Summary Of Robert Frost's Mending Wall

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.

“Mending Wall” is about two neighbors who disagree over the need of a wall to separate their properties. Not only does the wall act as a

This gives the reader the ability to elicit something meaningful from the book. The reader may pull from the story that life is not simple for everyone in the world, and that they should realize that some people have a hard time growing up because of the situation they are in. Children who grow up with a substantial amount of money in a stable home have opportunities that the Walls children did not. Some may wonder what they are having for dinner, while children in situations similar to the Walls may wonder if they can afford food for dinner. Despite all of the negativity and hardships in Walls’s life, she still turned out to be a successful women. After visualizing the terrible circumstances the Walls family was under, the reader can pull from the story that one may defy an inferior situation and build a better

With that, a regional spirit of racism and bigotry is felt from the neighbor. The speaker scorns his neighbor’s wall building antics, but has no choice but to settle with them. Ironically though, the speaker is way more involved and indulged with the annual repairing of the wall more so than the neighbor. The speaker tends to “bug” the neighbor about the wall in a way and comes off very clingy. He seems very excited about repairing a wall that he despises. The speaker sets the day they will repair on the wall together and also informs. Regardless of the, dubious attitude that the speaker gives off, it seems that he is more tied to the mending-wall tradition, more than the neighbor. The speaker comes off more of a modern man, while the neighbor is stuck in ancient, with building a “wall”. However, the speaker is no different from the neighbor; he likes his privacy and his sense of ownership.

| Adjective – CheapExplanation - This quote is very important because it characterizes how the Walls children are. This shows us that they are positive, by making a positive side of their situation. While small children want many toys for Christmas, Jeannette and her relatives are satisfied with their stars.

He also uses other devices such as a pun, applied in the line, "And to whom I was like to give offence." The last word of the line simply emphasizes the importance of the subject, the fence. The most prominent figure of speech, however, is the ironic, "Good fences make good neighbors." This is completely opposite of the connotation of the poem. Fences do not make neighbors, but strangers that are apathetic towards each other. The neighbor seems to prefer this approach, to eliminate any risks of trespassing or offenses. Yet what the fence really does is hinder the development of friendship. This is comparable to the barriers of bitterness, anger, hate, and fear men put between one another that obstruct love and friendship.

“Some people build fences to keep people out… and other people build fences to keep people in” (Wilson, 997). The play fences written by August Wilson revolves around the characters and how they tried to build fences in their lives. Troy is one of the main characters who uses fences in his life but his reason behind it differs from the rest of the characters in the story. Troy Maxson is a fifty-three year old man who considers himself a failure but finds it hard to admit. Troy Maxson is a man who supposes he is a disappointment yet thinks that it’s difficult to concede. Troy is a middle age dark junk jockey who feels kept down by the "white man". "Why you got the white men driving and shaded lifting?" (p.9). The source showed a case of how

The small humiliations, thousands of them, were contained within the four walls of their well-kept home,. . .But Grandfather redrew the line and tossed aside fragile civility they had” (133).

While the narrator seems more willing to reach out to his neighbor, in the end, he does not. He does wonder why fences supposedly make good neighbors. For him, the question is what is he "walling in or walling out"? He seems to realize that he is "walling out" other people. As long as the symbolic wall stands between the neighbors, they will always be separated. Earlier in the poem, Frost uses the symbolism of a rabbit to seemingly reinforce this point. The hunters must destroy the wall in order to "have the rabbit out of hiding". The men, in turn must break down the walls between them if they are to come out of "hiding". The narrator seems to have a desire to point this out to his neighbor. However, he does not, simply dismissing his idea as "the mischief" that spring has instilled in him. He realizes that he is unable to communicate with his neighbor in any meaningful fashion and, thus, remains in isolation from him.

Similar to “Acquainted with the Night,” isolation is a major theme in “Mending Wall.” In “Mending Wall,” there are two characters: the speaker and the neighbor. The two characters have two different opinions on what make a “good neighbor.” The neighbor views walls as a crucial object in

This repair is like an outdoor game, where there is one on each side. The narration goes even further, now citing the differences between them, the narrator says that prevent him from approaching his neighbor, bringing together in this passage a reflection of what the neighbor says "Good fences make good neighbors. "(843) concluding the conflict between them, which means that they are only good neighbors because there is a good fence that divides the space of each and limits the individuality and freedom of each person. In addition, this reflection is also questioned by the narrator, he makes a dialogue with the reader asking, "Why do they make good neighbors?" (845) and demonstrates a desire, says that before building any wall he wonder what it would include and what he could exclude to not offend anyone, but there is something, a force that he does not know but wants the wall in the ground.

The desire to discover something can be the effect of the human condition or metaphysical with the idea of emotions causing transformation of perspectives of oneself and the world. In Frost’s poem “Mending Wall”, a contemplation regarding the repairing of a wall between a persona and their neighbour reveals that they hold conflicting views about the necessity of a wall. It is shown that the persona disapproves the mending of the wall through the personification of apple trees. The persona uses it as a logical example of the futile nature of having fences for fruit trees; thus, the composer challenges not just the neighbour but also the audience to speculate the reasons for having a fence. A bitter clash of opinions is unveiled when the persona

Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” presents the duality of two neighbors’ perspectives on a wall from the viewpoint of a more open-minded neighbor. Both of these perspectives are repeated twice by each participant in our poem, which thematically state their perspectives; our speaker stating “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall” (“Mending Wall”, 1 / 35) in lines 1 and 35, and his neighbor stating “Good fences make good neighbors.” (26/45) in lines 26 and 45. The poem’s structure contrasts these two perspectives, with the middle line of the poem acting as a wall dividing the two perspectives: “There where it is we do not need the wall”. Though thematically Frost’s poem speaks of more than just a literal wall, the wall serves as a division between the speaker and his neighbor in many ways throughout the poem.

Frost used a distinct way of writing throughout his poem that not only hooked the reader into the story, but also made them question their own views of walls, both physical and psychological. In the poem it is displayed that walls can be both good and bad. The wall that the narrator sees as the embodiment of what separates them, it is actually the one thing that brings them together every spring. Near the end, the narrator brings back the original question, what is the something? With this poem, maybe Frost wanted the reader to examine themselves and their surroundings and try to answer the question of tradition, and how they unite us and separates us at the same time. The narrator’s neighbor is the personification of the old ways and custom in the poem, it is evident as he is constantly repeating “good fences make good neighbors” (Frost 245) and the fact that “he will not go behind his father’s saying” (Frost 246). Even though, good fences make good neighbors is a well-known proverb, people will eventually ask themselves: Why is it necessary to have fences to build good