People experience a sense of belonging in varied and complex ways. How is this explored in the texts you have studied? Belonging is a layered concept where you can achieve a sense of belonging through. Peter Skrzynecki has explored the concept of not belonging due to the lack of connection in the poems “Feliks Skrzynecki” and “In the folk museum”. The lack of connection or intimacy will lead to isolation and alienation.
In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front the reader can infer that the narrator Paul Baumer as we know him in the novel is very different from Paul Baumer before he experienced war. He had plans to write a play and a love of literature that was lost after experiencing the horror of life in the trenches. It is shown in his apparent aestheticism, inability to fantasize beyond reality, and his lack of faith in the human race. The things Paul experienced truly changed his life. Throughout the novel Paul seems to leave his emotions behind in order to survive.
Poems in “Immigrants Chronicle” show that the poet struggles to adapt to changes, in some ways his father also struggles to adapt to changes. Like in “Felix Skrzynecki” when the poet mentions “tried to keep in pace with the Joneses”. It highlights the depth of struggle it had taken for Felix to come to a stage where he no longer feels the need to follow anyone in order to belong. Because he has now found a place to belong his garden. The garden becomes metaphorical as the poem doesn’t just reveal that the father belongs to just the garden but also reveals that the father has found peace in himself, has found peace as he now feels he has found a place in the world around him even though he wasn’t originally from
The film is based on an invented man named Edward who was left unfinished and isolated. Identity is a quality which requires an individual to go through an internal struggle and be able to balance between keeping their own personality and still be able to belong, resulting in conformity. This was demonstrated through the use of a long shot of Edward’s costume contrasting with the environment around him. The long shot establishes Edward’s dark apparel juxtaposed with the brightly coloured house, reinforcing his alienation in the community. However, Peg offers him ‘normal’ clothes to create a new identity allowing him to gain a sense of belonging in his environment.
Throughout the novel Dimmesdale’s guilt builds up as he hides his sin. The longer Dimmesdale keeps his sin hidden, the harder it becomes for him to confess his sin. If Dimmesdale continues to keep his guilt hidden it will be near impossible to confess: “If a man wears one mask in public, and another in private he will soon forget which one is real” (Hawthorne 138). Dimmesdale lives a double life. When he is alone he beats and tortures himself because of the deep pain he feels for not confessing his sin.
The title Ancestors links back to the poet’s cultural heritage and its link to his sense of belonging. The poem is occupied with questions that Peter Skrzynecki poses to the reader “how long Is their wait to be?” The questions highlight Peter’s lack of knowledge and confusion in regard to the impact his ancestors and cultural heritage has on his sense of belonging and how it affects it. Post Card explores the concept of belonging to a place. A post card is a simple thing but the poet uses this ordinary object to evoke feelings of great importance to him. The poem wants him to explore his identity and hints at returning to his homeland and in doing so accepting his roots and cultural heritage.
I want to ask you, if you have ever felt that you don’t belong and what you consider to be the rewards of achieving a sense of belonging. Today I’m going to discuss the poems, “Migrant Hostel”, “Felix Skrzynecki”
“TO remind of pass/ Which isn’t mine.” Indicates where Skrzynecki had tried to fit in with the museum but the tone of sadness and depression show that he had failed to connect with the new culture and country. While he walked out the museum, Skrzynecki used direct speech “Would you please sign the Visitor’s Book?” to reinforce tyhe idea that the old woman in the museum doesn’t understand or care about him, “sign the Visitor’s Book” shows the old woman only cares about her job, she is indifferent to his feelings or why he is leaving. This makes it clear Skrzynecki (had been isolated by the museum—which becomes a symbol of his dislocation from Australian. The red thing in Shaun Tan’s short film “The Lost Thing” is disconnected and isolated in any place. When the huge red thing is sitting in the dark corner of a small house, the boy’s parents are doing their work under the
The techniques Eliot disposes throughout the poem ineffectively illustrate Prufrock’s social reclusion and cultural detachment. Prufrock’s social and cultural isolation is representational of a combination of his personal attributes and the part they play in holding him back from realising his true potential in life. His bleak view on life is impacted by his indecisive nature where he is always thinking over everything and never acting on impulse. These kinds of occurrences in Prufrock’s mind establish a well-built barrier separating himself, the hopeless individual, from all aspects of society. Eliot conveys these notions to the reader through the development of Prufrock’s introspective identity.
He states that he cant tell lies, yet he tells his father that he wont carry on with investigation and as soon as Mrs Alexander lets him know that she has some information about his investigation, then he turns straight back too it. He explains that the reason he left her before is because ‘she went inside and he didn’t know what to do’. This shows that although he can be quite clever at times, autism still plays a major part in the chapter. He doesn’t know how to socialise with anyone so he simply walked away without saying goodbye because he doesn’t know the good meaning of manners or social equilibriums. To conclude