Do you agree with Bert's sister that she doesn't belong to the mountains anymore? How is "home" defined throughout the book?

During her father's funeral, Bert realizes how much she's changed since she left home. Do you agree with her sister that she doesn't belong to the mountains anymore? How is "home" defined throughout the book?

I think Bert will always “belong to the mountains” but that who she is and her world has expanded beyond these mountains. So while the mountains may never be Home again for Bert, the best of the mountains is in her DNA.

I agree with Gabi that Bert will always belong to the mountains. However, Bert's life experiences with Lucy and the Browns since leaving her former home transformed her into a new and different kind of person.

The expression “how you gonna keep them down on the farm…..” comes to mind. Though Bert will always have a part of her heart in Ashville, she has become too learned and even more sophisticated for the people at home.

The mountains will always be part of her but her life with the Brown family has expanded her world beyond the cabin near the mountains she started life in.

I think she had changed too much to stay. Her world was so much bigger with all she saw and how much she learned. The mountains will always be important to her, but she wouldn't be happy there.

I agree with the previous posts. Bert will always have the mountains in her but now has the ability to move beyond them. She is no longer destined to stay there and while she can always return if she chooses, she now has the ability to live beyond their grasp.
The concept of home swirls throughout the book, from the movie premier Lassie Come Home, to the soldiers and POW’s talking and writing of home, to Bert’s exile and return home. There is a lot of meaning in that one word “ home”. It’s used to connote a sense of belonging, acceptance, familiarity, safety and security. All those and more Bert finds with the Browns. The Browns already have Cora who they have taken into their family and their home so it’s not surprising they welcome Bert into the fold. I think the concept of home is less defined and more displayed and enlarged by the Browns and this is something Bert begins to understand. Home isn’t stagnant and limited to where you were born or where your birth parents and siblings are, it’s not limited by geography. The definition of home can be expanded and you can have a “ home” and be “at home” and feel “at home” in places that don’t meet those limiting criteria. Perhaps home is more defined by the geography of your heart than the geography of the land.

Wow…I think Gerrib captured the meaning(s) of HOME in the book very eloquently!!! I have nothing to add.

I agree with Bert's sister that she doesn't belong to the mountains anymore. Her new sense of "home" has become something vastly different that what/where she started life. There's always a sense of sadness when you have "outgrown" home. However, for many, personal growth and improvement unfortunately cannot happen when you stay "stagnant" in a place that doesn't allow you to grow and become better than what you know from early life. I think Bert would have never known how much more she could be if she stayed "home" and never met the Browns. That's the beauty in life - sometimes the very ones that need it most are given opportunities to grow beyond their wildest dreams. That growth can be poignant, but that's exactly what makes it such a precious gift.

I think "home" is anywhere you are surrounded by the people you love. Bert's mountain home became very small and confining as she grew and experienced the world. When she saw her sister's life, she knew that was not for her, but did not judge her sister's choices. There are many types of "mountains" but for Bert the mountains are a part of her sense of loss and abandonment. She may always be fond of and enjoy the views of the mountains, and she may find she needs to visit to ground herself from time to time, but she belongs to her chosen family, not the mountains.

I think that home is where your family is- not just family by blood but family made of of people you love and care about. Bert is comfortable in her new life. I don't think that she'll ever forget her upbringing in the mountains but her life there will become part of her memories.