What is "home"? "Home" can be defined in a variety of ways. Having a feeling of completeness is a main component that allows one to find such a special place. "Home" can be anywhere. Not only feeling complete, but also being able to express one self freely and having a feeling of belonging is usually where "home" is. The special place called "home" is a theme that is seen clearly in the two short stories "A Pair of Tickets" and "The Gentle Wholeness of Home". Ironically my definition of "home" is similar to those mentioned in the short stories. One's definition of "home" is always different but one common aspect is that it is where one feels complete.
             "A Pair of Tickets" is a story of a Chinese woman and her father taking a trip to China. The story exemplifies a "home" not being where one lives. Despite being from San Francisco, her vision of "home" is in China. "But today I realize I've never really known what it means to be Chinese. I am thirty – six years old. My mother is dead and I am on a train, carrying with me her dreams of coming "home". I am going to China." Her father too finds "home" to be in China. "We are going to Guangzhou, my seventy – two year – old, Canning Woo, and I, where we will visit his aunt, whom he has not seen since he was ten years old. And I don't know whether it's the prospect of seeing his aunt or if it's because he's back in China, but now he looks like he's a young boy, so innocent and happy I want to button his sweater and pat his head." The father and the daughter, in the story, have a feeling of excitement and anxiousness while awaiting their arrival to the special place, "home". These quotes illustrate clearly that China or "home"
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