraging to those who see it, effectively creating both a physical and psychological barrier between acceptable and unacceptable populations. The purpose of the wall, according to Bowden, is to keep a certain population out of the United States. Mexican illegal immigrants are crossing the border into the United States in large numbers. For the American government, illegal immigration is an unacceptable set of circumstances and the purpose of erecting a wall was to keep those people from crossing the border into the United States. Bowden explains that the wall is effective only until the point when inclination and desire of the excluded population overcomes the existence of the wall. People will then cross over it or crash through it. If their will is strong enough, then the people will be able to overcome the wall, making its presence outdated and ineffectual. Since people overcome the wall, there is no need to keep the wall or to provide moneys to either enlarge it or for the upkeep of the wall. Each
In “Mending Wall”, two neighbors are ironically united by the traditional rebuilding of the wall between them. A wall symbolizes boundaries, orders, and separation. Or does it? One of the two neighbors doesn’t seem to think so. “Good fences make good neighbors” is his motto. (Line 26) The neighbor doesn’t see how ironic it is that the wall is a meeting spot. He uses the wall as an excuse to talk with his neighbor, because he is not very open or conversational. The situational irony ostended by Robert Frost is that the wall between the two clashing neighbors is supposed to separate them. However, each year, when they meet to “walk the line”, the wall serves as a meeting spot for the two to catch up. (Line 12) Dividing, but unifying, Frost uses the wall to symbolize unity amongst clashing people. Without the situational irony of repairing the wall, the two incompatible neighbors would unlikely be able to unite.
The difference between the fences in the barrio and in the Anglo community are that in the Anglo community, fences are designed to keep people out where as in the barrio, they are more or less there for decoration. The Anglo community has “thick, impenetrable walls, built to keep the neighbors at bay,” which gives off the impression that visitors are not welcome. On the other hand, fences in the barrio are “rusty, wire contraptions or thick green shrubs,” which give off more of a welcoming feeling. In the barrio, neighbors do not feel any “sense of intrusion when you cross them.” Anglo fences do not allow for friendly encounters with neighbors.
In “How To Read Like A Professor,” by Thomas C. Foster, The fence between the boy and the girl is obviously symbolizing a barrier between the two such as a fence and a brick wall. Although everyone can have different interpretations when it comes to symbols, as you can see by reading everyone else’s posts, most people interpret symbols the same way. Along with serving as a barrie. He sees what he wants because fences are see through. For Example, have a fence in between houses allows you to talk to the neighbors. In other neighborhoods there are brick walls which are more tougher and doesn't allow others to see. As Chris said, if it were a wall, the boy wouldn’t have been nearly as tempted to talk to her. Although Scott’s reply to Chris was more of a joke as it was a point. If a brick wall was between the two, conversation would have been very difficult because they won't be able to see each
One quote the author gives from someone in favor of the wall is from a man named Dan Duley who lives on the United States side of the wall. He says “We need help. We’re being invaded. They’ve taken away our jobs, our security. I’m just a
Butler first employs the wall on an institutional level. Lauren Olamina lives in a walled neighborhood, largely shielded from the violence and crime of the world outside. At the beginning of the novel, as Lauren begins to set the scene of her cul-de-sac community, she comments on the wall’s presence as she and her stepmother look out at the sky, “The neighborhood wall is a massive, looming presence nearby. I see it as a crouching animal, perhaps about to spring, more threatening than protective.” (Butler, 5) The personification of the wall serves to show that walls are manmade, and therefore incredibly
Like the neighbor in the poem that keeps away their house even being friend with the narrator, the neighbor keep everything to themselves. I tend to put wall between me and other people, if they want to be friend with me they have to break that wall that I built which can be hard because I never ever let anyone see the real me like how the neighbor never let anyone near their boundaries. Boundaries are important to some people, people who are quite like being alone wants peace or have problem probably that why they put wall around them and don’t let other people near them even if they’re hurting so bad they won’t admit it. The narrator keep mentioning that, “good fences make good neighbors” explaining that the neighbor wants to know more about the neighbor that the narrator is so interested in
Thus, the author emphasizes that the great empires expand, while the declining ones build walls, contrasting the American wall with the once isolated and now open Great Wall of China with china’s economic growth. Then he said that American wall is similar to Israel’s wall, appealed to discourage terrorists, an excused to say that terrorist from Middle East may penetrate the US as Latino immigrates did. Though protection is the obvious excuse for a border separating wall, the issue of who it belongs within is problematized. Now The US is debating who is an American, proposing restrictions that deny automatic citizenship to any baby born on American soil. Rodriguez indicates the irony of having a wall to
When president Donald Trump declare on his agenda that he will build the wall, he seems to forgot about many factors. It’s not just who’s going to pay for it but how it will affect the United States. However, there are millions of people who lives in both side of the wall. If the wall was build, the business will comes and the property owner will start to see ‘their land’ bisected by the wall. Indeed, the Mexican government saw this problem and they has published studies on its impact. The border wall is going to threaten the diversity of two communities along the 1,989 miles. Moreover, building the huge and large wall wasn’t easy because its need a lot of money to make it happen. The
Arthur Baer once said “A good neighbor is a fellow who smiles at you over the back fence, but doesn’t climb over it.” In the poem ‘Mending Wall’, by Robert Frost, it talks about two neighbors who rebuild a wall between their pastures. One believes the wall is good and neccary but the other thinks the wall is pointless due to the fact neither have livestock or other pets to trespass on one’s land. Fences are good at respecting boundaries though it can cause issues with neighbors, such as lack of communication or miscommunication, boundary disputes, and regulations that are needed to be met and maintained due to the fencing.
One day there was a kid who was in middle school he loved getting trophies when he was in elementary school but, now in middle school thing became more challenging and competitive he couldn't win anything not even a medal. He thought “I can’t win anything” It's like I have to work my head off to get one. The kid tried many things he thought he could win a trophy but, he still failed. A teacher came by and told him” You are in middle school, middle schools is more competitive and challenging your gonna have to try very hard to get one.
In his poem 'Mending Wall', Robert Frost presents to us the thoughts of barriers linking people, communication, friendship and the sense of security people gain from barriers. His messages are conveyed using poetic techniques such as imagery, structure and humor, revealing a complex side of the poem as well as achieving an overall light-hearted effect. Robert Frost has cleverly intertwined both a literal and metaphoric meaning into the poem, using the mending of a tangible wall as a symbolic representation of the barriers that separate the neighbors in their friendship.
Robert Frost's "The Mending Wall" is a comment on the nature of our society. In this poem, Frost examines the way in which we interact with one another and how we function as a whole. For Frost, the world is often one of isolation. Man has difficulty communicating and relating to one another. As a result, we have a tendency to shut ourselves off from others. In the absence of effective communication, we play the foolish game of avoiding any meaningful contact with others in order to gain privacy.