Ah, dreams. Everyone's got one, which is why posters with rainbows, kittens, and an inspirational quote about dreams on them exist in the first place. Duh.
In One Came Home, we see a lot of tension between Agatha's dreams, hopes, and plans for herself, and other people's dreams, hopes, and plans for her. In fact, this conflict is what leads her to run away—from Georgie, from Grandfather Bolte, and from Billy McCabe. She finally realizes the only person who can make her dreams come true is herself, but as we find in the course of the novel, making those dreams come true comes at a price.
Questions About Dreams, Hopes, and Plans
- How do the dreams, hopes, and plans of Georgie, Agatha, and Billy intertwine to help form the plot?
- Do any characters have any impossible dreams—hopes we know just won't come true?
- What is the relationship in the novel between a dream, a hope, and a plan?
- If Agatha's dreams come true, does that mean Georgie's can't? What about the other way around?
Chew on This
Georgie and Agatha are both so determined to achieve their dreams that they often ignore the feelings and desires of other characters.
Georgie's dream of running the store with her sister and Agatha's dream of going to college and leaving Placid are fundamentally incompatible.