In her essay Homeless, Anna Quindlen portrays the struggle that people who have lost their homes have to undergo. A homeless person just wants a place to call their own, and that's why some prefer not to go to shelters and seek refuge in the streets, subways, and parks because the shelter only provides a place to stay. The perception of the home has changed across generations. Therefore, people should change their opinion of homelessness in line with the changes. It is a place of comfort and security. Over the years, people's connection with their homes has been lost as well as a sense of pride of owning a home. It is possible to work around the crisis presented by having homeless people in the streets by understanding that they need a place to call home and not a place to stay. According to Anna Quindlen, a home is a place where despite its location or size it provides a sense of ownership and people carry on their everyday lives while making memories as can be demonstrated in the TV series Friends and How I Met Your Mother.
As Quindlen’s essay indicates, times have changed and people do not have permanent houses to call home because houses have become places where one lives for a couple of years before they find somewhere else. Many years ago, the home was a place where a person lived with their parents and grandparents. In the TV show Friends, there is Monica's apartment where each member of the cast has called home for a couple of years. As Anna explains, current times dictate that we temporarily call a place home before we eventually find somewhere else to live. Monica's grandmother was the official tenant of the apartment. She moved to Florida, and Monica took up occupancy and started subletting the apartment. Her chef's salary was not sufficient for her to live in the apartment. At one time, Ross calls the apartment home for some time when he lives there with his grandmother as he attends dancing classes in the summer. The cast members also celebrate holidays in the apartment such as Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays. In the show, Monica’s friends come to live with her temporarily when faced with various situations. Eventually, Monica and Chandler start dating, and Chandler moves into the apartment. At the end of the series, Monica and Chandler move to a new house to start a family. Just like Quindlen states for current generations, a home is temporary for most people.
As Quindlen notes in the Homeless essay, the lack of a home makes people appreciate what once they called home. The series is sometimes also set in Joey's and Chandler's apartment. Most of the main action occurs in Monica's apartment. For Joey and Chandler, their home is a sanctuary where they drink beer, play video games, and watch television shows. When compared to Monica's apartment it is less tidy but more modest than Monica's apartment. Joey's and Chandler's apartment was a testament to the lazy lifestyles the two friends preferred. When at one time their kitchen table breaks they resolve to eat on the sink. Just like Anna indicated in her essay, home does not have to be comfortable. At one time during a game that involved Joey, Chandler, Rachel, and Monica, Monica decides to raise their apartment as one of the stakes, and when they lose, and they switch apartments with Joey and Chandler. It is clear that Rachel and Monica are not comfortable in their new apartment and after some time they kiss so that they can get their apartment back. They had gotten used to calling their apartment home, and so they decided to concede to get their home back.
Anna Quindlen writes that she loves her home regardless of where it is located or its appearance. For her, a home represents certainty, stability, predictability, and privacy. In the TV series How I Met Your Mother, Ted bought a house in 2010 after Clint married his mother. On the wedding day, people him reminded that he was still single and had not found someone to live with yet. So as a first step Ted bought the house for his future family. The house needed numerous repairs, and despite being advised to discard off the property, Ted upheld that he would keep the house. He had plenty of ideas for the house, and he was determined to make it habitable. Anna writes that when you have a home, you are somebody. For Ted, the house represented his hopes and dreams, and he was willing to work on it until the torn down house became a home for his family. Within four years he had managed to turn the house into the home he wanted.
In the Homeless essay, Anna indicates that in recent times homes have become mere real estate. The situation is so critical such that children have never had the experience of having a room and men and women are left to fantasize about owning homes. In the series How I met your mother, Lilly and Marshall get married and they get a new apartment (Bays, Carter, and Craig Thomas 123). However, they cannot move out of the apartment because there are various structural issues with their new home. They have to fix their new home because they have moved to another stage of life where they will need a larger space to raise a family. Further in the series, everyone moves out of the Apartment. Throughout the series, everyone except Barney had called the Apartment home. The Apartment has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen which was somewhat crowded. The real estate situation in the United States has become so dire with people and families living in overcrowded spaces and when life situations change they have to look for a house to adapt to their new situation.
The increase in population and the effects of globalization have had a negative impact on the housing sector as more people become homeless. Anna Quindlen narrates the plight of the homeless and demonstrates how important it is for anyone who has a roof over their head to appreciate it despite its conditions. Quindlen's sentiments are portrayed in the TV series Friends and How I Met Your Mother. The living conditions of the characters demonstrate some of the issues that are prevalent in the current living situations of most American people. By talking about the details of the situation and adopting a view of the importance of a home, it is possible to become more sensitized about the state of homelessness in the United States and formulate solutions.
Works Cited
Bays, Carter, and Craig Thomas. How I met your mother. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2005.
Quindlen, Anna. "Homeless." The Bedford Reader (1988).
Quaglio, Paulo. Television dialogue: The sitcom Friends vs. natural conversation. Vol. 36. John Benjamins Publishing, 2009.
