Belonging Speech Essay

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Understanding nourishes belonging, yet it is experiences and actions that shape an individual’s sense of belonging. Good morning/afternoon Ms Allen and class. The author Mary Bateson once said that “insight refers to the depth of understanding that comes by setting experiences, yours and mine, familiar and exotic, new and old, learning by letting them speak to one another”. Memory can be useful in creating this understanding by bringing back a forgotten or lost sense of belonging, it can bring back a lost sense of belonging and can help to shape an individual’s sense of belonging. Family is a strong source of belonging but experiences and actions of family can also challenge a person’s sense of belonging. These ideas are represented strongly in Tara June Winch’s novel ‘Swallow the Air’ and are also present in the picture book ‘The Sound of The Sea’ by Jacqueline Harvey & Warren Crossett and the song ‘Dust Bowl Dance’ By Mumford and Sons. These texts explore how an individual’s experiences can both challenge and enrich a sense of belonging in the larger world. A large part of belonging is memory; it helps us to maintain or bring back some sense of belonging when it is all but gone, either through remembering something or someone that gave you a sense of belonging or a time when you belonged. In ‘Swallow the Air’ May experiences memories of her mother; “Mum’s stories would always come back to this place, to the lake”. This emphasises how much her mum meant to her because these memories are frequent throughout the story, showing that memory is a key component of May’s sense of belonging. Similarly in ‘The Sound of The Sea’ the character Samuel remembers the times he spent at the beach with his mother, the bright, colourful illustrations of the two fishing and playing on the beach, happy and enjoying themselves, shows how much Samuel’s mother meant to him and
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