The Importance Of Traditions In 'Mending Wall'

Traditions, we all have them, whether it be what holidays we celebrate or something said by our ancestors that our families have been following for generations. Yes, these traditions can unify families, but when it comes to friends, and in some cases, enemies, traditions can divide people, also for generations. This can be seen in the short story “The Interlopers”, by Saki, when one character, Ulrich’s, tradition of winning over the land of Gradwitz from illegal possession of Georg’s family causes a new tradition of dividing both families and causing generations of hate. This can also be seen in the poem “Mending Wall”, by Frost, when one character and his neighbor are divided by a wall because of his neighbor’s tradition, and he doesn’t want

The poem “Mending Wall” begins by the narrator telling is that there is a wall that is constantly being taken down by nature, and the narrator and his neighbor have to keep re-building it. But as the poem progresses, the narrator becomes unsure with himself, and begins to say that there is a wall “There where it is we do not need the wall” (23). He starts to question why a wall is there, knowing that he can never get across it to his neighbor. As the poem keeps progressing, he learns that the wall is there because of his neighbors tradition from his father, and he ends up saying “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall that wants it down (35), and he is talking about himself. In the progression of this poem, we see the narrator’s character change from someone who is persistent to someone who has hatred for what he is doing. He becomes more aware, having an epiphany, learning that there is truly no need for a wall, and it is only there because his neighbor is following his father’s tradition that requires him to keep the wall up. Through this characterization, we see that by only one side having hatred for the other, it can cause a division between them, because one person disagrees with the other. Through this poem, we see many character changes amongst the narrator, but one character that stays the same

The truth is that the ideas that are portrayed by the writers can and are happening in the real world. While reading “The Interlopers” by Saki, we see that the character’s tradition of hate for each other is caused over an argument about a piece of land. In our world, we see this, people doing everything in their power to get what they want and to keep it from the other person, and this hate can run forever, becoming a tradition. The fact is, because of this hate, people who may have once been friends are now enemies, divided until they decide to stop the fighting. And in “Mending Wall” by Frost, we can also see that everyone has ideas and traditions, and when two different people have different ideas, a conflict appears, and later, a division. But just like in “Mending Wall”, we can see that people all around the world have different ideas. And yes, sometimes people will have different ideas, and then the division appears. But sometimes this division is caused by a tradition that someone will not let go of, not because both sides hate each other. But because of this difference of ideas, they will always be divided until one person decides to end this