In Kek’s home nation, cows were very vital, and he is saddened to see Lou’s cow in a deprived condition because the old woman cannot take good care of it. The image of a cow becomes very important to Kek, as it gives him an African identity. Further, his desire to be like one of the Americans continues, when he meets an old woman by the name Lou, who lives on a neglected farm, and she owns a cow. Seeing the snow, Kek wonders if the people in this new setting will be as unkind and cold as the winter itself. It becomes hard for him to adjust as the snow’s brightness is burns his eyes, and the cold is likened to claws in his skin.Īs life begins tougher, he opt to help his aunt by washing dishes, yet no one ever told him that the washing machine was only meant for cleaning clothes (Applegate, 18).There are many conflicts in his mind, considering the differences he notices between Africa and America. Kek is now in his new environment in America, where he experiences snow for the first time in his life and feels its sting. It is evident from the book that only Kek and his mother managed to survive the strategy, a mother whom he misses so much. He feels guilty leaving behind his people to live in a distant land especially his mother, who he left in the midst of an attack. He is caught between two worlds, Africa and America. Home of the brave shows conflicts that Kek faces. It is here that Kek meets all that amazed him compared to his home in Sudan, Africa. Kek is taken from the airport by a caregiver who takes him to live with his aunt. He believes that his mother still lives and would soon join him in the new found family. Kek, now in Minnesota, is faced with difficulties of adapting to a new life and of finding his lost mother. Home of the brave Introduction Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate is the story of an African boy, Kek, who loses his father and a brother and flees, leaving his mother to secure his safety.

Kek from home of the brave