Pieces of Me by Darlene Ryan Essay

The home as a place of comfort does not exist for the narrator; companionship with her husband is lost. Her only real conversations occur on paper, as no one else speaks to her of anything other than her condition. She is stripped of her role as a wife, robbed of her role as a mother, and is reduced to an object of her husband's.

This is a very important part of the book because it shows the reader that the

The novel begins with a journey, both physical and emotional; the Brennans are physically moving houses and towns, but also moving into new, unfamiliar territory. The leaving of ‘home’ is synonymous with the leaving of what id known, familiar and comfortable, in a literal and metaphorical sense.

In the poem, Home by Pauline Kaldas, upon moving to Boston, the speaker expresses her longing for her hometown. She misses the atmosphere, the crowdedness, and the food that Cairo, her indigenous hometown possesses. The poem conveys that no matter where one goes to, it will never feel as sound and as delightful as home.

Similarly, family can be related through blood but it can also be the group of people closest to someone. Family can be both blood related and can be chosen and be equally as meaningful. An example from ODACTTT of family being a group of people that are close but may not be related through blood, is when Janice and Barb are talking about Janice’s other family. Where Janice states that she loves, and considers them as her family by saying, “I love my parents”(Taylor 23). She considers her family as the people who care for her and support her. Although it is her adopted family and not related through blood relations she chose to consider them as family. The quote, “Blood is thicker than water”(Taylor 33) from ODACTTT explains how loyalty in relationships within a family are the strongest and most important ones. However it does not state family has to be blood, but it does say that the relationships between family are the strongest and most important relationships one can have. The final quote in ODACTTT is the most important one. Janice is showing her respect to Anne’s gravesite by saying her final goodbyes. Janice’s last words to her biological mother was, “Co-waabmen, mom, from your daughter, Grace”(Taylor 112). This was the most important part of the play because Janice finally accepted her biological family and accepted who she was but continued to allow herself to choose her family as well. Family can consist of

Rootlessness is a major theme that motivates several characters to find a home; they seem to be constantly wandering without a real place to call their own. One character, who is prime example of this, is Curley’s wife.

Through her memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls is implying that home is wherever a person’s loved ones are. Home is an abstract idea in her novel because the Walls family does not have a concrete place to call home. They can’t seem to stay in one place. They just go where the wind takes them because as long as they have each other, there is no need to worry about anything else. The Walls children have a sense of safety and

On the other hand, lies Maggie, who is not homeless nor an orphan when she is introduced to the reader. She lives in

think he was trying to communicate what a family was going through at one point in life. They are in a sad

An example of how her family values each other is her description of the conventions and norms of her family. They are thoroughly supportive of one another, attending every graduation, baby shower, birthday, and house warming party. Her father and siblings have burial plots together so that they are never separated. Life is lived with everyone being connected and concerned for not only each person’s well-being, but happiness as well. She says her “relatives form an alliance that represents a genuine and enduring love of family…”

In the end, the love between Connor and Sidda wins over the other tragedies in Sidda’s life. An important development in the plot that proves that love can conquer all appears when Vivi’s mother sends her away against her own will to a decollate boarding school away from her friends and family. While away, Vivi stops eating and becomes very depressed, but her friends continue to write to her and look for a way to bring her home. In the end their love wins out and they are able to convince one of their parents(Genevieve) to rescue her and bring her home. QUOTE Love, even in the smallest form, can sustain through tragedy and triumph-the bonds of the ya-ya’s : Vivi, Necie, Caro and Teensy. The story line allows the character to triumph over tragedy and rejoice in love,-simple stories-no matter how impossible they feel it is at the time.

¨Homeless¨ is about Anna Quindlen doing a story on homeless people but meets a woman named Ann; who claims she is not homeless. Ann ends up showing Quindlen a photograph of a yellow house. Quindlen soon understands that a home can not just be replaced by a shelter but a home is where the heart is. We are reminded that the homeless are not just people without homes but they are just rootless.

Home can be described in many meanings. In both short stories of “Eveline” by James Joyce and “Soldier’s Home” by Earnest Hemingway, it defined home in many similar and opposite ways against one another. Since both authors used different ways to uncover the protagonist’s story, they both resulted in different interpretations of “Home.” Both stories revolved around family affairs so both the protagonist’s mother and father played a major role in the story but they also shared similarities throughout the story. However, both protagonists were caught in different situations that drove them on deciding to stay or leave home.

As someone who did not grow up with a typical family, I claim most of my close friends as “family” members. Every year we get together for birthdays, vacations and celebrate some holidays together. Some of my close friends are even closer than my actual family. One friend that I grew up with since the 7th grade is practically a brother to me, and even though I have and love my own mom, to this day I call his mother “mom” as well. I do believe that family is based on bonds and emotional ties, not just by blood and marriage. Our textbook defines “fictive kin as close relations with people we consider ‘like family’ but who are not related to us by blood or marriage (p.352)”. This sociological concept helps me realize that my own situation of who and what I consider family is more common than I may have thought before.

”No one is ever born into Life alone. Everyone has shared the bond of family, at least at birth, and for many people it is a bond that will follow them throughout life. For many people it is the most important bond of all.”