2010, Form B. “You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you.” —Sonsyrea Tate (Open Prompt for Sept.16th)

Sonsyrea Tate’s statement suggests that “home” may be conceived of as a dwelling, a place, or a state of mind. It may have positive or negative associations, but in either case, it may have a considerable influence on an individual. Choose a novel or play in which a central character leaves home yet finds that home remains significant. Write a well-developed essay in which you analyze the importance of “home” to this character and the reasons for its continuing influence. Explain how the character’s idea of home illuminates the larger meaning of the work. Do not merely summarize the plot.


John Green's novel, Looking For Alaska, begins with a teenage boy about to move from his parent's home into a boarding school in a different state. The boy, Miles, never really had much of an emotional connection to his house or his school. He didn't have many friends, didn't go out on the weekends, wasn't very extroverted at all. His home was what Tate would probably describe as merely a 'dwelling'. Something more temporary and convenient, rather than a place that holds a deeper meaning to someone than calling it their 'house'. It was his house, not really a home.




Miles moves into a dorm with his new roommate Chip, or as he is known on campus, 'The Colonel'.
Miles himself is soon given a new name of 'Pudge' once he starts to find friends in his roommate and other classmates. What began as a move for his education became a larger picture - a journey to find himself, his companions, and what life was about. He falls in love with a young woman named Alaska Young, who introduces him to the question that follows him throughout the book - 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?' - a quote from Alaska's favorite last words from Simon Bolivar. Following Alaska's death, Pudge and The Colonel are struggling to find the answer to the question, to which a synonymous question for them becomes more like, "How do you deal with life's struggles?" 




For once, Pudge has found in this question and through Alaska's friendship and tragic death what appears to be a home. A place with people he truly loves and feels a connection to, who go through the same difficulties and ask the same questions. I saw the book as answering larger questions, almost not just as a story meant for entertainment, but a novel that people of all ages can relate to and find answers in. Home is where you live your life to the best of your abilities, it's where you have anyone you consider to be your family and a place where you feel like yourself. Pudge came to the school having left a 'house', not knowing that in the boarding school he would find out that a home isn't just a roof over your head, a bed to sleep in, a kitchen to eat in. Home is one of, if not the biggest, things we as humans try to find. Going through schooling living with your immediate family, going through friendships, etc. Then leaving for college, or moving to find a job, or whatever it is you're going to do with your life. That's just the thing we're looking for - what to do with our lives, and where we're going to be. Living life in your home. I think Pudge found home at the boarding school both as a place to be and as a state of mind.