Often times in literature, Authors create characters that we can relate to to learn from. A window is a part of the text that is new to you, and a mirror is a difference to you from the story. In the novel “Home of The Brave” by Katherine Applegate, the main character, Kek, has a lot of windows and mirrors. Today, we will be focusing on windows.

One way Kek’s life is a window for me is losing family members. In the story, Kek lost all of his family except for his aunt and cousin, Ganwar. His mom might still be alive, but nobody knows. I have never lost a family member, and it must hurt. You will still live, but you never forget the loss. When he was reunited with his extended family, he realized how much he missed his true family. Kek keeps trying to find her, so he must never give up! I am not that brave and might give up in times like that.

Another window for me is having to adapt to new technology. I was always used to computers and laundry machines and stuff like that. But Kek? No. Everything was new to him. There was a key, a lock, and he said, “There are more? How can that be? You have a kingdom here! A TV machine, a sitting place, a cooking fire!”. Also, he thought that you put the dishes in the laundry machine to wash them! This part of the text proves that Kek is not used to America. I think this would be hard if you didn’t know much.

From reading Home of the Brave, I learned that the life of a refugee is hard. They go through a lot, and it is impressive! I just can not relate to that. What do you think about this?