How does the concept of “home” play out for each of the three women, and in what ways did it shape them? In what ways was your sense of home shaped by your life experiences?
Home for June was a physical structure that represented security. She literally acted the way she did to preserve the house for herself that she felt Elwood owed her. And what that house symbolized.
For Eva, home was the family she lost and the man she believed she had lost forever with whom she was denied the joy of establishing their own home and family. She was a reluctant nomad, torn from her homeland by war and never having a place to really settle down after that.
Melanie had a home in Omaha with her parents, but didn’t fully appreciate what it meant to her and how important that anchor was in her life. She was searching for a different home in Hollywood and finally realized that she could go back to the safety and love her parents’ home offered her so that they could meet Nicky and support/shelter her.
I grew up in the house my parents built and moved into when I was 2 1/2 years old. I don’t remember living anywhere else. They lived in that home the rest of their lives, and I still own it. It represents the formative years of my life and is full of countless memories. Their handiwork is everywhere in that structure. It represents what they worked for, dreamed of (security, having survived the Great Depression), and their determination to provide a better life for their children than they had while growing up. To this day, my concept of “home” is founded on a combination of having a secure place in the world and being surrounded by those I love who also love me.
Home can be the physical structure or the one that is held in your heart. For each of the three protagonists, home is quite different. Eva is trying to make her home. She lost everything during the war right down to her name. Eva is trying to reconcile what she has been through and what the future will hold in terms of finding her new home. Melanie left her childhood home to create a new home for herself, but that has been taken from her by mere association and the addition of her name to “the list.” June is the only one that has a physical home and it is by no means a traditional situation. It is also one that she created. I have only known two permanent homes during my lifetime. The home of my parents and later the home of my marriage. I feel so fortunate that both have grounded me throughout my life. Neither has always been smooth sailing, but together, in both situations, we have had safe passages during even the most difficult of times. Home for me has been found in both the physical structure and in my heart.
Home meant a different thing to all three women. For Melanie, home meant the structure that she grew up in. For June it was the structure that she lived in with Elwood. For Eva, home was her entire country and the family that she lost.
I lived in the same house when I was growing up and that home means family and stability and lots of happy memories.
June had found her place of love - her home, where she felt the love she had for both brothers. Eva had not found her home, she was still displaced. She felt comfortable at June’s house, but I dont’think she found home until she was found by Sasha, he represented the true love she had lost and never thought she would ever find again. Melanie was blocking her true home, the place where she had grown up and been so eager to leave. When she finally realized that home was family, she returned with her nephew to the place she knew he was safest.
My childhood home still holds memories, so does my lake house, the place where I feel my shoulders drop and my breath slow, where I feel safest.