This home, was everything that Oliver knew as a child, because everything he ever needed as a child was there for him. There were so many extra rooms in the house, distant relatives, or just travelers would often stay in there. At one point, he took over one of the many rooms that was not being used and turned it into a personal lab, where he kept all of his chemicals, and did most of work. It became a home inside a home for him. This house housed and fueled some of his most precious, younger days, experiences and experiments. The next description of Sack's house in the middle of the war, during the occasional holiday breaks at the much-despised Braefield School.
"The windows were all hung with heavy blackout curtains; the inner front door with the colored glass I had loved to look through, had been blown out by a bomb blast.the garden.was changed almost beyond recognition; the old gardening shed had been replaced by an Anderson shelter.the house seemed lonely and cold." (Pg. 22,28).
This description of the house is quite a bit different than the first, and it portrays coldness, and nothingness. Oliver Sacks makes it feel like the house has been shut down, and deserted, leaving it empty and lonely. During this short period of time away from home, Oliver's hunger for science never slows down, but the amount of studying he was actually able to do, dropped dramatically because he had no resources at Braefield. Oliver does thought, end up getting back into the swing of things after returning from a few torturous years at Braefield. The setting clearly illustrates the theme that you need a friendly and pleasant environment that can support your interest, to study it deeply, and that even though you may want to, without this it is almost not possible.
The author uses character to prove that if you show persistent interest and complete follow-through in subjects that fascinate you, you will learn more than you ever could have imagined, and you will enjoy it all the way through.
