Literary notes about Home (AI summary)
The word “home” in literature serves as a multifaceted symbol that can denote physical shelter, emotional sanctuary, or even the loss of belonging. It is portrayed as a place where relationships are forged and life’s routines unfold—whether it is conceptualized as the nurturing environment for friendships and family life [1], a destination after long journeys or daily labors [2], [3], or even as a site of longing and isolation when it’s absent [4], [5]. Authors use “home” not only to ground their characters in a tangible space but also to evoke deeper themes of security, identity, and the bittersweet tension between comfort and confinement. This duality enriches narratives by imbuing the simple term with layers of cultural, emotional, and existential significance [6], [7].
- When Solon answered that friendships were best made at home, Anacharsis said, "Well then, do you, who are at home, enter into friendship with me."
— from Plutarch's Lives, Volume 1 (of 4) by Plutarch - So staying late talking in the Queen’s side, I away, with W. Hewer home, and there to read and talk with my wife, and so to bed.
— from The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete by Samuel Pepys - "Now then, we must walk her home as fast as we can.
— from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - I was without home, without friends, without work, without money, and without any definite knowledge of which way to go, or where to look for succor.
— from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass - I am a man without a home, a son of a Brahman and a Samana.
— from Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse - “Yes, the mother came last night to look for me about nine o'clock, the child not having come home at seven to supper.
— from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant - Jean Valjean returned home utterly overwhelmed.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
