Do good fences really make good neighbors?

Question

Good point, Ari!

Answer 1

Not quite. We are humans not cows, as the speaker in Frost's "Mending Wall" observes.
To "classmate" below, Frost uses fences to comment about human relationships. Do the neighbors need to keep to themselves without reaching out to one another? The answer is however much they try to construct walls between them, strangely, the walls often collapse. What makes the walls collapse is that unlike cows, who are unthinking and hence fenced, the neighbors need each other. One may turn to the other when urgent problem knocks.The gist of the poem is that "It is never too late to mend" broken walls between you and your neighbor. Although literally we may need walls for protection and privacy, metaphorically, being human beings (not cows) we need no walls.
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Answer 2

In Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall," one character says, "Good fences make good neighbors." The other says, "He will not go behind his father's saying." That is, he's heard that saying about good fences all his life, but he's not willing to look at the thinking behind it and ponder what it really means.

So what does it really mean? The narrator in the poem sees the stone fence between the two farms as a project that brings neighbors together. Every winter, frost heaves knock some stones off the dividing wall, and every spring the two neighbors meet to pick up the fallen stones and rebuild the wall. The narrator's neighbor, the guy who says, "Good fences make good neighbors," sees the fence as something that keeps the two farms separate, that makes sure nobody trespasses on anybody else's land.

So what do you think? Do good fences make good neighbors because they keep us apart? Do they make good neighbors because they bring us together. Do they make good neighbors for both reasons? Or do they not make good neighbors at all?

Answer 3

Good question, E. Are fences there to keep things in or out...I'll be back, gotta turn the bacon...sorry, BLTs for dinner...

The very first fence was probably built to keep varmints out of the cabbage patch, then, later, to keep the livestock and children in. Over the years, as the plots of land got smaller, the fences got bigger. Now, we want 'privacy' so that no can see what we're doing.

The fence makes the neighbors invisible. We don't know if they are good or bad anymore.

TD

Answer 4

I have property in two states. One it's allowed one it is not.
I have chosen not to have a fence on either property. Both are very scenic and have deer and other wildlife present. I appreciate nature and the openness. A fence would defeat the purpose.
However, fences are good if you have children, dogs,or need privacy. It's really a lifestyle preference.

Answer 5

There is two anwers to this, uh, question: One is to take the question and see how "fences" seperate people. Being seperated is not good. The other way to answer this is with another question: what?