Refreshment by Joshua

Refreshment by Joshua - August 2013 Scholarship Essay

As a former collegiate high school student, I was granted the amazing privilege of being able to attend both high school and college classes.   While taking my high school courses, I also earned college credit, and thus finished my collegiate high school career with both a diploma and an associate degree. One of the college classes that I took during my senior year was an American literature class.  What I enjoyed the most about this class was that our professor was an engaging woman who encouraged us to think.  During her class, we would sometimes make in-depth, literary analyses where we were invited to share our respective opinions and perspectives on the current subject at hand.  Sometimes we would highlight a famous short story of American literature, while other times we would analyze a poem.  One day, our subject of analysis was a poem by Robert Frost titled “Mending Wall.”  It was this literary analysis that resulted in what I would consider to be perhaps the most interesting lesson that I have learned in a class.
            “Mending Wall,” a poem by Robert Frost that is among the most acclaimed in American literature, can be seen from a variety of vantage points in the eyes of a literary analyst.  The poem highlights the brief exchange between the author and his neighbor, who are repairing a wall that lies between their landscapes.  As I observed this poem, I noticed a portion of the work towards the beginning, where the author discusses the reparations of the wall made by him and his neighbor:
“We keep the wall between us as we go.”
When analyzing this line, I was led to the possibility that this information may reflect the relationship between the author and the neighbor.  It is certain that this line could indicate a form of orderly separation between the owners of the landscapes. Throughout the poem, two key phrases are prominent, which may possibly symbolize two opposing viewpoints.  The first of these is a statement that begins the poem:
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…”
This phrase occurs exactly twice in the poem, and it suggests a possible issue in the form of the walls that exist between the two neighbors.  In the poem, the author makes a possible suggestion that this wall, which has stood between the two landscapes for an unknown period of time, could be a possible issue:
“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 offense.”
As a class, we all agreed that the author, Frost, was attempting to communicate a concept that reflects today’s society.  This world is composed of people of various nationalities, cultures, and ways of life with their own norms, customs, and “bubbles.”  However, our class was led to the conclusion that this “wall” that we love to place between one another could be a barricade that prevents a pleasant and fruitful union.
            Furthermore, in the poem “Mending Wall,” Frost also has another recurring phrase that appears exactly twice, similar to the line mentioned in the previous paragraph. Towards the latter part of the poem, the author presents the viewpoint of unity to the neighbor:
“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.”
The neighbor, in turn, issues a simple response:
“He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’”
Contrary to the phrase mentioned in the previous paragraph, this line, interestingly, closes the poem.  During my analysis of this portion of the poem, I, like my classmates, believed that this phrase could symbolize yet another perspective that runs parallel with our society.  Just as there are those who perceive the infinite number of possibilities that can be found in unity, there are those who cherish the many conveniences that can be found in division.  The same concept is reflected in the war that may be witnessed when a young boy infracts upon his sibling’s bedroom; People like to have their own space.  Again, Frost communicates to the reader another perspective that reflects the behavior that you may find in people of all ages, particularly those who may be of cultures our backgrounds that are polar opposites.  Some individuals loathe unity because they do not want to contend with the nuisances or headaches that may be encountered when attempting to adapt to the customs or methods of another human being.  They may prefer to remain in an environment that they are accustomed to, one that is free of possible contention.
            In conclusion, I found this literary analysis to be an excellent lesson that was taught from Robert Frost, an uncommon teacher.  “Mending Wall” presented a lesson that we all can learn from.  The wall essentially represented something that has stood since time immemorial that has existed in order to preserve a form of order.  Since it has existed for so long, it is something that the neighbor has grown accustomed to and found comfort in.  This symbolizes the conveniences that the people of a nation may grow to relish in when they have certain “barriers” that restrict them from having to adapt with foreign peoples.  Such an ideal may even symbolize the comfort that a person may have when they are in their “comfort zone.”  However, the author challenges readers to give what we know to be “change” a chance by leaving our comfort zones and opening ourselves up to communion.  In the poem, the author challenges a commonly established norm by stating the inability of his apple trees to grow with his neighbor’s pine trees.  Frost was questioning the common stereotypes and misconceptions of our society, opinions that hinder us from progress towards unity and change.  After analyzing Frost’s “Mending Wall,” I have learned and invaluable lesson: Amazing possibilities are present in closing yourself to the grime of the old and inviting the cleansing waters of the new.