Analysis Of Feliks Skrzynecki

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‘Belonging is both external and internal’ To what extent have you found this to be true in your prescribed text and TWO other related texts of your own choosing? Central to belonging are the relationships we form to people, place and ourselves and it is through these factors that we develop the understanding that internal and external forces are central to belonging. In Skrzynecki’s poem, Feliks Skrzynecki, Skrzynecki tries to belong to a country he never knew and only belongs in the aspects, which have been unknowingly passed down to him. In St Patrick’s College, Skrzynecki parallels the mothers need to physically belong with the Skrzynecki not belonging at school and the effect his mothers wants has on his attitude. Skrzynecki examines…show more content…
There is sense of poignant envy and respect for Feliks, who belongs, from Skrzynecki, who does not belong. The historical allusion ‘Hadrian’s wall’ is about separation and the growing distance between father and son. There is a sense of inevitability and futility, for Feliks must watch futilely as he loses his son to another world; and Skrzynecki has no choice but to tread a lonely path between the worlds of his parents and the world of his new home. Interestingly, “Hadrian’s wall” could connote Feliks belonging to the barbarians, the old world and old time while Skrzynecki is moving further and further away from his father due to the internal and external forces upon him as he seeks to belong in the new world of the Romans. The irony is that Skrzynecki says of Feliks that he is ‘Happy as I’ve never been’ and he holds the answers in being a prophet and yet Skrzynecki moves ‘further and further away’ from that which he admires. In order to belong in their new world in Australia, Feliks and Skrzynecki have both had to take on internal and external forces upon them and decide if there own opinion or others opinions matter more as they try to belong in a country where they didn’t belong at…show more content…
The symbolism of how the Skrzynecki’s home is not just a building but rather a home where they belong, represents a symbiotic relationship, the family nurture their home which in turn nurtures them as they grow. The description of the ‘still too-narrow bridge’ indicates their deep knowledge of their home and their strong sense of ownership and knowing their home belongs to them, gives the Skrzynecki family a sense of identity, empowerment and independence and the comforting routine of coming and going to a place of their own belonging is established in the simile of where they daily ‘shut the house/like a well oiled lock’. Skrzynecki’s parents return to their place of belonging ‘at 5pm’, where there self-esteem is higher which is evident through the juxtaposition of the ‘polite hum-drum’ to the ‘tended to roses and camellias like adopted children’ which emphasizes the parents sense of belonging and ownership of their garden. They face their life outside of their garden like a routine, where external forces such as others opinions and expectations negatively detriment there sense of belonging, while contrastingly passionately tending to their garden. The use of similes and personification; ‘tended to roses and camellias like adopted children’ ‘the house stands in it china-blue coat-

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