Homesick by Guy Vanderhaeghe

2007 Words5 Pages

Exposing the relationships between the various characters

Homesick is a novel that exposes many different relationships, the strength of relationships, and how they can endure tremendous pain. The various relationships between Alec and Vera, Alec and Daniel, and Vera and Daniel are considerably different because of the variation in generation represented by each character. Each relationship in this family has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the past of the relationships. The relationships in the novel Homesick are seen through all of the character's eyes, so we can see how each character felt about the other characters. These characters do not tend to say what they think, we can see this many times throughout the novel. These relationships can be observed by seeing how they act, speak, and treat one another.

The old cliché Money doesn't buy happiness is especially true for Alec because even though he has a great sum of money, he has no one to share it with. He greatly regrets the decisions he made that led to the unfortunate consequence of the separation with his daughter and is ashamed of the choices he made in his life, mostly of them regarding Vera and Earl. The novel begins with Alec's dreams about falling through the water and being trapped underneath the ice. To be abandoned, he thought, felt worse than the ice cold water. (Vanderhaeghe, p.2).

Vera, on the other hand, believes all of the decisions she has made were the right ones. Vera thinks the way she raised Daniel was the correct approach to doing it and that it could not have been any better. She thought it was better to raise Daniel without a male influence in his life so he would not be corrupt and ruined like her father. Vera also believes that running away was the right choice and the only choice she had, because if she had stayed with her father, her life would be a wreck.

From the beginning of the novel, we can note a conflict between Alec and Vera. Their relationship is not what an average father daughter relationship looked like. Vera greatly regretted moving back to Connaught, but seeing as how it was her only option if she wanted a future for Daniel, she had to take it. Even though they were separated for seventeen years, their memories and impressions of each other were still the same as they were in the past.

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