The concept of 'home' in Henry James' The Ambassadors and Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie - Essay Example

Being an effective ambassador also means retaining one's loyalty to the homeland, although occupying a difference space. In Henry James' "Ambassadors" (1903), the protagonist, Lewis Strether is an American chosen to act as Mrs. Newsome's proxy in some family business. For some reason, Chadwick loses the will to return to America and to his mother, Mrs. Newsome. He has to use his powers of persuasion to urge the American-born Chadwick Newsome vacationing in Europe to return home. The concept of home is key in The Ambassadors and Sister Carrie since each character espouses a different view on home.

Home can either be one's place of nativity, a fixed abode, or a place of rest and comfort. Because of the process of maturity, love of travel, and the desire to settle with one's own family, people chose to migrate and eventually live in a new place than formerly. Home is a place in which one's feels at ease and happy. This view of home becomes more and more popular among characters who migrate and settle in a new area. Strether himself, the appointed American ambassador to Europe affirms that he "feels more and more at home" (James 34).

Happiness shared is also an integral component of what makes a home atmosphere. Chadwick was unhappy at his original home in America. As Strather observes Chadwick, he sees a man transformed by personal fulfillment and happiness, even happier than he. Soon, The Ambassador is desirous of partaking in the happiness of the American emigre. The American Dream is also a promised land of toil and hardship, yet hold out the hope of an improved lifestyle. The United States is the land of freedom and opportunity where all are in the pursuit of happiness.

All Americans are the predecessors of immigrants, boasting a proud nation of ancestors which built a nation through their daring to explore another land. As an American, Chadwick exports the heritage of Americanness to Europe-the quest for happiness and love of adventure. Strether discovers soon that America is not the only land founded on the pursuit of happiness since in Europe, Chadwick pursues and finds happiness in culture and in the woman, Madame Marie de Vionnet. The irony is that Americans rediscover happiness in another land, even The Ambassador, Strether.

While in Paris, Strather and Ms. Gosfrey who are Americans, feel at home. James describes vividly that "the circle in which they stood together was warm with life, and every question between them would live as nowhere else (James 81). Home evokes images of a world of domestic bliss and even a utopia. Furbished with many comforts and amenities, homes can either be fashionably luxurious or spare - nevertheless the true essence of a home lies not with the fixtures or appearance but in the people who live with one another.

Equally, Theodore Dreiser in his book, Sister Carrie, attests that "a lovely home atmosphere is one of the flowers of the world, than which there is nothing more tender, nothing more delicate" (Dreiser 81). Carrie, the protagonist is in quest of a home since she cannot fine true happiness in the rural area where she was born. Here, Carries begins the realize the treasure of that place called home. Home is a place for family. The eternal difference between a house and a home is family. What gives a home identity is the people who li