Home is...

Home Sweet Home ...according to Google.“…we know America, we’re at home; I can go anywhere in America and get what I want because it’s the same in each corner, I know the people, I know what they do. We give and take and go in the incredibly complicated sweetness zigzagging every side.” (said by Dean to Sal, 121)

Over the past couples novels we’ve read, we’ve met a series of mobile people and tried to answer the age old question of whether they were tourists or travelers. Just when we thought we had finally understood the difference, we are approached with a whole new set of credentials in On the Road. In this novel, we are introduced to Dean, a man who seems to have no sense of home, and travels from coast to coast. While he initially appears to be a “traveler,” he then makes the above comment midway through the book, informing both Sal and the reader that all of America is his home. HOLD ON. REALLY?

With that comment, I was forced to question what home really is. We determined in class that a tourist is someone who always returns to their home, but what defines a home? Does it have to be a physical location or can it just be “where the heart is”? In The Sheltering Sky, we determined that Port’s problem was that he had no sense of home, but could his relationship with Kit be considered “home?” It wasn’t a location, but it was a constant thing that he felt comfortable with and something he always returned to for a sense of security. For Sal, is home his Aunt’s house or the idea of being in New York City? His aunt’s house is where he lives, but the idea of New York City is where he says he belongs. It is possible for all of America to be Dean’s home, even though he hasn’t seen every inch of it? Is it the location that matters, or just the idea attached to it? Can your home change from year to year, or is something that stays constant your entire life?

This is especially confusing for me, now that I am writing this blog from my room in Washington, DC, as I came “home” for the Jewish holiday. I always refer to this house as my home, as it’s where I’ve lived for my entire life, but now that I’m here for such a short period of time and most of my friends are still away at school, it’s not quite the same as when I left it...

Perhaps it takes seeing the world and the things around us to actually determine where we belong, and being at college doesn’t mean being away from home, but instead is just a journey to help us define what this term means.

Shana Tovah l’kulam! (Happy Jewish New Year to all!)