Summary

In "Household Words," Kingsolver confronts the issue of homelessness in the United States. She is moved to think of a definition for home when she sees a homeless man beat and verbally abuse a homeless woman in public as she was driving home. She regrets not having stopped to help the woman. Robert Frost defines home as the place where, "when you have to go there, they have to take you in" (197). She thinks that homelessness is the loss of community and of self (198). She compares homelessness in the United States to other countries, mainly Africa where she grew up as a young girl. She notes that in Africa, people without resources are taken in by their families and there is a greater sense of unity. In Europe, there are laws ratified to provide people with homes. In other...