Mending Wall

In his poem “Mending Wall”, Robert Frost demonstrates a contrasting view on walls of two neighboring farmers. The speaker “doesn’t love a wall” (Frost) and believes having it is very unnecessary. On the contrary, his neighbor thinks “Good fences make good neighbours” (Frost). Both of the views are presented by the speaker who clearly demonstrates a biased judgment. Frost uses his characters, setting and symbolism to express his view on having walls between people.

The literary elements that Frost uses both help to express the meaning of the poem, especially in the literal sense. The rural setting makes the poem more understandable and applicable because fences are mostly viewed in rural areas. The two characters that hold completely opposite views shows both sides of the story which makes the argument present more convincing. The speaker is presented as a logical and open-minded. He argues that having walls between the farms is ridiculous because they would not invade each other’s properties with their trees. The other farmer is viewed as an old-fashioned “savage”-like person (Frost). “He only says, “Good fences make good neighbours”’ (Frost) and does not give any reason for his statement. This contrast proves that Frost does not approve what the other farmer states.

Frost uses symbolism as well to convey his view in “Mending Wall”. Since the wall keeps an individual away from whatever he is “walling out” keeping whatever he is “walling in” (Frost) safe. The existence of a wall can represent close-mindedness of an individual. The farmer who wants to have a wall is described as conservative and illogical because the wall prevents him from accepting things from the outside. The gaps on the walls that occur gradually and naturally represents how becoming open-minded is natural. But the mending of the wall indicates how a closed minded person refuses to conform to the change.

Frost uses some literary techniques to demonstrate his view in his poem. The use of character, setting and symbolism all contribute to the argument that Frost presents in this poem.

Fishing on the Susquehanna in July

Billy Collins’s “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July” deals with a specific event which the speaker claims to never have experienced. Although fishing on the Susquehanna is not something of his taste, the speaker is curious of how it is. He tries to experience it indirectly by looking at a painting or by just sitting in a room “trying to manufacture the sensation” (Collins). Collins uses the setting, the point of view and imagery to convey the meaning of the poem.

The settings reveal some aspects of the speaker’s personality. He claims to be “more likely to be found in a quiet room” (Collins). This demonstrates he certainly does not enjoy out doors activities and prefers staying in. He would not know if fishing is pleasant or not because he would never try it. The other setting at the museum reveals how the speaker is introspective because looking at a painting he not only enjoys the art as it is but also tries to apply the situation to him and thinks about how it would be for himself. These aspects of the speaker’s personality indicate the reasons behind his reactions.

Since the poem is about a personal experience, the use of first person point of view seems to have a big impact. Since it’s written in first person it is easier to sense the speaker’s feelings or thoughts. He speaks in a straight forward way and conveys his thoughts both directly and indirectly. The point of view also shows something of the speaker’s character. He tells the story concentrating only on himself and thus reveals his somewhat self-centered personality.

The use of imagery in “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July” plays a big role in defining the meaning of the poem. The lively and colorful imagery that Collins uses reveals how the speaker feels about “fishing on the Susquehanna in July”. The words “rowing”, “sliding” and “raising” that indicate actions proves the speakers desire to try those actions. The words “blue”, “red” and “green” that he uses to describe the paining of the fish shows how he views fishing as an experience.

End Of The Season

Now that I finished the book, I guess I could say that the book is an example of bildungsroman. The characters that go through the maturing process are Frieda and Claudia. In the beginning, they were playful little girls who had so much more to learn and discover. By the end of the book, all those experiences that taught them different lessons helped them mature and comprehend more things. Pecola’s pregnancy had a great impact on them causing them to realize how foolish they were before. They claim “We had defended ourselves since memory against everything and everybody, considering all speech a code to be broken by us, and all gestures subject to careful analysis; we had become headstrong, devious and arrogant” (191). Their attempts to help Pecola, directly or indirectly, show their change significantly because they are not acting egocentrically as they did in the past.

For early teenage girls, what they had to go through was quite tough. However, it was worthy for them because it taught them valuable things. Their self-confidence and their ability to stand up for the right thing impacted their change as well as the experiences they had. Pecola, who experienced even more hardship, did not change so much but became more and more convinced that her life was a misery. I think Morrison uses the contrast between the two sisters and Pecola to show how a same experience can cause different consequences depending on the person.

Interview With Morrison

Morrison’s view that “the white people no matter how poor and how degraded… were nevertheless kicked into feeling they were superior to black people” is true in The Bluest Eye. There really isn’t any poor white man in the story but Maureen Peal can serve as an example to prove the statement above right. Her racist remarks were made when she was offended by Frieda and was frightened of getting into a fight. She uses her beauty against Frieda to stress the fact that she is the pretty white girl everyone loves and Frieda is the ugly black girl who is unnoticed or even hated. She says this not only to insult Frieda but also to feel proud of herself.

Not only is the statement as it is true but also the statement put in terms of blacks instead of whites. What I mean is that if the statement were to be put as “black people no matter what, me feel inferior to white people”, it would be true for The Bluest Eye as well. Pecola demonstrates this clearly because she believes blue eyes and white skin are better than what she has.

Although this interview was done for another book, A Mercy, some parts related to The Bluest Eye because it mainly talked about her ideas of things in general. I liked this interview because it gave me some background information about her ideas and how she incorporates them in her works.

Racism

Racism is perceived differently by each of the characters in The Bluest Eye.

For Pecola, racism is something very hurtful and intimidating although she is the one using racism against herself. She accepts the standards of beauty set by white people and she detests her ugliness because she cannot have white skin and blue eyes. She blames her brown eyes for the hardship she goes through because she believes “if those eyes … were different, … beautiful, [things] would be different” (46). Pecola is always worried of being discriminated and if anything happens she suspects her skin and eye color to be the reason. Because of this self destructive mentality, “she would never know her beauty” (47).

Frieda and Claudia see racism as a completely different thing. For them, racism is an injustice that they do not understand why it exists. For them, nothing’s wrong with having dark colored skin and in no way is it worse than being white. They “felt comfortable in … [their] skins … and could not comprehend this unworthiness” (74). Unlike Pecola, they were not intimidated by racism and they even fought against it.

Maureen Peal uses racism as a tool to defend herself in adverse situations. Although she would not show any racist behaviors in any other occasions, she calls Frieda, Claudia and Pecola “Black and ugly black e mos” (73) because she felt offended. This gives her a sense of superiority because she has something that the black girls do not have: the wealth and beauty.

The way each of the characters response to racism reflects their personality. The contrasting responses Frieda, Claudia and Pecola demonstrate prove the importance of self confidence and courage because the sisters’ way of fronting racism would be better for Pecola.

Beginning Of Autumn

In The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison starts out with a simple short passage written three times in different ways. He stresses the importance of punctuations through this passage because the text is harder to read with out the punctuations. Excerpts from this passage appear in the story as an indication of another chapter. I suppose it indicates the theme of each chapter because the first two times it appears its content has to do something the chapter deals with.

As I started reading the first chapter, I realized that the main character distances herself a little from her parents when she refers to them as “adults” not parents (10). She believes “Adults do not talk to us-they give us directions” (10). Even if she does not understand something, she does not feel free to talk to her parents. Her “mother’s anger humiliates me[her] (11). She shows little affection towards her parents because, from what she knows of, she hasn’t received any nice treatment from them. Instead she admires the “somebody with hands who does not want me [her] to die” who takes care of her while she’s asleep (12). However, it is most likely that the “somebody” is the mother who worries about her child (12). This reveals the main characters naïveté as a 9 years old child, because it is hard for her to understand why her parents act as they do despite their love for their children.

Another thing that grabbed my attention was the observations that the main character makes. She observes things in details whether it is useful or not. When she pukes on the bed, she describes it in detail and even asks herself “how…can it be so neat and nasty at the same time” (11)? She also “watch[es] their [peoples] faces, their [peoples] hands, their [peoples] feet” trying to understand what people say(15). She also has the drive to dismember the doll she got for Christmas. These observations reveal that she has interest in science and practical matter which is not very common for a 9 years old child.

So far, I am enjoying this book because it has some interesting statements that make me realize how some things that seem obvious could actually not be. For example, when she talks about how she does not want anything for Christmas and that no one really asks her what she wants I realized how we always assume little kids want either robots or dolls for Christmas. I also like how the storyline itself may become a little boring for it deals with the daily life of a rural kid, but Morrison’s writing makes it interesting and even captivating.

Marlow's Mind

“You know I hate, detest, and can't bear a lie, not because I am straighter than the rest of us, but simply because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies, – which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world– what I want to forget” (Conrad 47).

“I don’t like work – no man does – but I like what is in the work, –the chance to find yourself” (Conrad 51).

These two quotes are my favorites from the book so far because it clearly demonstrates Marlow's personality.

In the first quote in which Marlow talks about how he abhors lies, he associates lie with death which he also sees as being horrid. I think this has to do with the fact that death and lies are both disadvantages of humans. He wants to "forget" (47) death because mortality makes him feel vulnerable. It is a limitation that is impossible to overcome. By relating lies with mortality, Marlow implies that lies create the same feeling to him.

The second quote deals with an obligation that we all have to face: work. His opinion is understandable because work itself brings a lot of stress and many things involved in work are stressful as well. But what's in work, the effort, the responsibility, and the accomplishment gives one pleasure and satisfaction.

These views that Marlow puts forth, are not only reflective of who he is but also true. I agree with him in some parts, especially about work, but I don't quite see lie as being comparable to death.