Belonging is a process or journey undertaken subconsciously by an individual to find a sense of connectedness and place within the world. Although people have an automatic desire to belong, there are often barriers, both physical and metaphorical, that can prevent one from belonging. This concept is central throughout Melina Marchetta’s, “Looking for Alibrandi,” Tim Winton’s, “Neighbours” and Gurinder Chadha’s, “Bend It like Beckham.” Just like the three texts, this visual representation will eventually demonstrate how the obstacles of belonging can be overcome over a period of time. Marchetta’s novel, Looking for Alibrandi, follows the personal story of a young, teenage, Italian, school girl living in a contemporary Australian society, Josephine.
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.
“An individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can enrich or limit their experiences of belonging.” Discuss this view with detailed reference to your prescribed text and ONE other related text of your own choosing. While the nature vs nurture debate still faces a hung jury, it is true that nurture, or our exposure to the outside world, plays a key role in human development, particularly concerning each individual’s evolving perceptions and experiences. Both the dramatic tension of Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible and Jon Turteltaub’s 90’s romantic-comedy While You Were Sleeping explore this concept, especially in regards to belonging. Characters from each text reveal that though belonging in its many forms is an inner need, it comes from, and is either nourished or left unfulfilled by interactions with the outside world. In Act One of The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses an omniscient overture to reinforce the secrecy of something “no hint of [which] has yet appeared on the surface” – that John Proctor, “respected and even feared in Salem, has come to regard himself as a fraud.” The next scene reveals the source of this dramatic loss of self-respect – Proctor has committed adultery with Abigail Williams, his former servant girl.
To what extent have your perceptions of belonging been influenced by the texts you have studied? Refer to your prescribed text and at least one other text of your own choosing. Belonging or feeling as though you are an important part of a whole, is an essential part of an individuals’ understanding of life. If an individual does not feel as though they belong either to a group, place or community it can lead them to feel unsatisfied with their lives. This perception of belonging has been influenced by both Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Immigrant Chronicle’ and Shaun Tan’s graphic novel ‘The Arrival.’ Cultural identity often plays a large role in our sense of self and allowing us to feel as though we belong.
The essential self is defined as a person’s true self, who that person really is through their own thoughts, desires, needs, and feelings. In both of the works, struggles are presented between the protagonist’s social self and their essential self that they deal with throughout the story. Both question their social selves and rely mostly on their essential selves. Hedda Gabler is a perfect example of someone who struggles greatly with the internal conflict between her essential and her social self. The cultural ramifications are an important part of this novel.
“I was released from the illusion that I hated America.” Through his experiences, he has found a new basis for his life in America. He learnt that his hatred for America was from his lack of knowledge of self worth, which he found in Europe. The most important thing that he gained was the knowledge that his own development was and will always be in his own hands. Most statesmen will unlikely have the time to adventure into Europe and truly understand the old world policies that they are laying down as the law of the land. Without experiencing the full effect of both societies, a statesman is greatly at a disadvantage.
An individual’s changing perception of belonging is able to be enriched and limited by their interactions with others and the world around them. The possibility of belonging both acts as a flourishing connection and a restrictive bond. This paradoxical nature of belonging is highly evident in Raimond Gaita’s memoir Romulus My Father and Stephen Daldry’s film The Hours. Both texts explore the protagonist’s network of relationships and examines how place is an intrinsic component for the foundations of an individual’s sense of belonging. Ultimately, Gaita and Daldry encourages the responder to reflect on the complexity and somewhat paradoxical nature of belonging within literary texts.
A sense of belonging and rapport is engendered within collective identities; being part of a group implies common traits that give individuals the same identity, showing them as different to other groups and identities. Identity is a way in which individuals, within the social world they live, make sense of who they are (Woodward, 2004, p2). Identity is complex and multi-faceted as individuals will have multiple identities that define them; employee, parent, friend and teacher. Having multiple identities may produce internal conflict, as the expectations and responsibilities of each identity assert themselves. Identity is fashioned from multiple factors; an individuals gender, country of origin, social class, occupation, interests, cultural background and religion all have an influence on their identity.
To Be or Not To Be? The enduring truth revealed in The Namesake is to accept your identity and be thankful for loving parents. Throughout the novel, Gogol Ganguli struggles to define himself in the contexts of family and two diverse cultures. Gogol is from an Indian Bengali family, which the reader gets the pleasure of knowing since his birth. It is seen that beginning from his childhood, all Gogol ever wanted was to find a place where he could truly fit in, whether it be in his own culture, or in the American one in which he lives.
Junxiang Chen Ms. Poindexter-Turk AP Language and Composition April 26, 2015 Shoot an Elephant Test Correction * Orwell’s attitude toward his own position in relation to imperialism is one of: E. ambivalence * The reason why the answer is “E. ambivalence” is because that “As for job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear”. We have seen that in this sentence, author is really dislike the British Empire, he hate his job as being a soldier in the Burma. But he also want to work for them. So here is kind of contradictory that even though he hates the British Empire, but he still work for them, and these action has reflect the definition of ambivalence.