Analyse af Ronald Frames novelle 'Coming Home'

Coming Home is a fictive short story by Ronald Frame that follows Chris, the main character, through the days from Boxing Day to the 7th January in 1953. Chris sees a film after he have tidied up the workshop. The film is about a busy family that sends there elderly away to a spa and the elders returned home in sadness, short after the mother dies and the busy family have to fit in a funeral to a busy schedule. The film makes Chris thinking about his own parents. He calls his parents and they agree that he comes visiting them next week. On the 3rd January he puts up a sign on his workshop, away, and thinks “BACK IN 4 DAYS”. On his visit he sees and hears how his parents are after they won in the lottery. He also hears that his mother hopes for him to find a girl he could settle down with and he thinks about why they aren’t happy that he can live by himself. In the end he comes home, take away the sign, and thinks that this is his home sweet home.

Characterize Chris.

Chris is a man that lives alone in his workshop. He is easily affected by films, because in the start Chris sees a film that reminds him of how long it have been sins he have seen his parents. He is the kind of guy that likes space and silence, because he gets a bit irritated on the way to his parents in the packed train. There is no information about Chris’ appearance or age, but there is information about his way of thinking and a bit about his past and education. He is working with wood, because the grain is mentioned in one of Chris’ thoughts, so he is most likely good at making tables, chairs, and other wooden made furniture or decorations. Chris might be the old fashion kind, because he thinks a lot about old days while his parents have followed the fashion by watching telly, throwing out old books, and stuffing their home with new furniture and made the garden less overgrow. He doesn’t like the thought about finding a girl and settle down with her, because he hears his mother asking his father about it and thinks about he have a good life right now, why change it.