The lack of connection or intimacy will lead to isolation and alienation. In the poem “Feliks Skrzynecki”, Peter finds it difficult to establish a connection with his father who he admires strongly. The difficulty of trying to establish a connection with his father is due to the fact that his father has a strong and emotional tie to his Polish heritage and past which Peter was not a part of. Peter
Belonging to place and people is important in providing a sense of identity and security. In Skrzynecki’s Post Card, this is seen through the idea that an immigrant may experience confusion about whether they belong to their birth land or their adoptive land. Skrzynecki suggests that a migrant may be dismissive of their cultural heritage and feel a loss of connection to their homeland due to living in a different country. This is shown when the protagonist receives a postcard from a friend to show to his parents and remind them where they came from. The poet writes “I never knew you except in third person”.
Peter’s lack of belonging is felt throughout this poem as he cannot truly appreciate his father’s Polish heritage against the mainstream Australian culture that Peter has grown up in. This is established when Peter quotes ” I inherited unknowingly – “. In that quote, Peter has cleverly used enjambment to create a feeling of empathy from the responders at Peter’s lack of involvement in his culture. Furthermore in the last stanza of the
What he sees really plays a major role of his psyche, and how he begins to treat others. As the novel gets closer and closer to its end Eliezer’s whole attitude toward his father changes, where in the beginning he wants to stick to his father for safety and comfort, near the end he tries to distance himself from his father thinking that sticking with him is cutting his chance of survive. So he faces the hard reality of wanting to leave his father for dead just so he can live. One point in the novel that Elie says that will stay with him is on how he didn’t try to help his father when he was calling him to help him when he was being beaten by other prisoners. In the novel Night Elie Wiesel shares his persona memories of the Holocaust.
Peter Skrzynecki’s poems such as ‘10 Mary Street’, Feliks Skrzynecki ‘The Folk Museum’ and ‘Ancestors’ I feel, all show a sense of detachment and not belonging. The Folk museum and ‘Ancestors’ both show that the author may have lost a sense of belonging to his heritage and culture and now cannot find a new sense of being be part of these areas. Through this I believe that it
This symbolises his state of ambivalence and detachment from the religious culture his mother wanted him to become affiliated with. Another example of ambiguity in the poem is when Peter writes “caught the 414 bus, like a foreign student”. These two lines contradict each other because he first acknowledges the number of the bus, indicating a sense of belonging, but in the line after he compares himself to a foreign student, which is a symbol of disconnection. This is another example of how Peter’s desire to belong is in conflict with his duty to
The poem suggests that the persona didn’t really fit in with his father’s happiness and the powerful phrase “happy as I have never been” suggests this very clearly. Skryznecki realises that he and his father have different perception of belonging. There is a section in stanza 7, line 3 which states that the person forgot his first polish word and would repeat it until he never forgot because he feels so distant from his father’s heritage. The next text I would like to confer with all of you is “Migrant Hostel” which is about groups of migrants who journeyed through the experience of going through the migrant hostel in Parkes, in the centre of New South Wales. As I noticed whilst reading this poem, that there is a sense of imprisonment and insecurity, towards the migrants as they waited desperately to be relocated to an unknown destination, which would probably unwelcoming to
Skrzynecki looks at the changing nature of belonging and its impacts through his relationship with his father. Initially, the possessive pronoun “my gentle father” reveals their close relationship but as their cultural ties weaken they become distanced from one another. The growing alienation brought about by the detachment from Polish culture and the embracing of Australian culture is revealed when the poet to metaphorically pegs his tents “further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall” away from his traditional roots. As the poet distances himself from his culture and father, the simile “like a dumb prophet” reveals that both parties are powerless to prevent this inevitable separation. Being a first generation migrant, the father’s strong cultural bonds prevents his assimilation because of society’s intolerance towards migrants, as shown through the animalistic imagery of the
A diminishing relationship often results in disconnection and displacement of an individual. In contrast to the poem 10 Mary Street and related text, Flight (Tropfest 2011), Peter Skrzynecki’s poem, Felix Skrzynecki highlights the disconnecting relationship between two people, a father and son. Belonging is emphasized with the subject perspective of Peter Skrzynecki on his relationship with his father. The feeling of distance is demonstrated through the use of the reflective tone, “I never got used to” and “talking, they reminisced”, through this, it demonstrates the individuals lack of belonging to his father, the use of “they” and “reminisced” demonstrates the sense of belonging that Felix had with his friends thus allowing Peter to feel displaced. Furthermore, the persona’s emotions are highlighted, “Happy as I had never been”, the irony conveys Peter’s realization that he will never be as happy as his father despite the harsh life that Felix had.
The poem deals with the complexities of belonging and the daily struggles of assimilating. The opening line, “No one kept count” shows the reader that the persona and his family are in a negative situation. The emphasis on the ‘no’ highlights the personas tone which is also negative and the lack of order within the hostel. “We lived like birds of passage”, is an example of a pronoun to show that the migrants tried to unite and feel a sense of belonging within another but failed as the persona still feels a sense of not belonging. Pronouns are used throughout the poem to make the reader connect with the persona.