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Conflicts In Robert Frost's 'Home Burial'

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Coping with a loss of a loved one scars a person more deeply than most physical wounds. There are those who keep their emotions under control by acclimatizing to their situation, and others who hide their grief and sadness. These two polar opposite sides often conflict with each other, which leads to conflicts of its own. Robert Frost’s poem, “Home Burial” exemplifies person against nature, person against self, and a person against person conflicts while narrating an emotional struggle between two people handling grief in their own way. “Home Burial” revolves around a husband and wife whose child had recently died some time ago, something they both had coped with differently once their firstborn was buried. This later leads to another conflict…show more content…
Since her son’s death, Amy had been containing her emotions as much as possible trying to come into terms with her child’s passing. She often spent her days visiting friends and seeking their comfort to keep her mind away from her son. Amy eventually broke down in rage in front of her husband during their confrontation exclaiming, “Friends make pretense of following to the grave, but before one is in it, their minds are turned and making the best of their way back to life and living people and things they understand. But the world’s evil. I won’t have grief so if I can change it. Oh, I won’t, I won’t!” (102-107). Amy was conflicted emotionally by her son’s death that she attempted to seek an escape of her thoughts by visiting others. By doing so, she tried to forget her child’s death and tried to move on with her life like her husband. Amy would then seek out the best of her life to avoid thinking about the grave and her own demise. However, she failed as soon as her husband confronted her about staring outside the window at their child’s grave. Amy became violent and berated her husband about how he had been acting and how nonchalant he was after their son died. She believed that if she could recover from the grief of her son’s death, she would choose not to instead. Amy’s behavior shows that she is…show more content…
While Amy was grieving over her son’s death and struggles to collect herself, her husband composed himself easily. When he tried to console Amy, she became infuriated at him for being calm after their son had died, as if he did not care about his existence. The two entered a heated argument, with the husband persuading his wife to not leave the conversation and to confront her problem. When Amy explains why she was so angry with her husband, she exclaimed, “‘Three foggy mornings and one rainy day will rot the best birch fence a man can build.’ Think of it, talk like that at such a time! What had how long it takes a birch to rot To do with what was in the darkened parlor? You couldn’t care!” (92-97). Amy’s words were very crucial to their argument because it explained how the conflict between the two of them started; the husband making idle talk with her as if he was a different person while burying their child. The husband grew accustomed to his son’s death and argued with his wife about why he should not have to talk about his own son in front her. However, the wife continued to grieve over her son’s death and bickered with her husband about his calmness at their son’s passing, as if it did not involve or affect him. Their differences in beliefs towards mourning caused increasing conflict with each other that
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