Summary
"Carol Singing"
Willie is practicing his lines for the school play when he is interrupted by George, who has come to get him for the first carol singing practice. They go to the church, where several boys and men from the town are there, including Tom on the piano. It is the first practice with Tom as organist. Tom displays his characteristic short-temperedness as he directs the choir to sing more energetically. After the practice, Tom plays one of Rachel’s favorite hymns on the piano; it is a very sad but beautiful song.
"New Beginnings"
It is Willie’s first day in Mrs. Hartridge’s class. We find out that George’s brother Michael has most likely died in the war. Willie is nervous about keeping up with his classmates, but the teacher reassures him. Carrie, who is one of the top students, privately asks Mrs. Hartridge during recess if she can take the exam to move into high school. The children do English exercises and Willie scores 8 out of 10 on his sheet, which stuns the rest of the class. During painting time, Willie paints a beggar in a dark city scene. Mrs. Hartridge loves it and asks to hang it on the wall.
It is a Friday morning in the first week of March and Willie is going about his usual chores. Feeling full of energy, Willie goes on a run outside with Sammy. This Friday he is meeting with his friends to discuss plans for visiting the abandoned cottage. Afterwards, everyone will meet with Miss Thorne to decide which play to produce next. We find out that Carrie has been approved by the teachers to take the exam for high school, and her parents agree to allow her.
Willie is happy in Mrs. Hartridge’s class and admires her very much. She is pregnant and Willie can observe her progress as the weeks go by. Willie, in a great mood and excited by all of his plans, returns home to Tom, who is in a somber mood. Tom informs him that they have received a letter from Willie’s mother. She is ill and wants Willie to go back home for a while.
“Home”
Tom takes Willie to the train so that he can return to London. Both of them feel numb. Willie has brought with him his few original belongings and has left his paints with Tom, expecting that he will return soon. As they part, Willie starts to tear up. On the train, a young soldier strikes up a conversation with Willie, asking about his mother. Willie has a hard time describing what she is like; she seems like a “dim memory.” Willie wonders if she will be proud of him, or if she will be too ill to even pick him up.
In London, a sergeant and ticket man question if Willie has a ticket and try to stop him from approaching his mother, but then let him go. Willie’s mother hardly recognizes her son. She is appalled to see him smile and talk so expressively. Over tea, Willie presents his mother with various gifts from people in Little Weirwold, which makes her even more suspicious and frightened.
When Willie shares that the people in Weirwold took a real liking to him, his mother angrily refutes him and says he is “committing the sin of pride.” Willie is confused by her reaction. His mother then tells him that he must sneak into the house quietly so that no one sees him, telling her son that there is a “little surprise” for him. On the bus back to their house, Willie feels repulsed by his mother and her “rigid body.”
Once home, Willie discovers that the so-called surprise is a baby, whose mouth has been taped by his mother so that she doesn’t make noise. His mother does not let him hold the baby, even though it is crying. His mother demands Willie unpack his bags in front of her. Willie presents his own gift to his mother: a drawing of the church and graveyard. She insists he must have stolen it, and he proudly replies that he drew it himself. She thinks he is lying.
Willie's mother does not appreciate his sketchpad of drawings and threatens to burn them, which dismays Willie. His mother is shocked at what she perceives to be his disobedience. She questions who gave him all of the presents and if they’re church-going people, and Willie tells her about his friends. He admits that his friend Zach is Jewish, which enrages his mother. She beats him badly, and Willie goes numb.
Willie comes back to consciousness and realizes he has been locked under the stairs. He has several wounds from the beating. He is worried that his mother will sell or get rid of the things his friends and Mr. Tom have given him and is glad that he left his paints with Tom. As he lies there, he feels as if he is a different person; no longer Willie but Will. He recognizes that by going to Little Weirwold he is now able to see that his mother is actually not kind and loving, but abusive. He desperately calls out for Mr. Tom.
Analysis
The book has skipped ahead to March of the next year. An interesting turn of events occurs in these chapters: Willie’s return to his mother. It is something that has been slowly foreshadowed in previous chapters, as we see other evacuees called back home. The idyllic, happy lifestyle that Willie has been introduced to in Little Weirwold— where he is excelling in school, theater, and painting—must come to a halt, which builds suspense over what will happen next. Will Willie ever return to Mr. Tom? How will his mother treat him?
One theme that comes up in this section is the true meaning of home. As Tom takes Willie to the train, Willie refers to Tom’s house as “home” and then corrects himself. It seems like Magorian is inviting the reader to question what it really means to have a home—is it where you are from, where you have been raised? Or, as Willie has discovered, does home actually signify a place where you are loved and able to be accepted for who you are?
Although Willie was in Little Weirwold for just six months, he has been thoroughly transformed through the love and kindness of his newfound family—something that his mother can’t comprehend. His memories and tokens from his friends serve to comfort him while he endures terrible abuse. Willie’s mother cannot fathom how much her son has changed, and this change threatens her sense of authority, which causes her to lash out even more violently towards her son.
Willie is shown to be a very compassionate person in “Home.” Despite the history of abuse, Willie is prepared to return to his mother in the spirit of new beginnings; he has practically forgotten her personality. He brings her many thoughtful presents. He tries to hold his baby sister, who appears to also be a victim of abuse, when she cries out. When he considers that his mother might sell some of his new things, he hopes that at least the money can help the baby.
These little moments show us that Willie, rather than having let the abuse harden him, has grown more caring. His mother, on the other hand, has let the difficulties of her life distort her, which is something emphasized in this chapter. We see that his mother is constantly worried about maintaining control of her son and following an imagined idea of Christian perfection. This sense of control makes her violent and uncaring, preventing her from loving her own son. This lack of love makes Willie “feel ill” just being around her.
Throughout the book, Michelle Magorian has used the motif of Willie’s name to illustrate how much a name can reflect one’s identity. According to his mother, he is Willie, but as he spends time with Tom and the people of Little Weirwold, he is called Will and William. The difference in name is not a superficial one; as he is home, back with his abusive mother, Willie realizes that his former nickname has attached to it all of his old life and personality. When his mother beats him, he dissociates from his body, feeling as if he has “two selves.” By the end of “Home,” he thinks clearly that after his experiences in the countryside that he is “Will inside and out.”
