Synthesis Essay: The Importance Of Access To Home

Home—the place that gives off a sense of warmth, comfort, and belonging. Home is where loved ones are and memories transpire, however Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “one’s place of residence.” Is this what the meaning of home has become today? Does home really allow one’s true self to shine through? In the past these presumptions held true to most of the population, but today people consider vacation homes, condos, and apartments a home when in reality they are very transient. In the 1800’s homes were built by the men of the house for the family to live in forever. Some homes do still meet this historical criteria, but today the majority differ greatly.

Home is more than just a place to most people, it is a different set of values and behaviors. Joan Didion, in her personal essay “On Going Home,” reflects on the difficulty of combining one’s adult life with one’s values and experiences from the place one comes from, the troubles of being home. In contrast, the article in Quartz by Corinne Purtill raises awareness for those who are refugees, who had to abandon their homes, and for Better Shelter, a company trying to “give a more dignified home for displaced people.” Despite the differences in aforementioned purposes, the texts share a subject of the struggle to find that place one can call home and feel secure in. Although these two texts are linked in terms of subject matter, they differ in terms of their varying purposes, context, and syntactical and stylistic features.

Manzo (2003) reviews literature regarding emotional relationships with places. He notes how the metaphor of the home representing a comforting place of belonging and safety has complicated how negative feelings surrounding the home can be understood. By having no recognition of these negative feelings towards the home, Manzo explains how this has the potential risk of research only investigating a panglossian home. Moore (2000) has also proclaimed that there needs to be a refocus on how research into emotional relationships towards the home. This includes examining the way the home confines and disappoints us as well as how it comforts us.

The meaning all depends on the situation, and what personal connection we have with it. What one person think about when they hear the word home, might be quite different from when someone else does.

The idea of “home” can be very different for different people. For some, home can mean where they were born or grew up. For others home may be the best place they have lived so far, or where they are currently living. The idea of where home is can also change from one place to another as people go through their lives. In the novels No-No Boy and The Namesake we see two different perspectives of how different immigrants from different cultures view the idea of home after making their journey to America. Depending on the character, there are many differences and similarities between the two experiences in the books. In this collection of novels, there is no set idea of what “home” really is, but that it depends on each person’s own beliefs and

The home is viewed as an important value in the family. During a child’s childhood that house holds memories of the first time riding a bike, birthday parties or even marking their height on the wall as they grew throughout the years to come. To have the best home to live in it is viewed as a necessity and we believe that it should look its

Home is a place where one naturally lives or is located, or a point of origin. Although these definitions may display many similarities between a house and a home, a home is so much more than a house. Home is a place someone can call their own. A place where they don't feel pressured to be someone other than themselves. Home can be a country that you were born in or raised in. It can be a place away from the constant noise and stress of everyday life, where you feel welcome. Home might even be a future destination. There is no limit to the amount of homes you can have throughout a lifetime.

A physical house is where most people would identify their home. I, however, believe a home is so much more than the physical location. A place to call home is great, but without a feeling of security and kinship, it means absolutely nothing. A home has to shape you, and effect you in ways that no other place can. It takes a really special combination of values to make the perfect home, therefore, home is not comprised of one entity, but multiple. It comes together in the form of a physical place with familiar features, a structure inside which gives a sense of security, and its lasting impact on your life and personality.

The pure meaning of traveling is what you make of it. De Botton talks about having trouble finding happiness in familiar places. This becomes apparent to De Botton when he states, “The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to” (Botton 61). We tend to gain excitement of traveling based on the places we go to and not the small details around us. Gaining more knowledge of this mindset, we could make much more out of even our local town. It is said that receptivity is the chief characteristics to a travelling mindset. Approaching new places with the idea of them being interesting we would be much more intrigued about the places we travel to. When talking about a travelling mindset De Botton states, “We approach new places with humility” (Botton 62). Every new place has a true meaning to it. It seems unimaginable that even places like our own bedroom could be fascinating. The most pivotal point De Botton reveals is to explore new places with a travelling mindset. Be more aware of each item around you rather than luxury of the place.

Other than the roof, bricks, walls, lights and other components needed to build a home, what truly makes a home a home? One might believe that the tangible items such as a bed or sofa or television constitute the real value of a home. In contrast, one may believe that a home is less about material items and rather more about the individuals such as parents, kids and other loved ones who live together and make memories in the same house and thus generate the true value of a home. A home allows for relationships to be formed inside of it while also creating lifelong memories between people as they carry out their daily lives in the household. The divergence in considering the main function of a home is exhibited in Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story “This Blessed House” in her book collection The Interpreter of Maladies and P Diddy’s song “Coming Home.” Both works deal with the notion of the true value of a home, and it is evident that P Diddy’s song corroborates the notion that a home is more about the individuals who reside inside it and the memories created in it; whereas, in “This Blessed House”, the main characters Sanjeev and Twinkle primarily believe that a home is more about the material items inside it.

For some people it is not the home that comforts them, but it is the people that live in it, their family is what comforts them rather than the home. For other people the home is a place that holds nothing more than bad memories that they want nothing more than to forget.

Home is like a finished puzzle, so many pieces included, but they all fit together to make a warming scene. My sister’s house has always been home to me no matter where she lived. A place where I feel accepted and unjudged. My nephews are home to me, they fill me with unconditional love and I return the same. A place that is relaxing and all my anxiety suddenly fades away.

He argues that people should treasure their home place and take necessary measures to improve its image (Emerson 44). Travelling presents the actual nature of other people’s creations and inhibits the traveler’s ability to come up with new designs. Emerson’s main argument in travel is that self-reliant people refrain from moving physically to historical sites. Instead, such people allow their minds to stray to such places and imagine how it could look like. In presenting this argument, Emerson insists that people should never be contented with the achievements of other people (43). He notes that such imagination equips the person with wisdom and knowledge to advance counter arguments about certain uplifted travel destinations. With such wisdom, the person not only proves to be self –reliant, but he also achieves recognition as different person with life-changing

Cavafy symbolizes home and the meaning it portrays. Many think of home as a place of love and family, or the opposite; a place of struggle of hatred. But in reality, home starts a journey no matter what home one comes from. As Cavafy reminds others about the symbolization of home “keep Ithaka always in your mind” wanting the reader to remember home (Cavafy 25). Home makes you a better person because it is where you reflect on all the wrongs and goods that one has gone through. Thus, causings people to become a better person and is another reason how the journey matters more than the destination. Spreading knowledge, the author explains how “you will understand by then what these...means” referring to home (Cavafy 37). The author is restating the power of home one last time. He continues to say that home brings wisdom to many, and many times, one will not realize it until they grow old. To put into other words, he is rephrasing what parents say “you will understand when you are older.” All in all, Cavafy uses a metaphor to compare Ithaca, the home of the epic hero Odysseus, to home. All the lessons through home make that journey that everyone takes greater than the

     The home can be defined as the social unit formed by a family living together. So the home is not a place, or is it? It has been said that ‘the home is where the heart is’, but where is your heart? The home is also, perhaps, where your family is. A man who has a family does not feel at home when away from them. This is not only because his heart is with his family, but because he is somewhere