"The Need for Human Connections to Sustain a Community"

RESPONSES

  The first work I read for today's (LAST!!) blog posting was the poem, One Art, by Elizabeth Bishop. Her poem is about loss. She talks about losing different things, and as the poem progresses the magnitude of the losses increase as well. The last thing lost must have been something special because this particular loss is a disaster. She begins the poem, speaking of the loss of meaningless things. She is sarcastic in the last stanza, and I think this lends to the gravity of the last loss.

  The second poem I read was by Robert Frost, Mending Wall. In the poem the speaker questions why he and his neighbor must always rebuild the dividing wall between them. It seems to me that the speaker is not fond of the wall, but helps rebuild it every year to appease his neighbor. One thing that touched me about the poem was the line: "To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls". This line signified to me that the wall dividing the neighbors is not natural. Nature seems to destroy the wall every year, and the men build it again. I think this symbolically says that walls or barriers we create between ourselves and others are not natural. We were not created to ignore one another and be anti social. This is why nature destroys the wall. I think that Frost is trying to say the "something" that doesn't love walls is nature: human nature. True human nature needs community and relations with their neighbors to survive and thrive.

  The last work I read today was the short story, "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton. The two mothers, Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley, are visiting Rome with their two daughters. Coincidentally, they met in Rome when they were younger and have been "friends" since their younger years. This story centers around them reminiscing about their younger days, and it seems to me that there is some type of animosity between the two ladies. Mrs. Slade held resentment towards Mrs. Ansley over her husband. The climax of the story is reached when Mrs. Ansley reveals that Barbara is not her husband's child but Mrs. Slade's husband. I really liked this ending, and it kept me on my toes until the end.

QUESTIONS

1. What do you think happened after Mrs. Ansley revealed her secret?
2. Why does the main character in Frost's poem continue to build the wall with his neighbor even though he disagrees with it?

CONNECTIONS

• The short story, "Roman Fever" seemed like a plot of a soap opera to me. Where do you think the inspiration of this story came from?

"The Need for Communities to Stand Up for What is Right"

RESPONSES

  The first text I read for today's blog posting was A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop. This text was about love and its powers. I think this was a sermon to his community. He talks about the power of God, and how everything happens for a reason. Winthrop tells his congregation to love each other because it is what the Bible says to do. He uses a question and answer section in his sermon to get his point across about different things the community may deal with. I agree with Winthrop. Treating people kind and with love is the best way to go about things. Winthrop uses a biblical foundation to preach about how to be a strong community.

  The next text was by Henry David Thoreau, Resistance to Civil Government. This was about Thoreau's idea that individuals should value their conscience and fairness over the law. In this text he criticizes government and how it has sometimes been oppressive to the people (slavery and wars). I believe that Thoreau did not really like government at all, and felt that society would be better if people just went off of their morals and beliefs of what is right versus always doing what the law says to do. Thoreau disagreed with government so much, that he refused to pay taxes, another measure he felt was oppressive to the people. He ended up spending the night in jail over this. He felt that in both slavery and specifically the Mexican-American War, the government over stepped its boundaries and was aggressive towards the people.  He did not feel that the government had any real legal reason to justify slavery of the Mexican American War. He does not believe in a majority, because the majority is not always right. Thoreau thinks that other Americans should follow his example and just disassociate from government too. 

  Thoreau and Winthrop believe people should follow their morals and always do what is right.  The difference is their reasoning; Winthrop uses the Bible, and Thoreau uses his disapproval of government. 

QUESTIONS

1. Does Thoreau believe that the government will change if the people do? 

CONNECTIONS

• Every time there is a war, some sector of the population disagrees. Do you think Thoreau disagreed with war altogether or the reasons the government decides to pursue it?