I agreed with Tuan about his theory on home. He claims that home is an intimate place with nothing special but you will defend it when outsiders say something bad about it. I believe we all share the same feeling.
Exercise 2
Tuan’s theory about home is surely right because I have had the experience that exactly reflects what he suggests. In the Chapter ‘Intimate Experiences of Place’, Tuan demonstrates that “Hometown is an intimate place. It may be plain, lacking in architectural distinction and historical glamor yet we resent an outsider’s criticism of it.” I had talked about it with my friends about this feeling. I have exactly the same thoughts about my hometown Nanjing. My friends and I might sometimes complain about the weather in Nanjing is too extreme, the traffic in Nanjing is sometimes too heavy, or the environment in Nanjing is too bad. However, when people not belonged to here begin comment on the disadvantage of Nanjing, I will feel resentful about them. Simply like building a defense mechanism to protect the place, which privately owned by people who were born and raised here only. Outsiders are intruders. They do not have the same experience we have had with Nanjing, such that their criticism for Nanjing is not with love and care. In contrast, when we talked about Nanjing, we hoped it to become better. Sometimes, this feeling may be too subjective to be wrong, however, it’s hard for us to eliminate it. There just exist some place that with nothing special but you love it. That is what home brings us.