At the beginning of "The Fence",the mother is talking about building a fence around their house. The mother wants the fence to keep out wandering strangers and to protect the family. The father tells the mother to let them enjoy what we have, just let them be. Whats the good of a fence if there's nothing that needs protecting? The mother feels like the father doesn't think the family needs to be protected. The sort of fence the mother has in mind is not the kind of fence that's needed to protect her family. Unfortunatly, the mother's persuasion works. After they had built the fence around the house, the mother felt more protected. Then these strangers came to their house. The mother let them into their home. Before they could do anything, the family was robbed. The mother asked the strangers why they were trying to rob them. The strangers said because they had built a fence.