Frost

Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” is about two neighbors and one stone wall. Every spring the two meet and make repairs on the wall. However, the speaker does not understand why there is a need for the wall. There are no cows to contain, it is simply there to separate the neighbors. The old neighbor responds to this by saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.” The speaker is still not convinced and continues to press his neighbor to look beyond this old-fashioned tradition. His neighbor cannot be swayed. The speaker thinks his neighbor is from an outmoded era. In the last line of the poem, the neighbor repeats his initial proverb. Like most of Frost’s poems, this one seems simple at first glance, but is actually filled with complex ambiguity. Frost uses his ‘artistic vocabulary’ to propose many ideas in this poem. The worth of boundaries and keeping the status quo are a couple of the main ideas that can be discussed after reading Frost’s poem.

This poem allows readers to question the worth of boundaries. Boundaries are made to confine things. In this poem, the wall was not necessary, but the two continue to build it every year. The specific example within the context of this poem leads to the universal question of why concrete boundaries are necessary. To me, people have walls to mark their property and they are used as a means of safety. Would a household be safe without a wall and without locks to protect them? Would there be violent behavior if everyone trusted everyone else? Or is it because nobody trusts anyone else and puts up walls that spark violence? I believe walls are seen as an object of distrust. However, people feel obligated to have walls because of violent behavior they have heard about. I also think walls and boundaries are used for privacy, and discourage communal feeling. Developed countries contain people who crave privacy, more so then less developed villages where everything is shared. So does the want for privacy and economic background correlate? I believe so.

In this poem, there is no need for the wall. The speaker explains that walls are needed to contain cows, but “here there are no cows.” He tries to question his neighbor, but continues to help mend the wall. This specific story brings up the universal idea of “changing the status quo.” People act in ways similar to how people have acted in the past. I saw this idea when we read about “Stubborn Stina” in Laterna Magica. She continued to wait for her seamen because the pattern she had grown accustomed to was comfortable for her. Should people continue to do something just because it is comfortable? Or should actions be changed if they are not applicable? I argue that if something is no longer necessary, change it. However, there are those who believe tradition is very important. I think the idea of tradition bleeds in to discussions about religion. Some rituals in religions do not apply to the twenty-first century like they applied when the religion was formed. I believe rituals and actions should be altered to fit the specific time and situation. However, it is very hard to change the status quo and alter what has been done in the past.

Blog # 7

I found William Heinesen’s short stories in Laterna Magica very hard to analyze and hard to find meaning in each of them. However, I did find a few examples of the relationship between individuals and ‘the collective.’ These relationships helped me find deeper meaning in the short stories as a whole. Characters in these stories are constrained by their mental labyrinths and cannot live normally. ‘The collective’ does not appreciate the character’s admirable qualities, so they are looked at as outcasts instead of heroes.

Master Jacob is one character who battles ‘the collective.’ “He was a learned man, a researcher and a collector. He was a fantastic collector of words…” (p. 18). One might think that Jacob, with his wealth of knowledge, would be a highly regarded man among ‘the collective.’ However, this is not the case. No one cared about his collections and research and he was, “met with only scant appreciation of his meticulous language and tireless labor” (p. 20). As a result of no one caring, Jacob withdraws himself from everyone. His only sources of joy are his music, his cat, and his secret rendezvous with Miss Urd. Jacob withdraws himself and cannot live normally because he is so focused on the fact that ‘the collective’ did not appreciate his hard word.

Stubborn Stina battles ‘the collective’ as she imperturbably waits for her seaman Thomas to return. Stina’s friend and family tell her to drop him. “He’s not worth your faithfulness, he’s running wild out there in the great trackless world, he’s boozing and carousing and has a sweetheart at every port” (p. 28). They attempt to sway her away from waiting for him while she is still young and beautiful. However, Stina will not listen to the advice. Even after she receives news that Thomas has perished, there is no change in Stina and she continues to wait. Stina is so focused on the idea of waiting that she is unable to live a normal life. Stina’s dedication can be looked at as admirable, but in reality, ‘the collective’ sees her as a crazy woman who is devoted to a man she will never see again.

The final example I recognized in these short stories was the clash between Midjord’s belief in the miracle he saw and ‘the collective’s’ disbelief in the miracle. Midjord tried to explain to everyone that he had seen Old Tonnes flying in the air after being swept up by the storm. However, all the people he told just smiled and shook their heads. Even the pastor told him, “It’s against the law of gravity and the law of God” (p. 88). We do not know what further action Midjord takes, but we do know that the pastor told him to, “Put a blinder over your eyes and seal over your lips, then you will see that everything will turn out for the best, for you and for me and for all of us” (p.89). This sentence in particular reminded me of Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People. Dr. Stockmann was harshly treated for trying to speak up about what he had discovered about that baths. Midjord is being encouraged to not speak of what he saw. If this short story were to end in a similar manner as the other short stories of Laterna Magica, then I would anticipate that Midjord would not listen to ‘the collective’ and instead continue to speak of the miracle he saw. Midjord would fit very nicely with the other characters that have admirable qualities, but are shunned by ‘the collective.’

Poem: Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

Post #6

Dr. Stockman has discovered that the town’s bathing complex’s drainage system is contaminated. The baths are essential to the town’s economy, and a dysfunctional bathing complex would be economically devastating for the town. Instead of facing the truth and trying to make changes, there is a lot of opposition to Dr. Stockman’s discoveries. One group that opposed Dr. Stockman was the leaders of the town. This group was opposed to Dr. Stockman because they were concerned about power. The powerful leaders were fearful of losing power so they opposed Dr. Stockman. These leaders were fearful of the people, fearful of the majority. Fear of the majority is Ibsen’s main criticism in this play. He is criticizing the tyranny of the majority. The leaders of the town are at the people’s mercy because they are afraid of the majority. Hovstad’s action is one example of a leader folding under the mercy of the majority. Hovstad is the editor of the town’s main newspaper. Although he wanted to print Dr. Stockman’s report on the baths, he was influenced by the majority because he was fearful he would upset his subscribers. The mayor is another example of a person of power being influenced by the will of the majority. He does not want to reverse the original bath plans because it will confirm that he made a mistake. He is fearful that the majority will force him out of his position of power. Ibsen is also trying to prove the people of power can easily manipulate the majority. The townspeople are the other group that opposes Dr. Stockman. However, the people are manipulated by the leaders. Dr. Stockman holds a town meeting in order to inform the people of the bath problems. However, the mayor and Aslaksen keep him from speaking and are manipulating the majority. Also, I think Hovstad did not want to publish the story because he was trying to please the majority. He made the decision for the majority, that they would oppose Dr. Stockman’s discovery. Aslaksen, the mayor, and Hovstad all manipulated the majority and forced them to oppose Dr. Stockman without them even knowing they were being forced. Leaders have to try to please the majority even if they have to act dishonestly.

Blog #5

Shakespeare uses his ‘artistic vocabulary’ to establish the power relationship between Claudius and Hamlet in the opening act of his play Hamlet. This relationship is most notably established in the second scene. Claudius pledges that the joy of his marriage to Gertrude balances the sorrow for his brother’s death. This is an idiotic idea because Gertrude is his dead brother’s widow, and marrying her is not necessarily a joyous occasion. However, although very superficially, the royal court still seems to support Claudius. Hamlet is the only person who is unwilling to go along with Claudius’ attempts to demonstrate a healthy royal court. Shakespeare immediately uses Hamlet to contradict Claudius. Claudius refers to Hamlet as a son. I am not sure if Claudius actually thinks of Hamlet as a son or if he is continuing his manipulative actions. Hamlet sees his relationship with his Uncle Claudius as strictly family, not a relationship with fondness. Hamlet is still wearing black mourning clothes for his father. In an attempt to give fatherly advice, Claudius explains that all fathers die, and that all sons are supposed to mourn for their fathers. However, sons must not mourn too long or it is seen as inappropriate and unmanly. Claudius’ attempt to give Hamlet fatherly advice gives the reader a negative impression of Claudius. He tells Hamlet to stop grieving for this dead father. Claudius attempt to be a fatherly figure to Hamlet is an unpleasant idea since Claudius is Hamlet’s dead father’s brother and he married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Claudius’ advice is also suspect since Hamlet was in line to be king until Claudius came and snatched it away. Shakespeare uses the Gertrude-character to further emphasize the power relationship between Claudius and Hamlet. Hamlet feels betrayed by her mother’s remarriage. He remembers how in love his parents were and voices his pain in his soliloquy at the end of the scene. Hamlet is intensely disgusted at his mother’s marriage to Claudius and how soon it happened after his father’s death. He says, “By what it fed on: and yet, within a month,— Let me not think on’t, Frailty, thy name is woman!— A little month; or ere those shoes were old With which she followed my poor father’s body” (I, ii, 145–48). Hamlet also compares his father, “an excellent king,” to his Uncle Claudius, a “satyr.”