The Theme of The Cider House Rules

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During my senior year of high school, I often had dreams about leaving my parents house. Fantasizing about freedom and, the ability to come and go as I wished took the place of time designated for class work. I was tired of being told what to do, and I grew weary of the monotony of taking out the garbage and cleaning my room. Being told to come in the house by 10 pm while my friends stayed until 12 pm seemed unfair to me. The media bombarded my mind with the idea that being a football captain in senior year was supposed to be filled with keg parties, and orgies with cheerleaders. Schoolwork and housework weren't a a part of my 12th grade master plan.

My thinking continued in this manner until I happened across a movie named "The Cider House Rules." It made me sit back and look at how ungrateful I was. I have both of my parents still alive and still together in the same house. I named about 15 friends who would praise God if they had what I had. Similar to my situation the main character in the Cider House Rules, Homer, was also desperate for a change of venue. Tired of the his mundane duties as a caretaker in the same orphanage that raised him, a way out became the only thing on his newly one tracked mind. The Cider House Rules is the tale of homer's struggle to find himself and to escape the grasp of the orphanage that was his prison.

The story of Homer Wells, a child without parents who is raised and mentored by his orphanage's doctor, a man named Larch. Their bond was somewhat of an extraordinary one. Larch taught Homer everything about medicine and what he could about right and wrong. All Homer wanted was one thing Larch couldn't give him, freedom. Given the chance to leave the orphanage, and the only family he's ever k...

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... him coming in the distance and was so filled with joy that he ran as fast as he could to meet his son. I learned from the mistakes of others, even if they are fictitious characters. Leaving home is inevitable, choosing the right time may be the most important thing.

We all want to gain our independence and feel like a Man (or Woman). As young people its almost instinctive for us to want to get away from the evil clutches of "Mom and Dad." The old cliché is ringing in my head like the emergency broadcast system, "You never miss the water until the well runs dry." Which really makes me think about being grateful for what we have, even though it seems to add up to chopped liver when compared to the joys of the world. Just like Homer and the Prodigal son, after "sowing our oats" we come to greater appreciate where home actually is, and we'll be glad to get there.

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