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Do Fences Make Good Neighbors

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Fences Make Good Neighbors If a fence is between two houses, it is usually there to help keep the peace and to aid in keeping different peoples’ lives separate, usually resulting in two happy, ordinary lives. As Robert Frost says in “Mending Wall”, “Good fences make good neighbors.”(27), which implies exactly what it’s saying, a fence between two people will keep them in good terms. Although it talks about fences between neighbors, it can go into a further context, such as a mental barrier between two friends or a wall between nations. The reason a barrier or wall between two people is good for them is because it helps keep conflicting ideas and beliefs separate and makes lives easier. Fences do make good neighbors because of different outcomes it can help achieve. A mental barrier between two people is healthy in any type of relationship for various reasons. In Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” he says, “We keep the wall between us as we go / To each the boulders that have fallen to each” (15-16). It may be that the first line gives the thought that wherever two people go, there will always be a wall between them, keeping each other’s ideas separate, but keeping them, as people, together. “Boulders” may symbolize heavy events that have happened to a pair that caused the wall between them to strengthen and help them achieve greater things further in life. The poem also reads, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out,” (33-34). This can symbolically represent the struggle that people often face when they do not know what problems persist between themselves and another person. It is possible for someone to just put up a wall between them and someone else, while not knowing what the wall is for. They need to find figure out themselves that a wall between them is a good thing, if they keep it in good condition. A duo of humans may always have something between them, but this something is what makes them different from each other and may as well be the reason why they have a relation to each other. A physical barrier between two nations can help those nations bring peace and prosperity if they try and try again. An article reads, “The Qin’s first emperor, Shi Huangdi (259–210 BCE), began a major building campaign to build a wall that could protect China’s northern frontier a year after establishing the dynasty. The hope was that the wall would deter raids from horse-mounted nomads in the north” (World History in Context). In this example, Emperor Shi Huangdi simply wanted to help keep his own people safe and keep two rival nations separated. To do this, he ordered the construction of the Great Wall of China, which acted as a barrier repelling rival forces and keeping his own nation under his guard. The same article of the Great Wall of China says, “Ming realized that open battle was too risky. Construction of the Great Wall resumed in earnest” (World History in Context). The Ming thought it was okay to halt construction of the great wall, but soon fell into a battle that made the wall between them and their opponents absolutely necessary in order to gain an advantage. Therefore, the Ming decided it best to continue construction of the wall as it would help end the rivalry and violence between the empires. Many walls have been placed between nations in an effort to help enforce rules that make the lives of both peoples’ better. There are many different types of situations that can benefit when there is an obstruction between two people or places, whether it is mental or physical. Those obstructions are what can be the difference between a friendship or an utter rivalry. They help us see that no two people are alike, therefore we must find a way to help keep our differences different, and that is by placing barriers.

Bibliography
Frost, Robert. “Mending Wall” North of Boston. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1915. Print
"The Ming Dynasty Begins Its Construction of the Great Wall of China: 1370s." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 2: Asia and Oceania. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2013. World History in Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.

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