Canadian Literature: Parkinson Perspective

Examining other blogs in this course, I have noticed an overlapping theme of redefining home based on one’s location. Or perhaps when one has a coming of age, and then the ability to move to a centre that more closely matches a person’s values and could feel more like home.

Building off of this, there is a distinction that Laryssa Legan makes about how one’s roots can differ from the place they call home. Focusing on the importance of place and cultural values, Laryssa feels that Kelowna provides a different sense of home as it is where she is choosing to make her adult life. I can relate to having multiple homes (and also my grandparents home in the North Okanagan in Armstrong) being my original, most perfect, ‘nostalgic’ home.

Family Home

I can also relate to having a binary to my identity, similar to Senae. Though both of my parents are Canadian, I spent half of my childhood (and adolescence) in the United States. Defining my identity as Canadian never crossed my mind until living in the US – where my peers had assumptions about life in Canada (we all live in igloos right?) – and in a way that was isolating to an extent, I was branded as the ‘Canadian’. Friends assumed I came from a people of pasty, pale skin (which negates a large portion of the diversity in Canada), who are polite, bilingual in French and English, and everyone has access to great health care (which is not always true).

As a child when one is relocated there is little choice in home. Rebuilding connections and establishing meaning is the only choice for creating comfort in where a person lives.