“You can’t make a home out of human beings”
The Sun is Also a Star“You can’t make a home out of human beings” is a line Natasha recalls from a poet named Warsan Shire during a painful parting with Daniel Jae Ho Bae. Its decisive significance is the distinction it draws between loving someone and treating that person as a refuge capable of resolving one’s deeper uncertainty.
Wording and Source
Natasha introduces the line while acknowledging that she hates poetry, making the quotation an exception to her stated dislike. She remembers its warning that a person cannot be made into a home, and that someone should have told the listener this. The image turns an abstract limit on love into a concrete one: another human being cannot simply be made to provide the permanence or safety associated with home.
Use in the Parting
The line comes as Natasha tugs at her backpack straps and recognizes that it is time to go; staying together would only delay what she regards as inevitable. She expects Daniel to reject the sentiment and wants him to do so, but he remains silent. She then tells him that his brother was right that their relationship has nowhere to go, and argues that Daniel is seeking someone to save him rather than loving her. Her appeal to the poem thus frames the breakup as a refusal to become Daniel’s rescuer. The passage ends with Daniel inwardly wishing she were right, even as he fears that he is falling in love with her.
