What is the narrator’s home? Is home the kitchen? His mother? The house he grew up in? Why?
In “Coming Home Again” by Chang-rae Lee I think the food and kitchen were home to him. The food and kitchen were a way to connect with his mom, when he was there or away at school. The food always happened to be there. When he was at home, he was always in the kitchen watching his mom or preparing food himself. He started watching her when he was 6 or 7.She would ask him to run along and play with his friends or to do his homework.
His first 6 weeks away from home; he lost his since for food. When he stepped in the hotel room that really rooted home for him. It was important. He lost that since because he was eating Americanized cafeteria food at school. He longed for the smell of the foods being made in his kitchen.
Hi Samantha,
ReplyDeleteI agree that his "home" is both his mother's food and the kitchen. What do you think that means? How would the narrator define home? He comes "home" again, but what do you think he means by that? Will he never have a home again, now that his mother is dead?
Why do you think "home" doesn't matter to him when he was a teen?
Take care,
Lauren
I agree the kitchen is where families bond together while eating or hangin out preparing meals, the one place families seem to congregate. The kitchen is like a meeting room for families it is the most shared room in the house "the hub" of the home. But if you think about it families also communicate here, organize mail, plan meals and everyone washes and put dishes away so the family has a routine in this room of where things go that is shared.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reading
Daye
I think that the kitchen is the home because the name of the story is "Coming Home Again". His mother's kitchen is his home. He grew up watching her cook there, and he had taken over the cooking duties in his mother's failing health. I think that the narrator felt that because he wass back in his mother's kitchen he was home again.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam -
ReplyDeleteI agree Chang-rae identified his home through his mother's cooking. She poured her love for her family into her cooking. I like how you pointed out, the food his mother made and the kitchen where she prepared the food was home for him.
Thank you,
Sarah Baker