Mending Walls- Friendship

Tearing Down Walls

In order to have true friendship, there must be trust, and in order to have trust, there must be no walls of life that a person lives with daily – but how is this done? This study is used to help you better understand the poem "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost. We will what these 'walls' are, how to get rid of them or how to bring them up. How we can see eye to eye, and how this will the help our friendships, and the world.

In the poem "Mending Wall" it describes a situation between two neighbors. For the sake of no confusion, let's name them Bob and Bill. Bob wants to put up a wall between him and Bill. Bob wants his own lawn, and he doesn't want Bill to be in his stuff. He wants his own life, a wall between their friendships. But Bill does not like that idea at all. He argues with the point of "He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across, and eat the cones under his pines". This meaning that he doesn't want the wall there, he wants to know what good it would do. Now, like in the poem, there are walls in everyday life – some good, and some bad. Some are there for a reason, others are there because people have purposely put them, trying to shut others out of their lives. In this case this is a wall that has been purposely put up by Bob.

The "good fences (or walls) make good neighbors" is frequently used in this poem. Is this true? Bob is saying that in order to have a friendship – you must have privacy. And that is true – to a point. Bob wants privacy in his life, he doesn't want Bill to see what he is doing, he doesn't want his apple tress getting into his pine trees, it is not an offence to Bill. It is simply that he wants some privacy in his life. He argues that in order for friendship to be there, there must be privacy. And so he puts up a wall. In life, people also put up walls of privacy, some bigger than others. Some are just "this is my life" type of walls. And every human needs those. But others are "Leave me alone, I want to be alone – for the rest of my life." There is a way to bring these walls down, and that is through love and friendship. Showing love and friendship to those who are hurting, will bring down walls that have been there for years.

Throughout the whole poem Bill is asking Bob to tear down that wall. But Bob refuses, he says he wants his privacy, and that is understandable. This poem ends with the verse "good fences make good neighbors." But in life, does it really? What if we never took the step to cheer up someone's day, never took a step to "tear down a wall". Where would the world be today? If we just showed love and kindness to people we didn't even know, the world would be a better place. And even with people that we do know. What if we just kept our mouths shut instead of arguing over some petty thing, that doesn't even matter? What if we proposed in our mind to see eye to eye with our neighbor, instead of fight tooth and nail? Where would the world be if we stood up and took the initiative and smiled and was kind to someone?

In life there are walls that need to be torn down, or some that need to be brought up. People build walls around themselves everyday, and nobody realizes it. Maybe they are really hurting, but instead of asking for help, they paste a smile on their face and say "all is fine, when it really isn't. We need to learn to trust others, and let them become our friends. We need to tear down the walls, and build up friendship. Good fences make good neighbors – sometimes.

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