What Is The Theme Of The Story Where Is Here

In the short story “Where is Here” I think the stranger is a person who lived in the house previously but has come back to reminisce on the house, because he wants to see his childhood home, to where there was no action of his own family taking place, just to look back at it and bring back memories. I believe that the stranger is a real person but misses seeing a real “home” because he is much older now and does not live with his parents. In paragraph 2 the mother says “And where is he now? I don’t like this.” The father said, “Now he’s coming out of the garage.” This piece of evidence shows he wanted to see every part of the house, to bring back his happy memories in this house. In paragraph 4 the stranger is said to go outside and come close to the swings.

I hope he won’t sit in one of them, for memory’s sake, and try to swing–the posts are rotted almost through.” I think he is wanting to go near the swings to bring back his childhood because he does not enjoy growing older. The stranger is said to introduce himself rather shily, with moisture coming from his eyes, showing that entering back into his childhood home makes him have emotions about this. When the stranger notices the window seat he starts to come to a soft tone, thinking about the memories he had while sitting there. The narrator states, “Then, noticing the window seat, the stranger uttered a soft surprised cry, and went to sit in it. He appeared delighted: hugging his knees like a child trying to make himself smaller.” While the stranger sits in the window seat, he briefly makes a statement that his father was scary and he could not relax when he was home. The stranger says, “This is one of my happy places! At least when Father wasn’t home. I’d hide away here for hours, reading, daydreaming, staring out the window.” This could maybe be why he wanted to come back, to consider it as a “safe space” knowing his father wouldn’t be