Weekly Response 2 Essay

Submitted By bradroepke
Words: 419
Pages: 2

Weekly Response 5 For my fifth weekly analysis, I will be covering Robert Frost’s poem “Out Out.” This poem is a relatively dark poem, and it centers on a boy who is working with a buzz saw. The boy works extremely long hours and is usually not given a break. The boy has been working all day, and the saw cuts his hand as his sister is calling him for dinner. A doctor arrives and the boy shouts, “don’t let him cut off my hand, sister!” The doctor does not cut off his hand, but the damage has already been done. The doctor checks the boy’s pulse and receives nothing. Once the people realize the boy is dead and there is nothing left to be done, they go on with their work like usual. The boy in the poem is an extremely hard worker it appears, and he had not been given a break the day of the accident. The speaker blames the older men for not rewarding the boy with a break despite his hard work. The buzz saw is also blamed for the accident, and it is described like a living person, buzzing and snarling while it carries out its work. Also, it is described as “leaping” out of the boy’s hand when his sister calls him for dinner, as if the saw knew what dinner meant. I also found it interesting that the poem was written in 1916 during the time of World War 1, and the boy’s hard work could be representing the struggles young men went through during the time of the war. They often were forced to give up their childhood and work long hours to help support their country in the war.