Thursday June 2nd: The LAST ONE!!!

In Roman Fever how would you characterize the relationship between Mrs.Slade and Mrs. Ansley? What do you think the ending of the story means for the future of their relationship?

“Roman Fever” by Edith Wharton is a tell of two women’s lives. They have grew up together, been through many things and are now chatting about it. Mrs. Slade was quite different than Mrs.Ansley, she was very dependent on her husband who had been there to support and care for her and know that he is deceased it is hard for her to bear. She was a well-known woman in her day that had the perfect daughter. Both of these women have their reason for not liking each other but while in Rome with their daughter they have been given time to chat with each other.  While chatting Mrs. Slade began asking Mrs.Ansley about a letter that was once wrote. As they continued and determined the facts it finally came out that Mrs.Slade had wrote the letter to Mrs.Ansley because she was scared that Mrs.Ansley was in love with her husband and from that she envied Mrs.Ansley and let it ruin their relationship for years. After finally discussing the letter and situation they came to terms and decided to forget about the letter sense it had happened over 25 years ago. In the end they seem to realize that they needed each other as a friend and they were going to make that happen.

“Mending Wall” by Robert Frost is a short understandable poem. Frost is concerned about the reasoning for a fence that separates his land from his neighbors. Every year Frost and his neighbor meet up to make adjustment and upkeep to the fence and he tries to reason with him. Frost quotes “Where are the cows? But here there are no cows.” This means that they have no purpose for the fences because there are no animals on their land – his reference to cows meaning any type of animal that would need to be fenced in. The only “things” that Frost and his neighbor have are trees- Frost has apples trees and his neighbor has pine. Frost is in a way upset because he doesn’t believe in having wall for the sake of having walls. He tries to talk to his neighbor and get him to reconsider the purpose for the fences but he reverts back to his mean and old ways and doesn’t consider it.  Frost doesn’t think “good fences make good neighbors” because they serve as barriers for people and there is no communication. There is nothing wrong with making a fence because it require communication and help between your neighbors which is good, but just having a fence means nothing because you are separating yourself from others. The title “Mending Wall” has two different meaning because it’s stands for something that separates the two men but yet brings them together at the same time.

 “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop is a short poem that talks about losing different things throughout life. In the beginning Bishop talks about losing simple things such as; keys and a watch but as the poem continues she changes from simple to complex. Bishop beings to explain her thoughts about losing her home as well as a life- maybe love from once ago. In the begging it is like Bishop has a joking sense of losing things because it is an everyday occurrence but as the items change it things that have more meaning so does her feelings. I think she tries to cover up her hurt that she has for losing her home and life by talking of the simple things that we all lose. I think she betrays her words in the poem because she acts as if the things she is losing mean nothing but we come to find out that in reality she really does care about them and they bother her dearly.

I think that “Mending Walls” symbolizes to us- humans- that we should take down the barriers that we all have and actually communicate and be together with people.  I think that we all have imaginary boundaries that we put up randomly so that we can divide ourselves from others.  In relation to the other two works “Mending Walls” is similar to “Roman Fever” because Mrs. Slade has a barrier up against Mrs.Ansley for over 25 years just on an account of a letter that meant nothing. They had let this come between them for too long and after discussing it they mended their relationship and became friends once again.  “Mending Wall” relates to “One Art” because Bishop has created a wall or barrier for the things that mean the most to her and she tries to cover up her feelings deep inside. As she expresses herself in the poem we come to realize that deep down Bishop is disturbed by all the things she has lost and she let her barrier down and decided to show her true colors and how she really feels.

Questions:

Do we sometimes make it a joking matter that the small or big things in life don’t really mean anything to us?

Would it be that difficult to remove some of the “barriers” that we have set around people so that we could be one and make a better life together?

Connection:

These articles made me think of all the families that have been hurt by these tornadoes. I have seen some of the people that have been affected by these storms on TV and they really act like it’s okay and that they are just glad that their life was spared. But in reality do you think that they are really okay and aren’t hurting deep down inside?