Here

“You find yourself singing a song…Then you realize the lyrics are the perfect commentary on your thoughts. Your subconscious has selected them like a jukebox.”

This excerpt explores the notion that there is a connection between music and personal feelings and thoughts. For this character, music can provide perspective and the ability to reflect on what is happening in life.

“You’re going to remember this day for the rest of your life.”

Here often focuses on the everyday moments of the room, like someone reading or dancing. However, it does occasionally show bigger moments in the lives of its residents. Though this quote comes from a word-bubble originating off the page, it suggests a major moment in a character’s life.

“Where does the time go?!…Just down the street.”

This excerpt appears across two different panels, each dated 2014, though it is unclear if the latter half is a direct response to the primary question. This is one way in which Here uses its visual medium to structure a non-linear narrative. Often, panels seem connected despite being on opposite sides of the page or from different years. These connections show the often repetitive nature of events in people’s lives.

“The more I clean, the more it gets dirty. The older I get the less I know.”

The woman who says this reflects on how many of the everyday aspects of life don’t change even as she ages. She cleans the house constantly, and yet it seems to always need cleaning. Though the house rests, she does not, and she continues to age.

“Every day the mailman comes. The dog barks, the mailman goes away. The dog thinks he has protected us once again from an intruder.”

This quote comes from a man sitting in an armchair in a panel dated 1954. In his panel, there is no dog, but on the opposite page, in 1986, a dog barks at the doorbell. This is one of the many ways in which Here uses panels from different years to create one connected moment, demonstrating how similar moments happen repeatedly over time.

“There was a moment there when we were all together in the same room…It was just for a moment. I don’t think anyone even noticed.”

This quote, from two disembodied word bubbles at a party in 1971, operates in many ways as a summation of Here. The quote suggests a connectedness among a group of people, though they may not realize it. Here achieves a similar goal, showing the many people over time who occupy the space of the room. Though they are all there in the same space, they do not realize it, separated by time.

“In eight million years, with its fuel supply running low, our sun will start to swell in size, becoming a red giant…engulfing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, and our Earth.”

This excerpt comes from a television program about the sun. It suggests a moment that, from the perspective of the people on the page in 1999, is so far in the future as to be irrelevant. However, Here depicts time as nonlinear and disjointed, meaning that although it will not occur until billions of years after 1999, the sun’s death could be the present on the following page.

“Future Transitional Fossil.”

This quote from an Archeological Society member’s T-shirt reflects the theme of The Fluidity of Time, suggesting that the present quickly becomes the past. At some point, this character will be a relic and eventual fossil. It fits well with Here’s depiction of time, as the character is present in 1986, but he either does not exist yet or no longer exists in many of the other years portrayed.

“Well. There are a number of possibilities. We may find tools, we may find remains that could shed light on diet…most exciting, of course, would be the discovery of burial sites.”

The leader of the Archeological Society trio expresses to the resident of the house the excitement over finding artifacts. For him, the discovery of any objects can help him and others further understand how the Indigenous Americans of this region lived, ate, and thought of death and the afterlife. He strives to learn about the past, just as those in the future will strive to understand him.

“I’m afraid father and I are on different sides now. It breaks my heart to read his letters. My own father is becoming a terrorist!”

When William Franklin worries about his father, he worries not only about how their political differences will drive them apart, but also about how his father’s politics endanger his vision of society. William is a Loyalist, while his father, Benjamin Franklin, is a revolutionary. William’s suggestion that Benjamin is a terrorist explores how political perspective influences such views. While William sees Benjamin as a terrorist, American history remembers him as a leader and hero.

“Don’t be a bloody fool! The winds have changed! You think the king is and ought to be absolute, perfect, and immortal!”

In this excerpt, Benjamin criticizes William for his Loyalist views. He suggests to his son that times and politics are changing and that he should adapt. His accusation of what his son thinks the king should be (absolute and immortal) directly reflects what he fights against. The use of bold print to emphasize certain words is a convention drawn from the comics genre.

“The king is the legislator of the colonies!”

When William argues back, he showcases his own view of the political situation, expressing his devotion to the king. William believes the king should rule the colonies, refusing to side with his father’s vision of self-determination. This fully exposes the rift between them.

“A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist!”

Over the course of a few pages, insults from different time periods appear in disembodied word-bubbles. This quote, from 1820, demonstrates a highly articulate insult, contrasting with the one-word insults of the 20th century, like “Wacko” (139). These insults demonstrate The Interconnectedness of Human Experiences despite changing times. The insults themselves may change, but the need to insult does not.

“Have you seen my keys? I put them down and then poof, they were gone.”

This excerpt is one of many that capture moments of loss for characters across centuries. This character loses his car keys, an essential object that stops him in his tracks. It is one of a few moments in which a misplaced item frustrates a character.

“What was that? Did you say log? I’m losing my hearing.”

Loss in Here is not merely explored through misplaced items, but also through aging. An old woman in 1962 says this. Her age results in her loss of hearing, and other characters complain of losing their sight. As characters grow older, loss becomes more and more a part of the human experience.

“It is said, there is a wild beast in the forest. He is extremely dangerous and he is very huge.”

This story, told by an indigenous American man, foreshadows his own assault of the woman he is with. He becomes the dangerous beast, even saying that the beast wants sex before pinning the woman to the ground.

“Hey! Will you shut up! I’m trying to read!”

The girl who reads on the couch experiences the room as a sanctuary and is irked by a noisy bird outside. When she opens the window to yell at it, the bird flies in and chases her, breaking that sanctuary. Even though the room now obscures views of nature, nature still finds its way in.

“You are my muse. Painting your portrait would bring me much pleasure.”

This response from the painter of the picnicking couple suggests a deflection of a more serious issue. He claims that his companion is his muse, and even suggests that painting her would bring him pleasure, but he does not commit to it. This suggests more drama to the matter, though it is not explored directly on the pages of Here, creating narrative possibilities, beyond the few, brief moments of their lives that are captured.

“I think Ben Franklin once lived there, or planted a cherry tree there? Or something.”

This response to a question about the history of the colonial home demonstrates how information can become lost or skewed over time. Though the girl knows that Benjamin Franklin was once involved with the house, she does not know why, and even conflates the story of George Washington and the cherry tree with Benjamin Franklin.

“I’ve had a recurring dream that I’m on a beach and one of the kids is drowning. As soon as I save one the next one is drowning.”

This quote illuminates the dreams of one of the characters and demonstrates how dreams can impact people. This nightmare suggests a feeling of helplessness in the man: Though he tries and tries to save his children, it is not enough, and he cannot help them all at once. In some ways, this dream reflects the role of parenthood.

“I dreamt I was in a big mansion. I opened a door and I saw Dad lying in bed wearing white silk pajamas. As I walked in I saw a beautiful naked woman in bed with him. I said: ‘I see you found a friend,’ I asked her what her name was, and she said: ‘Everyone has the same name here.’ And I woke up.”

The man who explains this dream does so at the same window that the other man with a dream did, though their dreams are separated by twelve years. This dream is more ambiguous and demonstrates the complexity and uniqueness of every resident of the home. Each is their own person, with their own dreams and thoughts.

“They would sing the names of the dead into the corn as they planted…And sing the names of the newborns at the harvest.”

This excerpt comes from a woman reading a book on a couch. Though the title, genre, and subject of the book are not clear, there is a possibility that she is reading nonfiction about people from the past, once again demonstrating the practice of learning about the past.

“No one has mastered the art of life. Everyone is just stumbling in the dark.”

This quote, uttered by a man in 1910, suggests that the living do not have a concrete plan or path through life, but instead do what they believe is best. The universalizing statement emphasizes The Interconnectedness of Human Experiences, as the book depicts many people across several centuries doing just that.