In “Home Burial”, “Home” is employed to describe both the physical and psychological connotations of the word. The father / husband has just buried his little boy in the family cemetery, and if he and his wife can’t find a common ground on how they are to deal with their loss, their relationship will be buried along with the “broad shouldered little slabs” (28) and the child on the hill. As the reader sits in on the domestic dispute, he / she may be torn by who’s side to take or wish to resolve the conflict. As a bystander, the reader can examine both characters’ points of view from a more objective position than the characters involved.

Amy has condemned herself to a life of infinite sadness because of her son’s death. She views her husband as being unfeeling about the matter. She is infuriated by his carelessness and disregard of energetically “making the gravel leap and leap in air” as he dug the child’s grave: she says, “ I thought, wh

Let me into your grief. I’m not so much

Tell me about it if it’s something human.

Apart would make me out. Give me my chance.

At the other end of the spectrum, Amy’s husband seems to be taking on the role of “the strong one”. He has either accepted the death of their son, or is just trying to hold back his emotions. Upon finally discovering that it is the family cemetery that Amy has been staring at from upstairs, he says, “ I never noticed it from there before. / I must be wonted to it—that’s the reason” (22-23). This statement shows his familiarity with the death of family members, which may account for his stoicism in handling emotional pain. When he says, “ Three foggy mornings and one rainy day / will rot the best birch fence a man can build ”, he appears to be distracting himself from thoughts of burying his little boy, as a method of controlling his grief (96-97). He wants to bond with Amy, but he

Some topics in this essay:
Conflict Frost’s, I’m Unlike, characters’ view, little boy, family cemetery, “home burial”,