In the first leg of his journey, a pastor assumes that Smithy is homeless and helps him out a lot. he gets him food, clothes, etc. He even gave Smithy that little "home is in your heart, you carry it with you" spiel. Smithy is too awkward and a little awestruck to get it out that he actually does have somewhere he could go to. The priest is really nice, but something that's been nagging at me is the question; "would have the pastor helped Smithy if he'd know the full story?" I think yes. There isn't some contract that says priests can only help homeless people. The priest is a really nice guy, and seems very understanding and sympathetic to emotional and spiritual (duh) needs. He would probably have still helped Smithy out, because I would at least partially grasp that the journey would be necessary for Smithy's well-being.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Homelessness
Something that came up a lot on the novel was the question of Smithy's homelessness. Throughout the book, there are instances where people don't necessarily state directly that they think he's homeless, but imply it through their actions. It's not hard to see where they're coming from. He looks shaggy and dirty. Plus, he's not a young man anymore and usually homeless pepole (or at least the ones I've seen) are at least on the young side of middle-aged. Is he homeless or not? I suppose legally, or officially or whatever, the answer is no. But, an argument could be made for yes. Although he has his apartment (possibly) and his parents' old house, while he's actually on the journey to Los Angeles he could be considered homeless. He doesn't have anywhere to stay and he keeps moving from place to place. He's not on a very consistent method of transportation like a bus, train, plane, etc. I know he's not really homeless, but he's kind of living like he is.
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I never really thought about this before...it's a really interesting point though! I wouldn't necessarily consider Smithy homeless, since he does have a home and a support base in Norma back in East Providence. But throughout his journey, he doesn't have a home readily accessible for him to stay in. I'd think of it like extreme backpackers/campers, who go out into the wilderness with little stuff and without shelter, but do have a home and a base of support somewhere. They're not homeless, but taking a break from home for a while, at least in my opinion. And that's how I saw Smithy throughout his journey.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I suppose that, even though Smithy does have a home, it isn't really accessible to him on his journey. I suppose that would make him homeless from a certain standpoint.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jacob in that this is an interesting topic to think about. I have come to the conclusion that the term "homelessness" is both a physical state (of not have a home) and a psychological state of mind (where you may have a physical home, but don't feel like you belong there). So, in Smithy's case, he has a physical home, but since it belongs to his parents and houses too many bad memories of his neglected childhood, I don't think he feels like he belongs there, so he goes on a journey to tie up the loose ends of his life and find a new home where he belongs.
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