Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant
An individual's perception of family is perhaps the single biggest influencer in identity formation. This is a self-evident truth given the varying personalities of siblings even though they may have been exposed to the same set of familial experiences. Each finds different methods of coping with the gap between the aspiration for an ideal family life and the actual reality of dysfunctional family structures. This, then, is the relationship between the past and each individual's identity and forms the central theme of Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Indeed, all other themes in the novel, be it survival, the need for love and belonging, or being homesick, are linked to the central theme of the relationship between the Tull family history and the personalities of each Tull family member.
The Tull family structure falls apart with the departure of Beck, the father, creating the first gap between the aspiration for an ideal family and harsh reality. Pearl, the wife...
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