Coming Home again

            The story Coming Home Again by Chang-rae Lee is about a Korean family that burdens a mother who is dying of stomach cancer. The story’s protagonist is a young man who reflects and analyzes his relationship with his mother. As a boy the main character is fascinated by his mothers cooking. His mothers cooking represents the eternal bond of the mother child relationship. This is very powerful because of how real it is. I know from my own experience growing up, as a kid who was very fortunate when it came to eating home cooked food that home cooked food isn’t like giving someone a gift or doing work for them. A cooked meal is nourishment and somewhat personal.

            For the protagonist in the story his mothers cooking is special because it’s what makes her his mother. He also really appreciates a home cooked meal after going to boarding school. I can definitely relate to this because I went from living on campus to living at home and both settings have their perks. When I was at school I was around my piers all the time but I didn't have the luxury of cooked food. Now that I commute I am around my piers when I choose to be and I have the luxury of home cooked food. I can’t make a decision about which is better; they both have their strengths. If I was the main character I probably would have reacted the same way when asked If there was any regret when leaving for school.

“The meat needs the bone nearby,” she said, “to borrow its richness.”

I chose this quote because I think it tells the metaphor for the story. I think that in the story the meat is the mother and the bone is her child. After her child went away to boarding school there was a big sense of loss. This is represented in the story by how distant they tell us the mother is. I wonder if the cancer developed in her stomach because she could no longer borrow the richness, or energy from her son. I don't think this is too far of a stretch because in the story they tell us that these two people were kind of destined for each other.  Not to mention the cancer hit her right in the stomach.