Frost's "Mending Wall"
This seasonal event prompts the two neighbors to walk the line and repair the stone wall.
What is Spring?
he specific setting where Toni Morrison first encounters the enigmatic older woman.
What is by the river / near her fishing spot?
Refusing to talk to your neighbor unless there's a literal wall built between your yards.
What is a Red Flag (The neighbor in Mending Wall)?
Creating a whole detailed life story for a stranger you saw once on public transit before they get off at the next stop.
what is delusion / manifestation
In Mean Girls, the literal physical barrier that instantly ends the argument between Regina George and Cady in front of the school.
What is a school bus?
The natural force that damages the wall during the winter, causing boulders to spill in the sun.
What is frozen-ground-swell / frost?
The primary activity the stranger was doing when Morrison first observed her.
What is fishing?
Creating a whole, detailed life story for a random person you saw fishing without ever saying "hello."
What is a Red Flag (Morrison's narrative projection in Strangers)?
Putting on headphones with no music playing just so people won't talk to you in public.
What is building an artificial boundary?
The 2022 Oscars incident where a live stage boundary was breached after a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
What is Will Smith slapping Chris Rock?
The specific types of trees owned by the speaker and his neighbor, respectively.
What are apple trees and pines?
The emotion Morrison feels when she realizes the fisherwoman has vanished and left the area.
What is feeling cheated, betrayed, or disappointed?
Blaming invisible "elves" for why your stone wall keeps breaking down every spring.
What is Just Human / Playful Deflection (The speaker's playful joke in Mending Wall)?
Sticking strictly to small talk and weather chatter because actually opening up to someone feels uncomfortable.
What is avoiding vulnerability / maintaining distance?
The 2009 MTV VMAs moment where Kanye West projected his own opinion onto Taylor Swift's acceptance speech by jumping on stage.
What is "Imma let you finish"?
The neighbor’s repeated phrase, passed down from his father, regarding property lines.
What is "Good fences make good neighbors"?
According to Morrison, we construct elaborate narratives about strangers based on limited visual information due to this human desire.
What is the desire to control, classify, or "own" the Other?
Feeling deeply betrayed and "cheated" when a stranger simply moves away from her fishing spot.
What is a Red Flag (Morrison realizing her own entitlement to the stranger's existence)?
Yay! Free Points
Congrats.
The 2015 Miss Universe moment where Steve Harvey created a false reality for Miss Colombia before taking the crown back seconds later.
What is announcing the wrong winner?
The speaker humorously claims this invisible force or entity might be destroying the wall, though he wants his neighbor to say it himself.
What is Elves?
Morrison ultimately concludes that "strangers" are not truly foreign entities, but rather versions of this.
What are versions of ourselves (or unacknowledged parts of ourselves)?
Assuming that anyone outside your social group is a threat to your stability and peace of mind.
What is a Red Flag (The underlying fear of "The Other" in both texts)?
Yay Free Points!!
congrats.
The iconic 2011 Keeping Up with the Kardashians moment where Kim Kardashian lost a diamond earring in the ocean and was immediately hit with a reality check by Kourtney.
What is "Kim, there's people that are dying"?