Page 89 - Writes of Passage
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“Wherever are you (hic) going to (hic), Ratty?” cried the tearful Mole, looking up in alarm.
“We’re going to find that home of yours, old fellow,” replied the Rat pleasantly; “so you had better come along, for it will take some finding, and we shall want your nose.”
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, published in 1908, has a timeless appeal, despite the fact that it is about relationships between male characters only, and although its rose-tinted view of the world does not appeal to everyone. One of the reasons for its timelessness, I think, is not only the strand of comedy in the tale of the bumptious Toad (which many enjoy) but, for me, two underlying themes. One (expressed particularly in the chapter Wayfarers All) is the desire to travel and see the world and experience everything you can. The other, expressed in this chapter, Dulce Domum, which translates as “Home Sweet Home”, is about the wish to belong. Both of those are influential forces in our childhood – and indeed all our lives. Wanting to have adventures, and wanting a place to call home. The pull of home may never have been so well evoked.
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