June 2, 2011 Response

     Without the bonds and personal connections among our friends and families, life would appear meaningless. Human interactions are depicted in both positive and negative ways throughout Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever,” Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall,” and Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art.”  

     Throughout the story, “Roman Fever,” two women, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, grew up together as perceptibly “best friends.” However, their relationship was determined by a façade from both parties. They constantly played off their friendship as close and perfect, referencing how little moments “bring back the past all too acutely” and remind them of cherishing times together. The entire story displays both Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley utilizing “indefinable” tone of voices with one another, as their thoughts consistently oppose their edited verbal messages. Each woman secretly felt sorry for the other because they each had something to hide. The entire friendship was based off of lies and secrets, since “these two ladies visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope.” At the end, however, all their secrets unravel when Mrs. Slade decides to reveal her own secret about forging a letter from her husband to Mrs. Ansley about their secret love connection. At this moment, Mrs. Slade feels superior to Mrs. Ansley, as she thinks she got away with the menacing joke when she laughs, “girls are ferocious sometimes, you know. Girls in love especially.” Well, she certainly was right when Mrs. Ansley spun the entire story around. Mrs. Slade had no idea that her husband and Mrs. Ansley actually got together that night, and so goes the explanation of Mrs. Ansley’s daughter! Now, the tables have turned and Mrs. Ansley has established the “upper hand” in their little argument. The future of their friendship is clearly ruined, but it wasn’t much of a friendship to begin with! Mrs. Slade spent years thinking she was so clever for tricking her best friend, yet Mrs. Ansley had worse secrets of her own! I enjoyed this story and thought the ending was hysterical. I wasn’t expecting that at all!

     “One Art” depicts a series of losing connections with valuable people, places, and things. As the poem goes on, the lost objects become increasingly important to the character. She starts saying that she can “accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent” and has learned to shrug off such a small incident. However, the poem then goes from losing door keys to losing houses, and the character “practices losing farther, faster.” At this moment, I felt the character losing control and getting overwhelmed with the loss of connections happening around her. By the time we get to the final stanza, we expect the lost “item” to be very important. Bishop writes, “even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love),” indicating that she is still hung up on the fact that she has lost someone she cares deeply about. She is not ready to accept her loss. The statement in parenthesis indicate how she still reminisces about the person and longs for a taste of them and their mannerisms.  

     Finally, Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” represents human relationships through a metaphor of a mending wall between neighbors. Robert Frost writes, “And on a day we meet to walk the line, And set the wall between us once again.” This was one of my favorite lines because it truly portrays the façade people have and the walls they keep up to protect themselves, their feelings, and their reputations. He describes the masked banter as “just another kind of out-door game,” indicating that people find it easy and second nature to lie and keep to themselves. Frost then states, “my apple trees will never get across,” which I took to mean that his secrets will never be known by his neighbor because of this metaphorical wall between them. However, then Frost questions this “wall” and why it is beneficial to society and relationships. He asks, “Why do they make good neighbours? Isn’t it where there are cows?” I think Frost is mocking people who lie and hold back their feelings by equating them to cows. Therefore, Frost is giving this outer façade in society (what the wall symbolizes) a negative connotation. Therefore, fences do not necessarily make good neighbors. I think they constantly have to “reconstruct” this wall because every once in a while a secret or story will slip to an outside source in society, and the secrets need time to accumulate again. I was really confused as to who makes a “good neighbor,” because Frost was very vague about this subject. I think he just means people who are honest and straightforward. However, why does he mention “Elves?” Why does he capitalize “Elves?” Did anyone have an idea why Frost depicts “elves” as good neighbors?
     These selections were a great series to end on. It made me think about different relationships and friendships I have acquired throughout the years. With most of my friends, I find it really easy to be straightforward and honest. We are all 100% open to each other. However, with others, I constantly feel like they’re holding something back and afraid to let their guard down, and it can be even awkward at times to converse with people who are so protective of their lives. I’m sure everyone has a good reason for putting their guard up, but I always feel uncomfortable trusting people like that.