Home

A major dynamic in the story is Liz’s longing for home, coupled with the realization that she might never be able to return to her home as she knows it if she does not win the prom scholarship and prevent her grandparents from selling their house. Home represents familiarity and safety for Liz before her mother passed away but even more so after she is gone. After everything Liz has had to let go of, for example the dream of her mother seeing her graduate high school and enter college, the house becomes immensely important. Her memories of her mother are tied to the physical space they shared. She feels that “This house is the last place we ever heard our mom’s voice, the last place she was ever loud and vibrant and irrepressibly alive. Her touch still lingers on the couch in the...