Summary Of Home Place By Guy Vanderhaeghe

Happiness will endlessly be bound by the pressure to choose. Having the choice to either compromise or pursue joy in our lives, is what makes being happy more fulfilling. For some, compromising their happiness is a way to please other people or the idea of their future. In his short story “Home Place”, Guy Vanderhaeghe explores this topic and more, as we go through a fathers responsibility in fostering happiness in his son. The short story examines Gil and his son Ronald, who rushes through marriage in order to inherit a massive family farm owned by Gil, and past generations of his family. Gil is a man represented by his commitment and the work he displays on his farm. Ronald is represented as lazy and unbothered, as if his life is tethered
Gil, looking out for Ronald, knew that Darlene was “stamped with trouble”, and figured that Ronald would come back to him and realize his mistake. Ronald however, seeing how dedicated Gil is to the farm and how much Gil wants him to be like himself, feels responsible for running the farm and getting married as soon as possible. This can be represented by the toy airplanes suspended in the air in his old room. When Ronald was younger, he built and crafted these airplanes with joy and bliss. As Gil continues to work on the farm, Ronald continues to craft his airplanes, in hopes one day he’ll fly one. When Gil offers Ronald the farm, however, Ronald now feels like he has a need to comply and work on the farm. Doing this will sacrifice his dreams and hobbies, but not taking the farm will feel like sacrificing his family. So he moved to the farm with Darlene, like his plane was flying away from him. This is a great example of sacrificing happiness to make others happy. It’s just that in this case Ronald isn’t making other people happy; The main reason he took the farm in the first place is to make his dad (Gil) happy, yet he only feels culpable for giving Ronald the offer. Gil is also a great example of sacrificing and pursuing