These works provide us with the insight into the good and the bad of separation and of boundaries, whether it is physical or just theoretical separation. In Robert Frost’s “The Mending Wall” we see the literal separation between land and also the separation because of the differences of the characters. Jane Jacobs excerpt from Death and Life of Great American Cities is also a depiction of the problem with physical boarders and how these separations are detrimental to the functioning of the city. Yusef Komunyakaa and Judith Ortiz Cofer offer a different perspective on separation, one that is less literal and more abstract than actual physical boarders.
In “The Mending Wall” Robert Frost’s main point is that the boundaries are needed to keep peace. He emphasizes his point with the repetition of “Good fences make good neighbors” (lines 27 and 45). This good relationship is possible because each one respects the other’s property and thus they don’t cross each other’s line and by doing so, no problems arise. Here we see the example of how physical boundaries, and physical separation is beneficial.
Jane Jacob’s on the other hand sees a serious problem with the way cities are designed and the way they utilize the boundaries between two different areas. She constantly refers to the boarders as “vacuums” that take away action, take away people from those areas causing a dead spot in the city. This reminded me of Father Linnane’s address to us in the beginning of the year about how he didn’t want Loyola to end when the city began, he wanted us to go out and interact with the city and integrate into it, rather than be a separate entity. I think this was one of Jacob’s main points as well, when there are boundaries that people are afraid to cross, no one does, and then the city is negatively affected.
Not only are there physical boundaries but also abstract boundaries that separate ideas. This idea of separation between ideas is seen in Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” and Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “The Game.” When Komunyakaa states, “…we knew we were/Beautiful & dangerous” (line 39-40), this displays the narrators feeling of superiority over everyone else, and by thinking this creating a division between themselves, the superior and everyone else, the inferior. Cofer on the other hand emphasizes the differences between reality and fantasy and that sometimes this boundary needed to be crosses in order to achieve happiness. Here the narrator talks how she plays family with her less than normal friend, emphasizing the fact that she can cross the line of reality and fantasy to create happiness for her friend that is separated from her by her handicap, and by crossing the line the narrator destroys the separation between normal and abnormal and perfect and imperfect, and all is equal.