Mending Wall Isolation

A wall between neighbors. A stranger offering up their seat for a child. People whizzing by a car broken down on the side of the highway. These all seem like isolated incidents but when put in context of works of literature they all share a common theme: people’s interaction with others. All three of these cases demonstrate how both a person’s upbringing and current surroundings can shape their interactions with others. Robert Frost address the ideas of isolation and upbringing in his poem, “Mending Wall.” The poem is about a wall that separates neighboring fields. The first speaker, most likely Frost himself, questions the need for a wall since neither man owns cows. There where it is we do not need the wall: He is

Current surroundings also play a huge role in how someone responds to certain situations. “When Will People Help in a Crisis” is an essay by John Darley and Bibb Latane that dives into the psychological aspects of why people in a group situation are less likely to respond when presented with a crisis. The authors claim that for a bystander to intervene he must: “notice that something is happening; interpret that event as an emergency; and decide that he has personal responsibility for invention.” (p 394) First, the bystander has to recognize that something is happening. When placed in group situation people are less likely to be aware of their surrounding then when they are alone. This is especially true in America’s individualistic society where people are conditioned to keep to themselves instead of focusing on what is going on around them. This mentality can cause them to miss signs of danger such as smoke filling a room. Once a bystander recognizes a problem, he then has to interrupt that problem as an emergency. Since emergency are not always clearly labels, bystander often base their reaction by the reactions of those around them. If everyone else is clam and collected, a individual is likely to remain composed. The authors also claim that “Even if a person defines an event as an emergency, the presence of other bystanders may still make him less likely to intervene. He feels that his responsibly is diffused and diluted.” (396) Because there are other people around, he assumes that someone else will help and therefore it is not his responsibility to intervene. One example they use to illustrate this idea is that of a broken down car. “If your car breaks down on a busy highway, hundred of drivers whiz by without anyone stopping to help - but if you are stuck on nearly deserted country road, whoever passes first is likely to stop.” (396) This essay shows that it is not only a