Robert Frost, the speaker of the poem, has portrayed himself as a reasonable, practical, open-minded and an unorthodox character. He has put himself before the readers as a personality who believes that in order to move on in life a change or a series of changes is necessary. The poet is a balanced character and whatever he says is logical.
Robert Frost strongly believes that the physical presence of a wall between his and his neighbours territories is not required. He does not believe in any sort of restrictions. If demarcation of property is vital, then a natural demarcation could be made. He is all pine and I am apple orchard. The two territories could be demarcated using these two types of trees.
Although, not full portrayed in the poem, the author does possess some sense of humour. My apple trees will never get across and eat the cones under his pines. These lines show that the poet has some sort of humour in him. Although these lines mean something else, the poets sense of humour can nevertheless be interpreted from them. Similarly, we can interpret the poets sense of humour when he says, Isnt it where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
The neighbour is the person whom Robert Frost has used for comparing his character with. The neighbour has been portrayed as a person who is the consummate opposite of the poet.
He has been put before us as a person whose personality is dark and dull. The neighbour is a narrow-minded person with an orthodox character. He is impractical and does not like changes in his life-style. He likes to remain in the dark and unexposed to the outside world. He feels satisfied when left to his own world and tends to hesitate when he interacts with people.
The neighbour likes to lead his life the way his father and forefathers did without pausing to mend the mistakes they made. He follows the family tradition without looking at it logically. He follows it blindly and accepts it on the grounds that his ancestors too accepted it. He is hesitant to live life a new way because that would mean bringing a change in his life-style and he does not possess the confidence and courage to do that. Thus, he opposes the narrators suggestion of not mending the wall.
The neighbour believes that good fences make good neighbours because his ancestors did and does not look at it analytically. He strongly believes that friendship can be maintained with freedom with certain limitations and he strongly disapproves of not having a wall between his and the poets territory as that would prevent the poet from barging into his property at will. The neighbour believes in privacy but fails to realize the fact that privacy can also be maintained without having the wall.
