Traditions have always been part of society; they can be seen in many situations. Some can be national such as Thanksgiving in the United States or The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Traditions are powerful as they define how society should work. In addition, if someone does not follow them, he or she is frowned upon. In the poem “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost, the farmers’ tradition of repairing the fence is followed every year without stopping for a moment to think about why. Similarly, in the poem “The Jailer” by Sylvia Plath, the importance of staying in a traditional marriage is presented. In Frost’s “Mending Wall” and in Plath’s “The Jailer” traditions are portrayed, but in one situation the narrator wants to break away from tradition and in the other, the narrator wants to remain in it. “Mending Wall,” tells the story of two farmers with a fence that keeps their farms separated. Every year, the wall falls and needs to be fixed in the spring. The narrator of the story lets the neighbor know that the time has come to fix the wall once again. However, the narrator begins to realize there is no need for a wall and tells his neighbor about his thoughts, but the neighbor, who…show more content… She expresses these feelings when she says “What would the light, / Do without eyes to knife, what would he, / Do, do, do without me? (lines 43-45). Here, the light harming the eyes of someone looking straightly at it is a representation of a toxic relationship, but also the representation of a duo that can’t be separated. The light will always harm the eyes. It’s the law of nature and it can’t be broken. The narrator feels she must stay with her partner because breaking this tradition it’s impossible. After all, that’s how things always have been; it’s the law of nature. Men and women have always been the “perfect” duo and she wants to be part of that
