Point of
View and Home of the Brave
by Katherine Applegate
Lucky CFG readers assigned to read Home of the Brave (HOB), I greet you and congratulate you on having
splendid teachers who assign such splendid books. As Kek reminds us, “to go to
school and learn is a fine honor.” (page 63)
The late fiction writer and teacher, John Gardner, famously
said there are only two kinds of plots: 1. A
man goes on a journey, and 2. A
stranger comes to town. Home of the
Brave uses both plots. Kek goes on a journey to America, and for those he
meets, he is the stranger who comes to town.
Fiction invites us to use imagination and empathy
to come as close as we can to seeing the world through another’s eyes.
Katherine Applegate has never been a Sudanese refugee in Minneapolis, but with
time, research, and careful listening, she created a character who allowed us
to imagine what a real refugee might feel upon arriving in America.
In studying fiction, we talk a lot about Point of View
(or POV). Who is speaking? What do they see? What do they feel? What did they
know beforehand? What do they understand, and not understand? How might their
past experiences shape how they react to things today?
Through Kek’s eyes, we see our own world as if for the first
time. (Minneapolis isn’t Boston, but it’s close enough. Especially in winter!) Through
Kek’s point of view, we see how coming to America from a war-torn place can be
a blessing of safety and opportunity, and also a source of pain, loss, fear, and
loneliness.
Kek’s confusion over things we understand provides much of
the humor and fun of the story, and is the source of some of Kek’s day-to-day
problems. Did you cringe when you saw him load the dirty dishes into the
laundry machine? I did! His puzzlement over idioms and sayings we use
all the time, such as “What’s up?” and “Those kids will eat you alive” and
“Keep your eyes open” and “Get your feet wet” was charming and funny. But there
were times when the contrast between what he was used to, and what he
encountered in America, was overwhelming to him.
Think, for example, of Kek’s first visit to a grocery store.
I’ll bet that you expected Kek would be amazed by all the food. You might have
predicted that. But when he touched a veggie and began to cry, I was surprised.
Were you? Peering more closely through his POV and memories, I began to
understand. Of course, someone who had lived in a tent with a baby starving to
death, someone who had waited in line for nine hours for a handful of grain,
would be more than surprised at the
sight of an American grocery store. It
might be horrifying to realize that while his loved ones back home die for want
of basic food, many Americans can have fresh food daily, and their pick of snacks
and treats.
