The concept of “home” is very relative—it means different
things to everyone. As I face my 15-hour
drive home in a few days, I found it fitting to reflect on what my own opinions
of home might be. Everyone’s story is
often heavily characterized by their home, where they came from usually reflects
who they will become or are becoming.
Home is the people, the environment, the words used, the culture of a
place. Home is where I can say “wicked”
and “bubbler” without being interrogated.
Home is where I have two houses that I love equally because they each
contain people I love. Home is where the
winters are cold and the summers are hot but the beach is just down the
street. Home is driving onto my street
and knowing what to expect around every turn.
I love and appreciate this familiarity, but also think of the day when
the houses in Topsfield, MA will no longer be what I consider home in its first
definition. It will be where I grew up, still
an important part of my life, but not home.
Sally
Carol, the main character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “The Ice
Palace,” wants change from her sleepy southern town. “I want to go places and see people. I want my mind to grow. I want to live where things happen on a big
scale.” (Fitzgerald 1824) However, when
she does move up North to live with her fiancé Harry and his family she does
not like it. She is reluctant to view Tarleton
as her home, it seems to be alien to her, “This was the North, the North—her
land now!” (1827) Sally Carol begins to
lose everything that made her her, including her full name, because of her
discomfort with her surroundings and the way she is treated. The spirit and playfulness she once had
begins to disappear, as things like sledding are turned down by Harry as silly
and immature. There is the clear sense
that Sally Carol is unhappy despite her assurance of Harry, “ ‘Where you are is
home for me Harry.’ And as she said this
she had the feeling for almost the first time in her life that she was acting a
part.” (1829) She becomes a character
playing a character. The cultural
difference between the North and the South make her feel like an outsider;
depressed, Sally Carol sees her life as two parts: the old and the new. The new life has developed an atmosphere
where she feels inferior and is not heard or understood. The external historical conflict between the North
and the South become internalized in Sally Carol. I agree with Andrew’s comment that by “putting on a Northern performance, she
dismantles the Northern presupposition of complete Southern ignorance… But
she’s anxious. Initially it’s a fear that she is this ignorant Southerner,
clueless and slow, but it slowly develops into a deep anxiety over the Northern
misconceptions and the death of her own culture inside of her.” (Rikard) In
the end, she cannot bear to let go of her old way of life because it so closely
tied to who she is.
In Sherman
Alexie’s short story “What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” the
theme of “home” or a lack of one is prominent.
Jackson Jackson, and many of the “Interior Salish” in the Spokane,
Washington area are homeless, in the literal and figurative sense (Alexie 2298). As Jackson Jackson says himself, “Being
homeless is probably the only thing I’ve ever been good at.” (2298) Connor also points out that “meaningful community initially seems
unobtainable for Jackson Jackson” (McManus). It becomes clear as he seizes the opportunity
to save his grandmother’s regalia from the pawnshop that the only thing he can
cling to is his seemingly long lost culture.
His journey to win back the regalia consumes him because of his desire
to be a hero, but also because of his grief for the loss of grandmother. The grief extends to his culture as well, one
that he understands on some level but cannot really claim it as his own—this
becomes the importance of his connection to his grandmother.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “What
You Pawn I Will Redeem.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature.
Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, Second ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins,
2014. 2296-2314. Print.
Fitzgerald, F.
Scott. “The Ice Palace.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature.
Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, Second ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins,
2014. 1818-1840. Print.
McManus,
Connor. “Community in ‘What You Pawn I
Will Redeem’.” Davidson College ENG 280. 9
December 2014. Web. 10 December 2014.
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