1 THEY ALL WENT AWAY

"They all went away"

Waleska Luciano Devry

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House versus Home, is there a difference? A house is a foundational structure that shelters you and your loved ones. It normally has separate, private rooms. It has eating quarters, areas for sleeping, space for family gatherings or entertainment and in modern homes a place to even watch your favorite shows. A house is the place where a person lives, but that could come in many forms. One could live in an apartment, a trailer, a ranch or even an igloo, all of these are houses. A home is made by the people within, home is the place where you and your loved ones share experience a life time of memories, not all homes are happy. The house is merely the skeleton, the home is the soul that resonates within the walls of that frame. Your home is your family and no matter where you are or where you find yourself, if you are with the ones you love, you will be at home. In the stories "Westbury Court" by Edwidge Danticat and "They all just went away" by Joyce Carol Oates, we discover unexpected situations that both authors experienced while in their adolescence. For instance, in the story "Westbury Court", young Edwidge Danticat witnesses the death of her neighbor's children that occurred in the apartment next door to her home. The children were playing with a book of matches that set their apartment on fire, killing them both. Danticat shares her empathy and sorrows within her story. The story truly highlights the guilt she later endures because she was not aware of the danger she and her siblings were in. Her mother shared a thought that Danticat never forgot, "See, this is what happens to children who plays with matches. Sometimes it is too late to say, 'I shouldn't have (WestBury Court, Danticat)" Edwidge Danticat reveals that until the day of the fire, she never thought of leaving Westbury Court. Westbury Court was her home and it took a tragic incident to shake the sense of safety and trust she once had for her home. If love and family equal home, perhaps love for a place equal home as well. We might love our house, our neighborhood, our state and country and never be

3 THEY ALL WENT AWAY able to consider another place to live. It would then make sense that a terrible incident has to occur to cut off the feeling of "home" in any environment. City life and country living are different, although they can share many similarities. In the story "They all just went away" author Joyce Carol Oates shares with her readers a story that occurred when she was young. She elaborates with great detail the atmosphere where she grew up. She emphasizes the abandoned homes she loved to visit and explore by her family's farmhouse. She also describes the hours she spent tramping desolate fields, woods and creeks. Joyce Carol Oates mentions "I must have been a lonely child (Oates, 1995)" because she found some type of entertainment when she would explore the surrounding wilderness. Most of all, she highlighted the terrible story of her neighbors "The Weidels" and the ordeals that took place in that dysfunctional home. If I were to dissect the differences between each story, I would have to say in Westbury Court Danticat is personally effected by the events and the dangers that arose, while in They All Went Away, Joyce is more of an observer with no personal attachment. The experience changed Danticats perspective of her once safe home, tainting the good memories she had and turning her home into a house. On the other hand Joyce, in her role as an observer, was personally unaffected by the events that occurred in the Weidel house because it did not happen in her home. Although she witnessed tragedy up close, she learned that some families are different. Where Danticat carried a sense of guilt and regret from her experience, Joyce was left with a sense of curiosity that lead her, in later years, to re-associate herself with eldest Weidel daughter. Can a dysfunctional environment still be considered a home? Perhaps this is what fed Joyces curiosity and kept her coming back for more. My personal experiences include both urban and suburban living. Living in the city, one tends to adapt more to the surroundings and dangerous situations become the norm. As a child growing up in Brooklyn, the sounds of people screaming, fighting and gunshots were the normal ambience of the

4 THEY ALL WENT AWAY night. It took a personal experience to realize where I grew up and where my home was. It was when I moved to the suburbs that I realized it was not normal to live in hiding in your own home. I found myself becoming friendlier, because in the city you never say hello to your neighbor, you keep to yourself and mind your own business. Life in the suburbs is homier, the people are friendlier and holidays are real. With that being said, Brooklyn will always be my home because before I came to the realization of the dangers in the area, it was a place of wonder for me and the first home I remember. Even though Brooklyn, in that time, was very dangerous, it was still my home because I was surrounded by the people I loved. In my personal story, we were the ones that went away. In house versus home, the differences are many. One can live in any house, but it takes great experiences to make it a true home. The walls of a house may give shelter and protect one from the outside world, but it is the family within that truly shelters you and provides you with safety and other good qualities that the house itself does not. Home is the soul of the family, no matter what structure you reside within. Home moves with you, where the house remains behind. A temporary site where the memories one carries for a lifetime are built and I find solace in that thought.

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References

Danticat, E. (n.d.). Westbury court. Retrieved October 19, 2013 from http://english.basd.k12.wi.us/mocarski/collegeenglish/WESTBURYCOURT.rtf.

Oates, J. (1995, October). They all just went away. The New Yorker. Retrieved October 19, 2013, from http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1995/10/16/1995_10_16_178_TNY_CARDS_000373438