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Conflicting Minds The theme of “Home Burial,” by Robert Frost, is the misunderstanding between a husband and a wife because of conflicting attitudes regarding the death of a child and that these opposing attitudes can cause the death of a relationship as well. The wife feels that her husband does not care about the death of their baby. However, this is not true. The husband takes a closed approach when mourning over his child’s death, while his wife grieves openly. Through setting and symbols, Frost shows how the husband and wife are characterized according to the theme, and also how the husband’s and wife’s misunderstanding results in the burial of their marriage and their home. Through time period, the setting has an important effect on the way we see the husband and wife react to the death of their child. The poem takes place in the early 1900’s in the home of the husband and wife. During this time period society dictated that men did not show their true feelings. Therefore, men tended to have dealt with conflicts by working hard and being domineering. The poem states that he “mounted until she co