The need for Human Connections in a Community

 The readings for today were very interesting and referred a lot to the relationships we hold with each other. The first reading that I looked at for today was Edith Wharton's "Roman Forever". It was a story of two long time friends named Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade, who each were widowed and left with two daughters. I would characterize the relationship between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade as one that is seemingly solid and loving on the outside but they each have their own opinions and hidden secrets about one another that have been kept quiet because they both really cherish the relationship they have. You can see throughout the story how they each give hints to a relationship that has undiscovered qualities within it. In part two Wharton stated, "Like many intimate friends, the two ladies had never before had occasion to be silent together, and Mrs. Ansley was slightly embarrassed by what seemed, after so many years, a new stage in their intimacy, and one with which she did not yet know how to deal". This suggests that throughout the course of their relationship they were still discovering different aspects of their relationship. I think that the ending of the story signaled an end to such a long friendship because of how serious the confession of Mrs. Ansley was. After having her best friend trick her into thinking that a man wrote her a letter, you would assume that Mrs. Ansley got the short end of the stick but she ended up having a daughter by her best friend's husband. Mrs. Ansley stated, "Well—because I didn't have to wait that night...I had Barbara". This shows that not only did Mrs. Slade jeopardize her relationship with Mrs. Ansley so long ago, but she also put the nail in her own coffin by not thinking the joke through. Mrs. Slade is the one who lost out on her husband, her children, and her friend. The end of that relationship was her fault.

In Elizabeth Bishop's poem "One Art", there are clues that she isn't taking the loss of "you" as easy as she claims because of her hesitation and joking nature. She stated, "--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture / I love)...though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster" (16,19).the dashes at the beginning of line 16 and her insert of thought where she says "write it!" are signs that she is hesitating and having a hard time of stating what she said. The progression of the poem lets us know that the "you" she is talking about was someone special in that she reflects on losing frivolous things and justifies her loss as nothing of a serious mater but as the poem evolves she starts to reflect on more serious things that she has lost and admits how much she misses them. She stated, " I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,/ some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. / I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster" (13-15).She is arranging the poem to go from a lighthearted tone to a very serious one.

Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall" was extremely hard for me to fully understand. I believe that the thing that "doesn't love the wall" is nature itself. This is suggested in the poem when Frost stated, "That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, / And spills the upper boulders in the sun" (2-3). In my opinion the wall symbolizes individuality in a sense. I think that the wall keeps coming down because as the relationship between the two farmers develop and take form, it must pull from each of their tendencies and characteristics to make a thriving relationship, so the wall crumbles more and more as their relationship becomes closer. The neighbors keep constructing the wall because I think that they are afraid of losing their identity and their individuality as two different farmers. The poem stated, "He is all pine and I am apple orchard. / My apple trees will never get across / And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him" (23-25).This suggests that they want to keep their property and farming separate from each other and the only way to do that is by having a wall. I also think that the wall gives them an excuse to keep a relationship between them, so they almost look forward to rebuilding the wall as a way to rekindle their relationship. I think that in this poem good fences do make good neighbors because it serves as a mediator between a relationship with two people and also protects them from losing their individuality.

One connection I had was with the story "Roman Forever". It was interesting to me how the author came up with a story that was so powerful and subtly dramatic in a sense. It reminded me of soap operas and how they are always revealing these big dramatic hidden secrets to each other. I'm sure that during the author's time there was infidelity going on, but the way in which she wrote the story shows how the style of writing books and scripts have been influenced.

What does Frost mean in the poem when he says, "We have to use a spell to make them balance:/ Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"?

The Need for Communities to Stand Up for What is Right

Both of the readings for today gave strong insight into what a community should be, as well as what it takes for a community to thrive. In reading Winthrop's " A model for Christianity" one major thing stood out to me that was a little different from Thoreau's work.

In "A model for Christianity", Winthrop's main notion of a stable and thriving community is one that is conducted and governed under God's divine purpose for the community. He thought that it should be a Christian community and that its inhabitants should contribute to the idea of selflessness. He felt like everyone had a right to do as they so pleased as long as they abide by the laws of government.Winthrop also felt if God's purpose wasn't implemented in the community and people began to disobey not only the laws of government as well as the plan of Christ, then they would be punished with God's wrath and the community would fail to flourish.He stated, "The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world". This suggests that Winthrop believes that God shall play an important role in New England's fate and he is giving warning that they must all abide by this plan.

In "Civil Disobedience", Thoreau's idea of community was very different from Winthrop. He believed that government should not play a big role in people's lives when he stated in his opening paragraph, ""That government is best which governs not at all". In my opinion he felt as though government did not help to strengthen the sense of community but only weaken it. He doesn't disagree with all aspects of government as seen when he states, "Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, we must all allow". I think that Thoreau's main claim was that government should not be at the forefront of society's endeavors especially one that supports slavery which was one of biggest oppositions to the government. He believes that we should be able to think and do for ourselves without having the confinement of rules and laws or having to agree with a government that contradicts our morals.

It was obvious that Winthrop's main pull on having a stable community was having God's plan implemented in its structure whereas Thoreau's main point that the people should be put first in a community. The main similarity I saw between these two people was that they both wanted America to be a place of love and unity. Above all, they both wanted the foundation of America to be that f solid beliefs in which the individual has contributed. Although they gave different reasons and explanations of how one should go about achieving this, they both wanted the same for America in the end. This is proven when Winthrop stated, "We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body". He is making the claim that through everything that a society must face, they must do it in a way of unity. Thoreau takes on a similar claim when he stated, "I please myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor". This suggests that Thoreau also longs for unity and equality that will solidify his idea of a strong community and an even stronger America.

One connection I had with today's reading was with Thoreau's idea of civil disobedience and the ideas of Ginsberg. They both seem to have an idea of not conforming and acting out on one's free will. They are not too impressed with government and both seem to prefer a society that is ran on individual choices rather than laws.

In Winthrop's thesis he speaks highly of God ans his plan that he has set out for the people. Do you think his view on slavery could have been similar to that of Thoreau's being that he had such a high respect for God and the government?