Read at least 3 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find. Post this list on your blog with some commentary about what you discovered.
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The concept of “Home” is one that varies markedly between different people. It was touching and enlightening to see how open people were with their past in the stories they told. I’m grateful that so many classmates shared these intimate details that were vastly similar and dissimilar simultaneously. I’m quite nervous in making generalizations based on my perception because these stories are so vulnerable, and dear to those who tell them.
Many of the ideas connected to home are linked to strong memories, composed around feelings of belonging or safety. Tales of childhood experiences, and interactions with others, or memories of traveling. Some involve past locations, beaches, train stations, and schools in this case. Many stories involved family members and what family meant to those individuals, and this desire or longing to strive for this ‘ideal’ family. It appeared that our ideas of what home and family means are construed by the culture we live in, it colors our expectations and in some cases corrodes reality (understandably so in unfortunate cases). The role and importance of family in one’s concept of home, and who was considered to be family seemed to be quite diverse. Family appeared to be a malleable system wherein members can flow in and out of its nucleus, those who are harmful phase out, and those who weren’t originally members who become important phase in.
|”This path toward figuring out my ‘home’ is one that I am on. It is a never ending, twisting, turning, a constantly evolving journey.” – Hannah Vaartnou|
A connection with one’s home is deeply rooted in identity, where you’re from paints the perception of who you are. When we hear where someone calls home we grab traits from the schema we have about the area and apply what we can to said person (many are stereotypes). Sometimes, lacking a sense of home is experienced as a lack of identity.
|”The nation’s body jellied and primped in the language of neoliberalism, ecological crisis, and silenced histories.” – Laura Avery|
Some connect the idea of home with a geographical location, learning from its past and applying it to their life practices. Knowing the history of a nation is critical to being culturally respectful, and mindful of why norms exist today.
|”Why cling to the steel through-line of story when perhaps ‘home’ is more like an estuary?” – Laura Avery|
|”Being away from home, the idea of home became more abstract to me.” – Evan Franey|
In many cases, home is seen as a fluid and dynamic concept. It can change depending on where you move to or live, or based on who is important to you and your sense of identity. Despite a comparatively uneventful upbringing I had trouble thinking what home meant to me, it can never be one thing. As sad as it is to think about, the people and places in my life are as temporary as I am. Distance from someone, moving from a beloved house, or loss of a loved one may cause ripples in one’s sense of home, but it somehow withstands. This means that in some instances, home is greater than the sum of its parts.
Thank you again to everyone, and especially Evan, Laura & Hannah for sharing your stories.
-Landon .T
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Works cited:
Avery, Laura. “2.1.” English 470A. ENGL 470A: Querying narratives of ‘home’ and of national identity. 05 June 2015. Web. 07 June 2015.
Franey, Evan. “Home in Transition.” English 470A. Liminal Space Between Story and Literature. 05 June 2015. Web. 07 June 2015.
Vaartnou, Hannah. “Home is in Your Own Heart.” Hannah and Canada. 05 June 2015. Web. 07 June 2015.