The speakers in "Mending Wall" and "Home Burial" illustrate different understandings of the world; one contemplates the need for barriers while the other is disconnected from his wife's emotional pain.
Comparing and contrasting the speakers in "Mending Wall" and "Home Burial," we find differences in how the men perceive and interact with the world around them. In "Mending Wall," the speaker grapples with the paradox of walls separating humans while also seeing the annual ritual of repairing the wall as a moment of interaction with his neighbor. He questions the old adage "Good fences make good neighbors" and contemplates the walls we build emotionally and physically.
Conversely, in "Home Burial," the speaker is a man who appears to struggle with expressing his emotions and fails to comprehend his wife's grief over the death of their child.
This gap in understanding further alienates the couple, highlighting different emotional responses to tragedy and the complexities in human relationships and communication. The man seems more concerned with the reality of life's tasks, whereas his wife is consumed by her loss.