Leaving a familiar house

Source A: an original contemporary non-fiction-style account.

On moving day, the empty rooms looked smaller and less personal than I expected. Without books and lamps, our living room could have belonged to anybody. I felt offended by its ability to continue as a room without us. The removal team waited while I checked a cupboard I had already checked twice, performing one last task because I did not know how else to say goodbye.

In the new flat, the kettle was easy to find because I had packed it in a labelled bag. That first cup of tea did more for my confidence than imagining where every picture would hang. Familiarity began with use: a shelf for keys, a place to sit, the discovery of which tap ran cold first. I still missed the old staircase, but I stopped expecting the new place to offer belonging before we had lived in it. A home is partly remembered space and partly repeated action. The second part can begin in an unfamiliar room.

Source B: an original letter in a nineteenth-century voice. This is a period-voice simulation, not an archival document.

Dear Anne, I cannot share your pleasure at the prospect of another removal. You speak of fresh rooms as though they were fresh pages, free from everything inconvenient in the old volume. I have no objection to a better roof or more light, but I do not find familiarity so easily packed. The path to the door, the neighbour's knock and the shelf reached without looking are small possessions that no carrier lists.

We shall settle, of course. I have arranged moves before and know that discomfort is not permanent. Yet I wish we might admit a loss without being accused of refusing improvement. The new house may serve us better and still require the surrender of something valued. I shall bring the clock and the blue jug, not because they can rebuild the former rooms, but because a few recognisable objects may keep us company while the rest becomes recognisable. Let us call the change promising, if you wish, without insisting that it must be wholly welcome.

Refer to the whole of both sources. Compare the writers’ perspectives on moving away from a familiar home and how they convey those perspectives. Support your comparison with evidence from both sources.