Class Struggle in Robert Frost's Poem Out, Out

1673 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social and economical class and society

Class Struggle in Robert Frost's Poem Out, Out-

Robert Frost's poem "Out, Out-" is developed around a clear and unquestionable moment: a horrifying accident in which a young boy is mutilated by a buzz saw. Frost's underlying message, however, isn't nearly as straightforward. As the poem develops, two clear levels of interpretation seem to surface. While on the basic level the poem would seem to be a simple metaphor for man's struggles with nature, a more careful analysis suggests a level of interpretation far more relevant to humanity as a whole.

On the most basic level, Frost's "Out, Out-" begins by establishing the primary character - the dominant voice - in the form of a buzz saw. When the narrator writes that "The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard / And made dust and dropped stove length sticks of wood," he is presenting the saw as an individual rather than as a tool being used by a man. In essence, the narrator portrays the buzz saw as a wholly independent and living character; the harshness and destructive characteristics of a saw, then, can undoubtedly be associated with similar qualities in mankind. The harsh buzz saw is then immediately contrasted against an otherwise serene and natural landscape: "And from there those that lifted eyes could count / Five mountain ranges one behind the other / Under the sunset far into Vermont." Thus, the narrator has immediately established a conflict between the natural environment and the harsh destructive nature of man as represented by the buzz saw.

The initial conflict between man's destructive qualities and the beauty of the natural environment is expanded upon greatly as the poem develops. The narrator introduces another character, a young boy, whose simple and...

... middle of paper ...

...truggle between the innocent child and the forces that eventually lead to his destruction is quite clearly an embodiment of the general struggle within the economy between those in power and those forced to submit. Those who dominate, both in the poem and in Frost's industrial society, make rabid demands upon their inferiors while remaining apathetic to their needs. The faceless mass that represents this class in Frost's poem demands work the child is unfit to give and as a result thoughtlessly destroys him. Frost, by telling this harsh and macabre tale, is making a clear criticism of the forces at work in his economy, including those who dominate, and are thus far too apathetic to change, and their servants, who are far too powerless to force a change.

Works Cited:

Frost, Robert. ?Out, Out?? and ?Acquainted with the Night.? Language of Literature. 821-24.

Show More
Related

  • Why Japan Was Able to Become a Strong World Power Again

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    Japan, a once prosperous country, was one of the leading countries in technological, economical and social status until the early 1600s, becomes the victim of many forced, unequal trades by western countries, similar to the other, advanced non-western empires such as China and the Ottoman Empire. After man attempted reforms by the shogun’s chief advisor, Mizuno Tadakuni, had failed, led to the downfall of his reign in office. In 1844, western lands, Britain, France and the United States of America, pushed for Japan to establish political and economical trade relations with other countries. This persistence continued until 1854, when a commodore from the United States of America, Mathew Perry, forcefully makes Japan agree to the Kanawaga treaty,...

    Read More

  • Transformation of Japan

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1853 during the Tokugawa shogunate, Matthew Perry, an American commodore, arrived with an army at Edo Bay to coerce the Japanese government to allow the Americans to trade. In 1856, Japan signed a treaty opening two ports to the United States trade. Soon, other nations such as Britain, Russia, and Holland won similar rights. The opening of Japan to the West created opposition among its people and in the 1860s political crisis came into the open. In 1866, civil war broke out. The samurai armed with the surplus of weapons from the American Civil War defeated the shogunate force. The civil war ended, when the victorious reform group proclaimed Mutsuhito, often called the “Meiji” meaning enlightened one, emperor.

    Read More

  • The Deeper Meaning of The Road Not Taken, Fire and Ice, and Birches, by Robert Frost

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words,” Robert Frost once said. As is made fairly obvious by this quote, Frost was an adroit thinker. It seems like he spent much of his life thinking about the little things. He often pondered the meaning and symbolism of things he found in nature. Many readers find Robert Frost’s poems to be straightforward, yet his work contains deeper layers of complexity beneath the surface. His poems are not what they seem to be at first glance. These deeper layers of complexity can be clearly seen in his poems “The Road Not Taken”, “Fire and Ice”, and “Birches”.

    Read More

  • Making of Modern Japan

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... rights with the westerns. Japan has been extremely productive throughout planning a good commercial, capitalist state in western models. But any time Japan tried to employ the lessons mastered from Western European imperialism, the western countries responded adversely. In this way Japan's chief handicap had moved into the western dominated world late. Colonialism and the racist ideology were being entrenched throughout western countries permitting a good "upstart,” nonwhite region to get into the particular race for natural resources and other market segments as an equal. A lot of the uncertainty between the western and Japan stemmed coming from Japan's feeling associated with alienation in the western, which was using different standards in dealing with Western European places in comparison with how it would with a nation that has a rising Asian power like Japan.

    Read More

  • The Tragic Impermanence of Youth in Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost's poem addresses the tragic transitory nature of living things; from the moment of conception, we are ever-striding towards death. Frost offers no remedy for the universal illness of aging; no solution to the fact that the glory of youth lasts only a moment. He merely commits to writing a deliberation of what he understands to be a reality, however tragic. The affliction of dissatisfaction that Frost suffers from cannot be treated in any tangible way. Frost's response is to refuse to silently buckle to the seemingly sadistic ways of the world. He attacks the culprit of aging the only way one can attack the enigmatic forces of the universe, by naming it as the tragedy that it is.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Out, Out by Robert Frost

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Frost begins the poem by describing a young boy cutting some wood using a "buzz-saw." The setting is Vermont and the time is late afternoon. The sun is setting and the boy's sister calls he and the other workers to come for "Supper." As the boy hears its dinnertime, he gets excited and cuts his hand on accident. Immediately realizing that the doctor might amputate his hand, he asks his sister to make sure that it does not happen. By the time the doctor arrives, it is too late and the boy's hand is already lost. When the doctor gives him anaesthetic, he falls asleep and never wakes up again. The last sentence of the poem, "since they (the boys family and the doctor) were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" shows how although the boys death is tragic, people move on with their life in a way conveying the idea that people only care for themselves.

    Read More

  • The Effects of the Meiji Restorations

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    Because of the Meiji Restoration the Japanese society gained economic, military and political change and lost the chance to gain Religious and social equality. I chose this topic because the Japanese transformation from a backwards country into a modern day economic and military world power interested me because it was all done in 40 years. The Meiji restoration forced western civilizations to respect the new modern Japan.

    Read More

  • Poetry Analysis: The Road Not Taken, By Robert Frost

    1314 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” Robert Frost is one of the worlds most renowned and beloved American poets whose work was enthused through the use of American colloquial speech, he wrote poems about rural life that captivated everyone’s mind. Frost was born in San Francisco on the 26th of March 1874, at the tender age of eleven after his father’s death the family moved to New England. Some of his most important poems include: “The Road Not Taken”, “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”, and “Fire and Ice” are examples of ways Frost utilized nature to depict that he was indeed a contemplative human being. Frost employs the theme nature to determine his

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'Out, Out' By Robert Frost

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is an important personal experience to take into consideration, while deciphering the personification of the saw in this poem. One of the key concepts used in Frost’s poem is the personification of the buzz saw used by the young boy. Frost uses terms such as “snarled’ and “rattled to present a tone and mood of viciousness and danger when he describes the actions of the buzz saw. I believe that the use of the buzz saw in general could be the replica of the effects of Cholera, which eats away at the small intestines of an individual. Furthermore, there was no cure for Cholera in the 1900, so the terms “snarled” and “rattled”, could be a possible replica of how dangerous cholera was at the

    Read More

  • Literary Techniques Used In Robert Frost's Out, Out

    402 Words  | 1 Pages

    Frost personifies the saw to resemble how humans are being controlled by their tools. In the beginning of ‘Out, Out—’, the saw is depicted as a tool that aids the young boy’s work. The reader notices that the saw is frequently the one “to bear a load”, and makes it seem like it is taking over the boy’s task (Frost, 8). However, it is not until line fifteen that the saw constructs the characteristics of a double-edged sword. The author carefully phrases his sentence when he says, “the saw…leaped out at the boy’s hand” (Frost, 17). Instead of placing the boy as the subject, the author chooses the saw as the subject, making it seem responsible for the accident. Meanwhile, the boy has “given the hand” to the saw, which makes him look vulnerable

    Read More

  • Literary Devices In Out, Out

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “Out, Out” is written by Robert Frost. This poem is about a young man who is cutting firewood with a buzz saw in New England. The day is coming to an end, and the boy’s sister announces that it is time for dinner. Out of excitement, the boy accidentally cuts his hand with the saw. He begs his sister not to allow the doctor to amputate the hand but inwardly realizes that he has already lost too much blood to survive. The boy dies while under anesthesia. Everyone goes back to work and forget about the boy’s death quickly with no emotion. The ending of the poem explains that life continues on, and the others who are not dead must return to work. The two themes of this poem are child labor and time. The boy lost his childhood at such an

    Read More

  • The Abruptness Of Death In Frost's 'Out, Out'

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the last two lines of the poem, the family does nothing after the boy dies. They do not grieve and merely “turned to their affairs”. A little understated, but simple to understand why. To readers, it seems disbelieving because we imagine the mother and sister breaking down into violent sobs and begging for the boy to come back to life. We also imagine the father blaming himself for allowing his son to handle such a dangerous tool at that age. But if we think about it, all of those things are meaningless. There is nothing the family could have done to save their boy. Therefore, Frost is straightforward with the fact that the family promptly moves

    Read More

  • Aristotle and the Book of Nicomanchean Ethics

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Book II, Aristotle makes a distinction between two types of virtues; those which are considered ethical and those which are considered intellectual. Ethical virtues deal with actions of courage, generosity, and moderation. Intellectual virtues deal with wisdom and contemplation. Ethical virtues are created through habitual actions. Aristotle says that humans are not born with a natural capacity for virtue. He believes that education and cultivation as youth by one’s parents are pivotal in setting up humans’ ability in making virtuous acts habitual. He feels that humans have to perform virtuous actions as much as possible and through this humans can make a step in becoming virtuous. Aristotle also states that ethical virtues have to be attended by pleasure. He believes that humans cannot be pained when committing a virtuous action. If a human is pained by an action then it is not considered virtuous.

    Read More

  • The Metaphorical Nature of Harakiri

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    If one strips the story to its generalities rather than specifics, it is easy to relate this to World War II through the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent actions. Japan had relatively recently entered onto the world stage and faced issues that plagued other youthful nations. Japan required expansion to feed its growing populace. The easies...

    Read More

  • Contemporary Issues In Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Robert Frost once said, “Don 't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.” This quote can be seen as someone broken with such high defenses being loved by another who doesn’t understand the pain and tries to destroy all those defenses. This is exactly the kind of perception that Frost had, everything is dangerous, fear and cautiousness are the supposed answer. While Frost’s work is full of fear it does relate to contemporary people. Contemporary souls have much of the same problems that Frost’s society had to endure such as fear of the unknown or lost. While his society can be seen as rural, and fearful of change, which is a contrast to the contemporary society so ever-present, it is also similar do to his view that the world

    Read More

More about Class Struggle in Robert Frost's Poem Out, Out

Open Document