Questioning Traditions
Sometimes, people take actions not for an acceptable reason, but just because of a useless tradition that has lost its purpose. In the poem, “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, two neighbors meet up every year to fix a wall in between their lands. One of the farmers has apple trees, and the other neighbor has pine trees. One of the farmers wonders why the wall is even necessary, and the other one believes that “good fences make good neighbors.” Their talk shows how one person is questioning the tradition, while the other one thinks they should just do it because they have done so every year. Frost uses symbols, imagery, and irony to convey that people should not follow a tradition blindly and should question the true purpose of any tradition that they have followed.
In the poem, the author uses symbolism to convey that people should not follow a tradition blindly. The poet uses the wall as the symbol of division as it separates the two neighbors. However, nature treats the wall as if it hates it and ruins it, while also the animals try to bite it down, “And make gaps even two can pass abreast.” This means that nature is against separation and wants connection. However, the neighbors are saving the wall every spring by fixing it. One of the neighbors keeps repeating, “Good fences make good neighbors,” which shows that he wants to follow a tradition blindly, without considering the use of the tradition. Another symbol is the stone, which symbolizes permanence. When the upper boulders spill in the sun, the neighbor is “bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top” and putting it on the wall, so the wall would get fixed. This means that even when the stones fall, the neighbor will never let it get broken, which shows that the neighbor would want to continue the tradition forever despite its lack of purpose.
The author also uses irony to convey that people should not follow a tradition blindly. In the poem, the author uses a situational irony where the person who does not want the wall is the same person that calls the neighbor to fix it every spring. Somewhere at the start, the neighbor says, “I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; / And on a day we meet to walk the line,” but while he is fixing the wall, he says, “There where it is we do not need the wall.” His contradictory statements show that even people who do not want to follow tradition find it hard to give up. The irony helps the reader understand that people blindly follow traditions even when they know the traditions do not serve any purpose any more. The poem uses situational irony when the neighbor says “Good fences make good neighbors,” because the fence is meant to separate the neighbors, but repairing it causes them to work closely together and strengthen their relationship instead.
Frost also uses imagery to convey that people should not follow a tradition blindly. In the poem, Frost uses tactile and visual imagery to convey the message. The tactile imagery is when the neighbors say “We wear our fingers rough while handling them.” That statement helps the reader understand that making the wall takes a lot of time, and it is hard to handle the stones. This statement shows that they use their “rough fingers,” but the wall every year is destroyed , and there is no point in doing it. An instance of visual imagery is when the wall has “gaps even two can pass abreast.” The statement shows that there are huge gaps in the wall, and that the wall is basically useless because two people can cross through its gaps. The visual image of such huge gaps after every spring mending shows how futile the act of mending the wall is. Another instance of visual imager is when Frost says “Some are loaves and some so nearly balls,” which means that the stones they are using are just like balls, and easily roll down the wall, and the wall can easily fall apart. The imagery helps readers understand that people blindly follow traditions even when they are useless.
The use of irony, symbolism, and imagery shows that people should not continue traditions without questioning whether they still have a real purpose. The speaker is questioning the purpose of the wall, while the neighbor just continues to fix it. Frost’s message is important because it reminds readers that traditions should not be followed blindly without thinking. As Elon Musk says, “Some rules are good. Some rules are bad. You have to figure out which ones work.” This shows that people need to question traditions and decide for themselves whether certain actions still make sense instead of repeating them just because they have always been done.