Mending Wall - Robert Frost

Answers to Textual Questions on Page No: 34

1. Does the wall between the neighbour’s farms serve a practical purpose? Support your view with evidence from the poem?

No. The wall between the neighbour’s farms doesn’t serve any practical purpose.

Here are the evidences from the poem: 1. The author tells us that, ‘his apple trees cannot go to his neighbour’s farm and the neighbour’s pine trees cannot come to his farm. 2. There is nothing to wall in or out. 3. There are no cows.

2. How do the hunters damage the wall?

Hunters hunt for rabbits with the help of their dogs. They damage the wall while they are chasing the rabbits accompanied by their dogs.

3. How would you describe the poet and his tone?

The poet doesn’t want the wall between him and his neighbor. He is thoughtful and sad. He gets angry and he doesn’t like boundaries between neighbors as boundaries do not serve any practical purpose. He rebels against the customs but finally, he accepts the reality and helps in mending the wall.

4. What does the neighbour mean by ‘good fences make good neighbours’? Do you agree? In a relationship, what does a wall stand for?

The neighbour means that good neighbours always mind their own business and do not involve in their neighbours’ affairs. When we have definite boundaries like walls, we can keep up our individuality and privacy.  We can have nice communication when we meet our neighbours at the time of repairing the wall.

A wall in a relationship means that something is not nice between people. There is a hurdle between them which is preventing pleasant communication.

5. What does the wall represent for each neighbour? Pick out evidence from the text to support your analysis?

The author thinks of mending wall is just ‘an outdoor game’. He feels that the wall is an unnecessary barrier between the neighbours.

His neighbour thinks that the wall is important because it protects his privacy and individuality. He believes what his father told him, ‘good fences make good neighbours’.