You Can't Go Home Again

“And it always leads to you and my hometown”

Uncle Jerry reads a lengthy passage from near the end of Thomas Wolfe's novel and identifies it as a key intertextual moment. He says 'you can't go home again' kept echoing in his mind while reading the song. He argues the song's fictional character finds it impossible to turn the corner on her current life and recover the nostalgia of the past, which parallels Wolfe's character George, who returns to his old hometown to re-experience life as he remembered it and realizes he cannot. Angela connects this to 'My Tears Ricochet' where Taylor writes 'I can go anywhere I want, just not home.'