Question: How do these TWO poems demonstrate the impact of place and people on an individual’s sense of belonging? Thesis: Belonging requires a sense of security in place and of people. Migrant Hostel -‘arrivals of newcomers, sudden departures’ –uncertainty, instability, lack of control. -‘nationalities sought each other out like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings…’ –animal imagery, simile, metaphor for the migrants themselves who have travelled and are now lost in an unstable environment, away from home. ‘A barrier at the main gate rose and fell, pointing in reprimand or shame’ –Stability shown in that, but it is imposed, they are entrapped and isolated.
'The Story of Tom Brennan' follows the lives of the Brennan family after the events of a fatal car accident, which shows how Tom the protagonist struggles to cope with his past. Similarly the song 'Father and Son' is a representation of an escape, as a man seeking to flee a life he finds suffocating, and the film 'Dead Poets Society' also explores two protagonists faced by challenges of moving into the world and dealing with issues of fear, growing up and following their dreams. All these texts reflect the experiences, ideas, knowledge and beliefs that are evident in society,and reflected throughout these texts. J.C Burke emphases many themes through out 'The Story of Tom Brennan' such as fear, relationships and growing up. These thematic concerns are echoed in the related texts therefore linking the texts and reflecting how texts may represent society.
He explains this using the strongly negative terms such as ‘clogging’, ‘stumbling’ and slithering’ to put a clear image in the readers of the great impacts they have on people. These selected words build up the readers’ sense of fear as they will associate pigeons with danger and that would lead them to go against these ‘pests’ and agree on the writer have to say. Bonella asserts the way to reduce the population of the pigeon. He uses an expert opinion from Daniel Haag-Wackernagel, a famous Swiss biologist who says that the pigeons
The imagery that Skrzynecki uses in the first line “ a barrier at the main gate” is an image of a physical barrier to prevent migrants of getting out and having their own place. This imagery of barrier is then reinforced by other techniques such as similes and personification. “ As it rose and fell like a finger pointed in a reprimand or shame” is the example. Skrzynecki then ends the poem leaving a sense of hope and belonging by the lines “ to pass in and out of lives that had only begun or were dying “. Although it leaves some sense of uncertainty and uneasiness, he was able to end it
English Essay - Discovery Through the poems “Mending wall” and “After Apple Picking” written by pet ‘Robert Frost’, and the American homeless Veteran Awareness song and video “Wrong side of heaven” composed by the band ‘Five Finger Death Punch’ we will explore how the discoveries within these texts have impacted their sense of self and their understanding of the human condition, the way people are wired. In “Mending Wall” the first example of imagery “And makes gaps even two can pass abreast” conveys human companionship between the protagonist and his neighbour. This expresses human’s natural instinct for longing for companionship and to have someone to relate to, rely on and nurture whether it be a child to its mother or from one man to another in this case. More into the poem when they are ready to meet each other and fix the wall, the metaphor “And on a day we met to walk the line and set the wall between us once again” reveals the fact that they are putting up a barrier between them, not only physical but emotional too. The physical barrier being the wall itself and the emotional barrier of feeling shut off from each other.
In order to feel a sense of belonging, an individual must gain stability in relationships and connections within a community. The inability to create stable connections or relationships will inevitably result in alienation. Throughout the poem “Migrant Hostel” by Peter Skryznecki, the focus is on the uncertain and chaotic environment that all the migrants are experiencing while waiting for the news that they are able to begin their new lives. Along with, how the natural instinct of finding similar cultural groups helps the migrants have a sense of belonging. “No one kept count of all the comings and goings” this shows the migrants feeling of uncertainty and temporariness as their inability to keep track of what was unfolding around them made them worries and also confused .
Skrzynecki utilises a simile to equate a gate that keeps the migrants away from society to a finger that diminishes their confidence to the point that they really believe they are inferior to the humans that reside on the other side. This is evident in stanza 4, “As it rose and fell like a finger | Pointed in reprimand or shame”. The vivid imagery that arises of a large finger that points towards the migrants shaming them like an owner shames a dog for doing wrong elicits the implication that the migrants are truly lower than human. In doing so it evokes an empathetic response from the audience and a deeper understanding of the underlying notion of lack of acceptance is
Through the use of literary and film techniques both texts successfully illustrate how belonging is integral to humanity and that it is physically, emotionally and intellectually needed for mankind to have companionship in order to find a sense of place in the world. Skryznecki’s “Migrant Hostel” talks about where he and his family spent living in after immigrating to Australia from Poland. He describes the unpleasant migrant journey indicating a sense of belonging as well as alienation. E.g. 1 Simile is used in the lines “Nationalities sought each other out instinctively, like a homing pigeon”.
John Weldon Dr. Margaret Fletcher English 1101 – 8 a.m. 5 May 2013 Rhetorical Reading: “Salvation” In Langston Hughes’ memoir “Salvation” (1940), Hughes explores the idea that his youthful guilt and despair following an abortive religious experience in his hometown Harlem church was the result of a language misunderstanding. Hughes uses emotive imagery and powerful contrast in order to convey the rising sense of guilt he experiences from not only failing to imitate his aunt and her congregation’s faithfulness, but also lying about the supposedly shared experience. The purpose of this memoir is to express the author’s childhood emotions in order to allow the reader to empathize with what is most likely a common experience among children of religious families. The intended audience is most likely the author’s peers and anyone else who has had a similar experience. This story is of a kind to which I can personally relate.
‘Immigrants at Central Station’ is generally a depressing poem about a less-than-joyful journey to another land. This is a physical journey that conveys plenty of mournful emotion from the travelers as they toss away their old life and begin a new one; as shown when it said ‘Families stood with blankets and packed cases’. The poem Immigrants at Central Station