I Must Be Going

Diana Ross gracefully sang the lyrics, “When I think of home I think of a place where there’s love overflowing.” in her performance of “Home” in The Wiz. In reminiscence of my home, it is a place where love thrives. But, home can have a plethora of definitions. In “Homeplace,” by Scott Russell Sanders, and “I Must Be Going,” by Richard Ford, home is defined in two distinct ways. Sanders believes that if one continues to move frequently, the meaning of home will dwindle. On the other hand, because Ford is always on the move he believes home is where you make it. Although, the dictionary defines home as a place of residence, these authors go beyond the dictionary’s standard definition. These essays are similar because they both suggest that …show more content…
Unfortunately, they were victims of a sequence of tornadoes. One would think that after the first strike the family would have packed up their home and moved somewhere else. Surprisingly with no hesitation, they rebuilt what was broken and stayed put. Tornado? What tornado? It was as if nothing had ever happened. Sanders concluded that since they had invested so much of their time in their homeplace, it was only a natural instinct to stubbornly stay put. By way of this illustration, readers can identify that we are always faced with choices. “Whether to go or stay, whether to move to a situation that is safer, richer, easier, more attractive, or to stick where we are and make what we can of it” (Sanders, pg.145). Based of the fact that our nation’s heroes were always on the move, he describes Americans as restless seekers. The ‘Promise Land’ was never under their feet but only over the next ridge. Also, he mentions how those who have migrated or invaded other countries have caused much mayhem and despair through destruction for development. By using the Northern Hemisphere as an example, he concludes that it isn’t necessarily a good thing that the homeplace of many people whom have migrated from different countries helped develop the soil. “In this hemisphere, many of the worst abuses have been carried out by “people who root themselves in ideas rather than places”(Sanders, pg.146). …show more content…
In “I Must Be Going,” he states that he probably moved twenty times. His reasoning being that life is too short for an individual to stay in one place. Also, his “longing’s at the heart of it” (Ford, pg.109). He describes it vividly comparing his reasoning to the way a celebrity has various homes all in different locations. They visit each one often, although they never fully live in any it is still their home. Even as a young child born and bred in Mississippi, he has been longing to see the outside world. He believed that, “the world outside … was the more magical, exotic place” (Ford, pg.109-110). Since he felt this way it shows that he always had a strong desire to move. He recalls his most memorable childhood moments were the mental snapshots of the roads leading out of the town. Even though that was his home, Ford feels differently about being at home: “home – real home – the important place that holds you, always meant that: affection, love” (Ford, pg. 110). For him, it wasn’t about where he was being loved. It was just the simple fact that he was being loved by his parents. Throughout his essay, home was always the place that held pleasant memories. This reveals that he can feel at home anywhere. As long as he could be capable of moving when he desires something new. Ford states that “memory always needs replenishing” (Ford, pg.110). He replenishes his memory by moving from place to place. Home is where