Tranditions#2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tranditions#2 - Essay Example There is a danger side of tradition which does not build people but rather make them miserable. For example, fraternity practices hazing which can lead to death; polygamy causes division and rivalry among wives and half-siblings and political power caused wars throughout the history of civilization. This paper entails two literary works namely, â€Å"Mending Walls,† by Robert Frost and â€Å"The Lottery† by Shirley Jackson. The two works suggest that tradition should not simply be practiced and passed to the next generation. Rather, traditions should be well scrutinized whether they are helpful and relevant to the present and the culture. In â€Å"Mending Walls,† the notion that â€Å"good fences make good neighbors,† as indicated by Frost (222), is the belief that makes the characters build the walls every spring. The practice seems to be harmless but instead, has a purpose as the neighbor implies. However, the fence seems irrelevant to the characters time and place because there is nothing to be walled in or walled out. The narrator hates building the wall but his neighbor insists that â€Å"good fences make good neighbors† (Frost, 222) so they both have to build the wall. However, the narrator cannot make any sense of building the wall every year because they do not have any cows to keep away from each other’s yard. Obviously, the neighbors are not farmers who would have needed to build fences in order to keep their animals from messing with their neighbor’s yard. Therefore, unlike the neighbor, the narrator questions the tradition that has been passed on to them. If they continu e with their practice, they might pass the insensible tradition to their children without them questioning it. Thus, in exasperation, the narrator can only pose a challenge to question the importance of what has been established as a tradition. In essence, it appears that the tradition in important in creating good neighbors. This tradition strengthens the people staying in