Home can be defined as “a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household” (Dictionary.com). A home is often depicted as a place of comfort, a sanctuary for rest. However, to some people, home does not reflect feelings of warmth, comfort, and solace. Is some cases, home can be a negative place for an individual. This individual may experience hurt, emotional pain, physical pain, and/or imprisonment. One’s definition of home is most often defined through his or her personal experience. In The Madonnas of Echo Park, written by Brando Skyhorse, home is a trivial manner that the characters must embrace. Each character must face their own perspective of home that is specific to them. This battle with home is one that shapes the characters into who they are in the novel. Skyhorse complicates the renown idea of home -- for his characters -- through each character’s culture, individual circumstance, and personal morals. Culture is a very significant component in the lives of the characters in The Madonnas of Echo Park. In this novel, Skyhorse uses the character’s Mexican culture to complicate the idea of home. One character, whose home is complicated by his culture, is Hector. Hector is an illegal immigrant who has lived in the United States of America for the majority of his life. However, he had never obtained a green card, therefore he could be deported at any moment in the novel. Hector’s culture is a part of him in which he cannot control. Therefore, his culture forces his idea of home to be complicated. Hector’s home, according to the law, is Mexico. Mexico, in Hector’s mind, is not home. Rather, Los Angeles is what Hector sees as home. This whole scenario is what convolutes the idea of a physical home. When describing his home at the end of the chapter, Hector says “I had lived in that invisible space where people like me live, the place between darkn