First Place
Fences of America
Miranda Whitten
There are many elements and factors that define a country. The people, culture, and religion are great determinants for a society’s identity. Without them, a nation would simply cease to exist. However, structures as simple as fences also contribute to building and identifying a country. They support what the American flag represents: freedom.
Freedom not only conveys the idea of being liberated from bondage and oppression, but also to have rights and privileges. Such freedom was granted to the American citizens through the Bill of Rights. These rights were received with open arms, because they did not officially exist in the Colonists’ former country of England. The fourth amendment of the Bill of Rights regards their desire for privacy and limited the Government’s power to unjustly search their homes and property. Fences established the right of privacy; the very privilege the Bill of Rights supported, through ownership of property. Because they now had property and newly declared liberties through the Bill of Rights, they had freedom. Freedom is a major determinant of progress, for without it, there can be no growth of any kind. When the people of a country are denied privileges and freedoms, patriotism for that country dies, and therefore, progress cannot live.
Although borders and fences were created to divide, they have a unifying quality. Without the fences, problems sparked. Farmers and cattle ranchers would quarrel, because cattle would wander into the farmer’s crops. People would argue how much land should be allotted to them for building and for farming. When fences were established, these contentions and arguments dissolved. The individual was satisfied and happiness was reached. Because these borders and boundaries had the ability to settle disputes and pacify debates, they kindled unity within the American people.
Many may argue that fences denote imprisonment, bondage, and isolation. However, fences can also denote freedom just as effectively. When an individual owns fenced-in property, they tell the world of their freedom. They have the privilege to own property, to own a piece of they very land they live on. Such a privilege might have been thought of as unthinkable or as impossible in some countries, because in order to own property, they probably were required to be in the high class of society. As a matter of fact, the large majority of most societies, especially some few centuries ago, were composed of the low class: the class of poverty, hunger, and privation. It was upon the backs of the oppressed that the noble were exalted. The forefathers of The United States of America viewed such structure as a monstrosity and obsolete through Democracy.
Fences beckon the unfortunate and ill-stricken to America, because they eliminate the social class that was so apparent in most nations. They expressed how the poor and the rich were viewed through eyes of equality, and how both had a chance to own a portion of this welcoming land of freedom. People flocked to The United States of America with a resurrected hope and a revived faith.
The separation of property and land through the use of fences molds and shapes the face of America. When people from around the world lift their eyes to the American flag, they see majesty, justice, and, overall, they see freedom. This last aspect is, by far, the one that makes The United States of America the country of absolute beauty and radiance.
Second Place
Fences and Boundaries
Bryan Lew
“Fences are icons of the American landscape. They can be used to create a welcoming picture of home or a wall of privacy and security. Fences have pitted rancher against rancher in the battle for scarce resources; back fences serve as meeting places where neighbors share recipes, local gossip or a friendly joke. Americans live between fences.” This is the fence according to Jennifer Schommer. The word boundary can be defined as the line or plane indicating the limit or extent of something. Fences and boundaries can be a detriment or an asset. A fence gives an assurance to people, a sense of safekeeping. They can also make people feel trapped or enclosed.
Since early colonial America, people have been able to break past their symbolic barriers, or fences. Great Britain, the mother country, became a tall wide fence that the colonists had to climb over to find freedom on the other side. Through the minds of innovative thinkers and idealists, the Americans found a way to get past that fence. The significance of such boundaries has been evident throughout the history of the world. Take Hadrian’s Wall, the Berlin Wall, or the Great Wall of China for example. These “fences” served many purposes. They were used as protection, for division of land, and for marking boundaries.
It is interesting to find such uses in American society. Young people will find fences in their friends, sometimes as social or emotional barriers. Many times a person will feel secluded or left out. They surround themselves with a psychological wall which isolates them from the outside world. On the contrary, a group of friends will build a fence around themselves to separate them from others. Sometimes fences become a motivation to people. Expectations serve as fences because they put a perspective on something in such a way that it serves as a limit. A person will try to push beyond that limit out of insubordination or enthusiasm.
Fences serve as lines of division. The most evident examples of division are racial fences. For a long period of time there was an extended barrier between white Americans and blacks. It divided the country on a collective level. Martin Luther King, Jr. was among many who decided to take down or break the sturdy wall of segregation. It required many revolutionary tools to break this barrier. During World War II, Japanese Americans were literally moved between fences. The nation realized that the fence that they built around their house wasn’t going to look nice in their neighborhood. They had to remove that ugly fence amid much embarrassment and humiliation.
These are the types of fences that shape America. Fences are felt physically, emotionally, socially, and are exhibited in many forms. Fences and boundaries have an impact on all people, all things, and all places. Fences interrupt the rhythm of space and perception. There seems to be found a fence in all significant points of history. The way people define themselves is evident in the way fences are, and how fences will be.
Third Place
The Fences That Have Shaped America
Quinten Barney
Close your eyes. Clear your mind. I want you to imagine waking up in the morning. You head to the kitchen to find a nice breakfast awaiting you, the bacon, eggs, pancakes, orange juice, or whatever you crave in the morning. You have everything to start your day, except for one thing: a newspaper. You stand up from the table, and head to the front door. Outside it’s a clear summer morning, not a cloud in the sky. You open the door and head down the walk towards the paper sitting there, waiting for you. As you bend to pick it up, you start to feel a bit queasy. Something is not right. You hear it coming, 100 miles per hour in your direction. Spike, your next door neighbors Great Dane is now no more than ten feet away from you. You snatch the paper, and run inside before you become Puppy Chow. Panting and sweating, you suddenly feel like the pancakes and eggs just arent good enough anymore. This is an experience that happens to a number of Americans each day. Don’t you think it’s high time they got a fence in their front yard? Though it may seem like such a simple task that can bring a lifetime of benefits and security, some people have looked a bit deeper and realized that maybe a fence isn’t always necessary?
Fences are almost everywhere, keeping cattle and livestock together, bordering public parks, and keeping your dog from running away. Though it can be extremely beneficial, it is rare in some parts to find fences bordering the front yard of homes. Why is this? Answers vary, but the most common is because of the feeling of isolation from the neighbors. Everybody needs loving friends and neighbors in their life, and it’s so easy to just head right next door for a favor or because your short one cup of flour. When a fence is put, the boundaries are suddenly shown and the feeling of unity between neighbors can become unexpectedly dull. And believe it or not, when someone has to open a gate to head up the walk to your front door, it may make it even the tiniest bit complicated and undesired.
So, fences may have a bit of a negative effect when looked at in a given perspective, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. Security is something that is desired by everybody. For many, America is known for its freedom and security. While the lack of fences may offer freedom, having a fence can offer security. Security from dogs making messes on the front yard, security from the predators that would love to have your cattle for dinner. If fences or boundaries were not given, imagine the chaos that the local zoo would be having right now! It is an obvious fact that fences can offer the kind of security that a simple chalk line on the ground cannot.
With the understanding that fences can have both a positive and a negative outcome on people and animals, it may seem necessary to weigh each side and determine if having a fence or having no fence is better. One must remember to consider all factors when deciding wether or a not a fence in the front yard is the best, or if a dog cage would be better than an enclosed backyard. Either way, it is a good possibility that your decision will be a good one.
Fences: Tools of Intolerance
Devin Adams
Psychologically, what is it that a fence represents to the urban American? For the
average American citizen it means self sufficiency, stability, security, order, and most importantly privacy. However, what is the deeper meaning, hidden throughout the history of the world's fences and world changing events? The underlying point is that fences are tools of intolerance. They are put into place in order to distort our view through a slit, or to exclude and include; it is a way to establish a boundary that is not easily crossed. Wherever there is injustice, cruelty, or intolerance there is sure to be a fence.
History, from the beginning of this nation, there have been fences. Not a white picket, put up as a facade to impose the sense of an orderly home, but rather as a means to plunder, take, and then fortify against those not of their kind. You then move forward, forward through the
barren forest stumps, on into the industrial age of the steel titan. Where a farmer will sacrifice his neighbors friendship and the lives a few cattle in order to save a few bucks. Further still, and you'll see a Jew born free, now caged and destined to die by the hand of the country that fed her. Everywhere one looks and sees a fence, if not already blinded by society, will see it being used to hurt someone or something; be it physically, emotionally, or mentally.
Though now it may be said that that was the past and we are now changed. Our society has changed and learned from past mistakes, nevertheless a hypothetical fence may still exist both in the law and between the cheerleader and chess club president. There are twenty-two treaties that define the U.S. Canada border, but no physical 'fence.' A fence can be one of the thousands of laws, whether they protect or prohibit, either way they do the same as a fence. It's not about the fenced in cattle down the street, it's about the 300 cliques in each of the high schools across America that will not talk to each other because of color, clothes, or uncommon hobbies. As the fences of old were easy to build, so are our social fences of today. It is easier for the American teenager to put up that fence than to see what it is on the other side that is being fenced out. It's about the Negroes in the ghetto, and the thousands standing in unemployment lines. A boundary is not that at which something stops, but that from which something begins. So if we must have social road blocks and property lines, then move from the boundaries on to something new and great. All the fences, railways, and highways are merely barriers to equal opportunity. After all we are all fenced in by millions of miles of empty space, this whole earth is our pasture, so if we cannot end the war between the rest of our brothers then as the men of the fields of Gettysburg-we to shall perish.
Building Your Own Fences
Chelsee Barber
What is a fence? According to Webster’s Dictionary it is a structure made from rails, stakes or strung wire that functions as a boundary or barrier. In American history, fences were created to show property lines, protect children, decoration and to protect and keep things safe. We also build our own personal fences in our lives. These are known as boundaries or limits. What kind of boundaries do we have in our own lives? What limits should we set for ourselves? This is a very personal question and only the person themselves can answer it. But, we all have certain limits that we know we shouldn’t go past. To build a fence you must plan in advance, make it sturdy and maintain it. This is the same process for the fences or boundaries we make in our own lives.
When building a fence, the builder must plan it advance. They will want to know how much they need to surround their property and make sure they have enough money to buy it. When making boundaries in our lives we must know in advance what our boundaries are. For example, if you have a goal to never do drugs, you must plan in advance what you will do when you are offered drugs. This is very important because the time will come when you will be offered them and it would be much easier to deny them if you have already planned in advance what you will do when that happens. There are many areas of life we could give ourselves boundaries and the first step to building those is to plan in advance where to set those.
In the process of building a fence, it is necessary to make sure it is sturdy so it can keep whatever you are keeping safe in. After you set a boundary for yourself in your life, you must make sure your limit is sturdy and something you can actually achieve. Your limit you set for yourself should be like a goal, something you are looking to achieve. Your achievement would be to keep far away from that limit and to never cross it. This is why your fence or limit should be sturdy so you know your boundaries and you have the goal in mind to never cross it. When building fences in your lives, make sure they are sturdy.
After you have built a fence, it is necessary to maintain it so it will stay sturdy and keep serving a purpose. After we have set our boundaries and made them sturdy, we must keep our boundaries and limits and never lower them for any occasion. We have to check up on ourselves regularly to make sure we are staying far away from our limits and keeping ourselves within the boundaries we set for ourselves.
Fences have shaped and built America. Fences can also shape and build our lives. Setting boundaries and limits in our lives and keep us away from anything that we don’t want to do. Like fences, we must know before hand what our boundaries will be, make them sturdy and maintain them.
Fences and Boundaries
Kelli Christofferson
Have you ever thought of the impact fences have on America? Fences, though rarely thought about, do have a great impact on Americans. Fences set many boundaries and limits. Sometimes fences can build friendships or they can create enemies.
There are a variety of reasons why people set up fences. Fences show property lines; it let early settlers, especially, know where they could and could not settle. Many families use fences to protect their children or pets from busy roads or from wandering off. Americans want to feel safe and have privacy, so they build fences. Farmers use fences to keep their gardens and crops separate from their livestock. Fences are also popular just for decoration. There are different fences for these uses. You might see around a school yard a chain link fence, around a nice home there might be a vinyl or white picket fence, a barbed wire fence may surround a herd of cattle. Fences also show social status in how well the fences are kept up and the materials used to make them.
We sometimes create fences in our minds or opinions. These types of fences are not the literal fences like you see when you take a walk through town, but these fences are sometimes prejudices or just ideas that set us apart from each other. We need to learn to be more tolerant to the differences every one has than build up a barrier between us.
There are so many fences that create boundaries and limits for Americans. They really do help to shape this country in many ways.
Surrounding Ourselves with Fences
Danielle Fritzsche
Fences aren’t only meant to keep things out, they are to show possession of things earned.
America was created by immigrants who wanted to better themselves. In their past, they had to give their earnings to kings and rulers. They didn’t receive the fruit of their labor. When they reached America, what they worked for was theirs and no one else’s. To show and to protect what they have earned, they built fences.
Fences make Americans feel safe. They also show class—the white picket fence for example shows domestication, family, and happiness. Vinyl fences show privacy. We even have gated communities that have fences surrounding them and a guard at the front gate.
Fences are made to keep things out. The barbed wire fence is a symbol of private property. It has sharp fangs on it to show danger if one crosses it. When one sees a barbed wire fence, they know not to go through; they relate pain with these kinds of fences. One picture at the exhibit was of a horse that was stuck in a barbed wire fence. The horse was unable to get out without cuts and scrapes that most likely killed it.
There was a fence built around the Topaz Internment Camp in Utah. This is one example of fences being built for the wrong reason. When America was scared at the beginning of WWII, they put blame on the Japanese-Americans. They sent them into a concentration camp to “keep America safe.” Yes, we did build the fences, but we regret ever doing that and we have learned from our history; we will not make that mistake again.
Boundaries are also a big part of America. Several wars have been fought over land possession—we fought Mexico for Texas, we fought with the Indians, we fought Britain so we could break away from the mother country and call America our own, we have even fought with each other for land.
Some want a fence built between America and Mexico. They want to keep the immigrants out. The only thing these immigrants want is a chance—a chance to survive, a chance to go somewhere in life, a chance to take ownership over something that they never would have been able to have in their own country. Crevecoeur once said that the reason one flees their own country is because it is not giving them what they need and they need to find it in another country. What those Americans that want this fence built need to understand is that we are a melting pot made by immigrants. If you are not a Native American, you or your not so distant ancestors were immigrants. They came over for the same reasons these Mexicans are coming over.
Fences and boundaries are symbols of happiness, prosperity, accomplishments, and regret of America. If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t know where we came from, what challenges we have overcome, what regrets we take with us, what and who we are.
Fences and Boundaries
Marie Laycock
“All in all it’s just another brick in the wall,” is a line found in the song Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd. Its more significant meaning is a social barrier. The song is about kids rebelling, but as a whole, the wall in the song is a barrier that kids create against school. As I grew older, my wall against school has grown, and so has many other students’ walls.
A house sits in a little neighborhood. A white picket fence surrounds it with a gate at the front entry of the yard. The front of the yard is green, pleasant, and inviting. You walk to the porch, but taking a closer look you see that the windows are bared and barbwire covers the outside walls of the house. Inside the house is beautiful and colorful. It may be a bit cluttered and filled with many different items aside from the furniture. Stairs lead up to an attic. The door to the attic is locked, and no one has the key, except the one girl that lives here.
My mother and other viewers have often told me I’m very friendly, which could be true considering how many people I hang out with. The number of people I call friends is most likely greatly more significant then the number of people who would allow me past their fence, which is the part that makes me friendly. I love conversation and hate being alone. I would allow any of my friends past my white picket fence.
I would allow any number of my friends into my yard, but only a select few would I ever allow into my house. My thoughts are my own, and belong to me only. I would never tell anyone my desires, dreams, fears, hates, etc. unless I knew them well enough. As I am sure they would do the same. The barbwire fence is just a caution. I would never let any of my complete thoughts out, or let any strange friend in. When barbwire fences were first invented they weren’t accepted at all. They were made to keep animals in and keep delinquent children from messing around with an upset bull, but since they sometimes hurt the animal, it wasn’t widely accepted. Maybe I should let some of my thoughts out, but not in the gossip population I’m in.
An attic with a locked door creates a curious mind, but isn’t as inviting as other things. These are the secrets I hold everyday and push to the back of my mind. Secrets I must not linger on, so they stay in the attic. My secrets are like monsters that would create disaster in my social life if I ever let them out.
My social walls are always growing with each new person I meet. Every negative experience is another brick people use to subconsciously build a stronger wall to prevent future emotional pain. Fences, walls, and boundaries have and always will be a part of our human psychology. How we build them up and tear them down is up to us.
Fences and Boundaries
Sherry Lor
What do we think of when we hear the word fence? Not many of us think about it at all. With this generation, much is taken for granted and the reason why it’s there, or where it came from, doesn’t seem to be worth the effort of knowing. Fences are around us everywhere. We see it everyday, but somehow we don’t stop to think, when were fences first made and was the purpose of fences the same as it is today?
Fences have been around for such a long time now, that it’s hard to remember when was the first time it was made. Of course we could take a walk back in time and remember the different kinds of fences that were made for certain issues but what were the first fences like and who decided to make them?
We can trace it back to when Native Americans made fences. They made fences to help them with their animals and to be able to know what part of land belong to whom. Sound familiar? Over the years as settlers came and migrated in the United States, other fences were made for many purposes. The Barb Wire fence with its sharp edges and points arranged at intervals along the strands were made to restrain cattle. The Electric fence was made to be a kind of barrier that used painful or even high-voltage electric shocks to prevent an animal from crossing over. So anyone touching it would get an electric shock. Picket fences that were made from wood or plastic that resembled wood, were made to help create a border for an area of land that was someone’s. Usually it would be around a house, saying, “this is my property behind this fences.” Split-rail fence was a type of fence made of timber logs used for mostly for agricultural or decorative fencing. Snow fences were used to minimize the amount of snow drifting onto roadways. Fences were made with the purpose of either keeping things in or out.
Some of the things nowadays that has to be fenced in would be, plants with dangerous mobile parts, explosive factories, most industrial plants, airfields, military areas, prisons, zoos and wildlife parks and many more.
Then and even now, we look to fences as something that will protect or keep safe either ourselves or the things we value. If there were no fences surrounding the prisons, would we feel safe? Just like the barrier that separates The United States and Mexico so that no immigrants will be able to cross, fences are like a wall to divide something you don’t want in and something you don’t want out.
So how has Fences helped shape America? By seeing fences everyday, we can agree that fences give boundaries and without it, everything that we know would cease to be what it is today.
Fences: The Good and the Bad
Heather Martin
Fences and boundaries, they are apart of our everyday life, they define where we go, what we do. Fences and boundaries guard, protect, outline, define, they keep things out, and prevent things from escaping. A fence is constructed for many reasons, some represent the positive attributes of America, and some represent the negative attributes. Fences are built for decoration, or for protection, fences are built to keep something in, or out.
The dictionary states, “Fence, humanly erected barrier between two divisions of land, used to mark a legal or other boundary, to keep animals or people in or out, and sometimes as an ornament.” (Dictionary.com) A fence can be seen as very positive and useful to many of us today. A simple white picket fence can be used to decorate our yard; it can make our yard look sophisticated, but antique at the same time. Fences can be used to define property lines no matter how large or small. A farmer would find a fence useful when trying to protect his crops from his livestock, and also to keep his livestock on his property. Boundaries Define our nation, and the states that are apart of that nation. They represent our growth and power.
Boundaries and fences are a very important part of American life, but the reasons for which they are built are not always positive. The dictionary states, “A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary.” (Dictionary.com) Along with this nation’s growth and power, many negative events or situation have arisen which have caused the need for people to build more fences, and create more boundaries. Many fences are built to help protect ones home from perpetrators, and to keep ones children from getting out into the no longer safe neighborhood streets. Fences also have to be built to lock up those who have upset our everyday life, and to keep them from getting back out onto our streets. The dictionary defined a boundary as, “A border that encloses a space or area.” (Dictionary.com) During the time of racial discrimination in America boundaries were designed by gerrymandering, or other means to prevent the success and freedom of blacks and other minorities. Boundaries and Fences are no longer built to just outline ones land; they have to be built to protect their family and possessions. They are used to keep those in who should not be out, and are built because of many other problems and negative events that take place in this country
Fences and boundaries have become a most necessary part of our society, whether they are for decoration, defining ones property, or protecting ones home and family. They will continue to play an important role in our nation. Fences and boundaries are needed to protect our nation and our homes, to define our land, or to decorate it. Fences and boundaries are a huge part of the United States; they influence those outside the nation, and everyone on the inside.
Fences and Boundaries
Tammy McCorristin
Fences and boundaries are an aspect of everyday life in America. We use fences to mark property, to enclose livestock, and to provide privacy. The fence has been developed and changed into many different forms. Boundaries are used for countries, states, and cities. We also use fences and boundaries in our society. We have divisions and high walls between the different cultures and people that have made our great country the melting pot. People even put up boundaries in their own personal life.
From the beginning of the country, there have been fences up between different nationalities. Segregation occurred in everything throughout the 1900s. The “fences” marked what the African Americans could use, such as drinking fountains, schools, and buses. Civil rights movements help tear these fences down, but the fences still exist for some people. They see the color of someone’s skin or their religion and fences are put up automatically. They block out what they do not want apart of their lives.
Standards are another type of fence or boundary that people build to protect their lives. They set limits to what they will and will not do. They guard and protect the person from making bad decisions. Sometimes these fences are knocked down carelessly. Other times little holes are put in them. Each time they are knocked down, they can be rebuilt. With certain circumstances the fences are harder to rebuild, but they can be put up again. With the rebuilding of these fences, they can be put up stronger than they were before. Different materials can be used or goals set that allow the fences to be stronger and higher. These fences may not be as noticeable, but they exist for everyone.
As Americans, we also like the protection of our borders. Americans want to build 700 miles of fence along the Mexican-American border. They are willing to pay 50 million dollars for something that may not be effective. This fence would try to enforce the immigration laws-but if the fence will not cover the whole border, is it not pointless? Americans could use the money to do more effective things. We could put the money into helping Mexico become a better country. This will break down the boundaries we have put up around Mexico. We could unite our fences and work together to make the economy better.
Just as America tries to protect its borders with different things, people try new things to put up personal fences. They figure out what works best to block out and keep away the things that might cause harm. Everyone has their “fence” to protect their life and belongings. The fence and boundary may change with time or circumstance. Culture, lifestyle, and environment affect what type of fence is built. Everyone is different, and the fences are different as well. Fences and boundaries apply to every aspect of someone’s life. They could be mental or physical, but they all work together. Fences and boundaries have made America the country it is and Americans the people they are today.
Symbolism of a Fence
Hannah Neubert
Fences are boundaries that can be enforced in many different ways. I want to discuss some of the ways that fences can represent boundaries in today’s society. Farmers would set up fences as a means of enclosing pigs and cattle. This would protect the animals from other predators. The animals symbolize us as teenagers today. Fences protect us from things that are harmful to us. That can represent drugs, sex and violence in today’s society. There are so many harmful things in the world today that many of us require our fences up most of the time.
As I went to the museum I found it interesting the different types of fences there are. Some types are, barb wire, wood panels, vinyl, chain link and many more. It was quoted in the museum saying: “Fences organized the rural landscape and reflected how farmers used their land. Wire fences bounded and increasingly industrialized way of life.”
Fences resemble a person’s way of life, and tell people what limit of privacy they require. There is also an old phrase that says, “Fences make good neighbors.” That statement can be true in many ways. When a teenager puts up certain boundaries, he or she is attracting a different crowd then when they don’t have any boundaries at all. They are attracting another person with the same boundaries. Those boundaries are called standards. Standards may vary according to the individual. That doesn’t mean a person is good or bad, they just have different fences that they have put up, also known as boundaries or standards. There are many different types of fences as I discussed before, just as there are many different types of people.
There is another quote that I would like to share, “Fences reveal much about relationships between people.” This is giving reference to people and how comfortable they really are with their surroundings. A fence can push a good neighbor away just from the appearance, and that can relate to many teenagers that we see today. When looking and meeting a person for the first time appearance is everything, and as you gradually get to know the person your perspective changes. That is the case for most of us. It is called Stereotyping. A barbwire fence may look rough and dangerous, but when untwisted and untangled it is no longer a fence anymore; it is just wire. Fences tell a lot about a person and where they have come from. If most of us didn’t try to fence things out of our lives. We may have more equality and peace on the earth today.
Fences and Boundaries
Ben Sunderland
Fences have been around a long time and have meant many different things. They’ve been used to set boundaries for properties, keep things in and keep things out. Fences have always been a part of America, protecting borders or providing security for animals and crops. From the early colonial period to recent days, people are constantly building and tearing down fences, some figuratively and some literally.
There is a major figurative fence that America is still trying to overcome. It is racism. People built fences of hate and intolerance long ago. Brick by brick, wire by wire, Americans have been trying to take down this fence of hatred and bigotry for over a century. There has been a war trying to break this fence, even legislation. Through all this, some of the fence still survives. Deeply entrenched in the minds of many Americans. Still Americans continue to build these kinds of fences. They build fences about gender, social classes, and there are several others. It’s in these cases that people fence themselves into such a narrow point of view that they may never get out.
Fences are all around. Today America talks about building a new fence. This fence would stretch over two thousand miles across the Mexican-American border to protect against illegal immigrants and drug trafficking. Building a fence of this magnitude would send a bold message of isolationism. America also builds other fences. Fences to keep criminals in and fences to keep civilians out.
Between Fences
Kirsten Watkins
“The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said, ‘This is mine,’ and found people naive enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society,” so says Jean Jacques Rousseau. This quote depicts on what happened in United States history that made fences so significant to the development of this country. Ever since the beginning, in Jamestown, fences were built to separate the people, to split lands, and divide livestock. And in doing so built the America that we live and thrive in today.
Privacy. This is what Americans most want. “Privacy is becoming the new status symbol in a society that is increasingly crowded.” (Virginia Scott Jenkins, The Lawn). We enjoy the privateness of our own backyards, you put fences up to divide your space, of what is rightfully yours, and what is rightfully your neighbors, giving you the privacy that you want. The exhibit declared: ‘Good Fences make good neighbors. Americans define themselves, their neighborhoods, and their country . . . beginning with their yards.’
Most people do not want livestock running amuck throughout the streets, so fences were put up to divide the animals from the rest of the world. This includes ranches, farms, and backyard pets, all inclosed behind the fence. Penning up animals also brought around barb wire fences and wire fences that revolutionized fence building. Before the wire fence, the fences were built with wood that destroyed natural resources, and were extremely time consuming.
Without fences the world would seem to go on forever. With nothing to divide the land, no one could say, ‘This is mine’, because they had nothing to prove it, no way to split it. Fences shaped America through the division of land, that brought about the division of people. The division of people brought about the civil war, segregation problems, immigration from Mexico, etc. Fences. That is a word that could have two separate meanings, physical and mental. We build fences everywhere, without realizing it. Look around you and count how many fences you see. Are there many in your neighborhood, or are you building them in your mind against certain types of people, and certain types of things? Which has more?
Fences: Friendly divisions or unkind barriers?
Britney Wilson
In the world we live in, we see fences all over. Most every house has fences surrounding its boundaries. Neighbors talk, but it’s on the phone, or maybe over the fence. No one will just walk into another person yard, because fences divide them. Fences were not created to be open and inviting. They were made to keep people out. We have and will spend millions of dollars on the Mexico and Canada border not to invite others to enjoy what this country has, but to keep them out. We even put barbed wire coils on the top to ensure people don’t get in.
Though fences often keep people from getting in, they can also keep people from getting out. In prisons, everyone wants to get out, but lines of high tech fences keep them in. In an insane asylum thick fences trap the inhabitants inside.
Fences block people from where they really want to be, or they keep people from realizing that they are where they want to be. There is the saying “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” This is so true, people want what they see on the other side of the fence, but we always have fences and barriers up no one can see what else there is, or maybe see how good they really have it.
Another kind of fence we have is walls and barriers. These are fences not built with vinyl or metal, but built with people’s words and actions. These barriers are never good, for they are founded on hate. A good example of this is racial barriers. If a person with darker skin walks by, it is proven most will automatically think one of the following: poor, single mother, abusive father, living in the ghetto, druggie, or alcoholic. These assumptions are the foundation of racial barriers. When these people of different ethnic backrounds get ignored because of these assumptions, that is when a racial barrier is built. These barriers are stronger than any fence, and take a lot more to break down. Our country’s past shows severe racism against African Americans. Breaking that racial boundary down took hundreds of years, and there still is racism.
The strongest and biggest fences are not those built with human hands. We decide to shut someone out or to let them in. We decide what fences we build. All fences should be torn down. We should be comfortable enough with ourselves to let others in our personal boundaries, and to let others see the real people we are.