Where The World Began By Margaret Laurence Analysis

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Moving Home In “Where the World Began” by Margaret Laurence, the author describes her hometown, a small prairie in Canada called Neepawa. She paints a vivid picture of Neepawa; its nature, its buildings, its inhabitants, both alive and dead. For Laurence, her hometown is not “uninteresting”, or “dull”, as the stereotype about small towns goes. In fact, even after having explored many different locations such as England and Africa, this little town is the place she is most drawn to. She provides the reason for this strong attraction herself: "Because that settlement and that land were my first and for many years my only real knowledge of this planet, in some profound way they remain my world, my way of viewing. My eyes were formed there". Laurence draws a strong bond between home and personality throughout the essay, giving immense importance to the influence of her childhood home on her adult outlook. She concludes by telling the reader: "This is where my world began … A world which formed me, and continues to do so, even while I fought it in some of its aspects, and continue to do so. A world which gave me my own lifework to do, because it was here that I learned the …show more content…

The essay is Didion’s account of a visit she made to her family house in the Central Valley of California for her daughter’s first birthday and how she found herself facing her past at every turn. According to Didion, family life was “the source of all tension and drama” in her life. She mentions over and over that being home gave her a sense of unease, “some nameless anxiety”, but despite this she suggests that home, and the emotional baggage that came with leaving home, defined the character of her generation and she sees it as essential in having formed her personality. Didion ends the essay with the rather upsetting revelation that she “would like to give [her daughter] home for her birthday but we live differently

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