In the very beginning of Fledgling, Wright questions where to bring Shori in order for her to reach a safe and secure location. She responds with “Home” (page 8) but a few moments later, she reveals a more truthful statement, changing her initial answer to “I don’t really have a home” (page 8). Granted, the readers eventually find out that her inability to figure out where she lives is due to the amnesia Shori is suffering from, but nevertheless, this notion of what, or where, a home is has been lingering in my brain since my first reading in this novel.
The concept of home can be easily tied to our course’s essential questions. I believe that a home is something that brings people together. It is a common meeting ground. In Fledgling, the homes that the Ina reside in is composed of various family members, as well as various symbionts. Even if the symbionts are not linked to the other Ina members living in the estate, they are still all brought together due to their location. They share the relationship of living with one another in their home.
However, I also find it difficult to locate one specific spot as being someone’s home. As I sit in the house I grew up in as I am “home” for fall break, I can’t help but still feel a sense of homesickness towards Geneseo. I do enjoy being with my family, having my mother’s cooking, being able to see my dog, and the overall familiarity that comes with driving through the streets you were raised in. But ever since beginning my college experience, I have felt as if Geneseo’s community, atmosphere, and the friends I have made here has made the campus feel like I was raised here also. Not to mention, the majority of my belongings are all back in my apartment in Geneseo, creating the illusion that my actual home is there. I believe this confusion between the lines of permanent or real home is the confusion that the symbionts must feel. They might be living with their Ina partner and they might form a family within the Ina, but I sympathize with the humans in the aspect of that they had to pack up their lives and leave their homes for a world completely different to the world, or home, that they were previously accustomed to.
At the same time, I do attest to the fact that our homes are always changing. Last year when I was residing in the dorms, I was brought together with individuals because of our location. I shared a connection with students because they lived on my floor or because they merely lived in the same building as me. Now that I am off campus, when I see these students in passing, I no longer feel as connected to them, because we no longer share the same home. In this instance, maybe the humans are not as affected by leaving their previous home, because they feel more connected to the individuals they now live with.
Some may argue that home does not even need to be a place. Some people find their homes in other people. Or maybe home is an activity they enjoy. All in all, I think home is hard to describe. But I do not think it is hard to distinguish that home is something that brings people together.