Belonging Essay

Belonging Essay

Belonging
Belonging can mean different things to many people. It is essentially the unity or connection an individual feels toward another. Achieving this sense of belonging is not always possible; we must share and interact in common belief and feelings. It is these experiences that link us when belonging.
Peter Skrzynecki’s poems ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘10 Mary Street’ relate to these feelings and beliefs. The book ‘Lock and Key’ by Sarah Dessen and the song ‘Somewhere I Belong’ are also about people sharing and interacting with common beliefs and feelings and learning to feel they belong.
In ‘Migrant Hostel’ Peter reveals the two years of uncertainty that comes from living in one of the many temporary hostels used to house new migrants. In stanza two enjambment and similes are used to convey the need for community and personal alliance. Enjambment ‘Nations sought/Each other instinctively’ emphasise   that point of view while the verb sought suggests a seeking out of the nationalities to find likeminded people who share similar memories and common beliefs.
The simile “like a homing pigeon/Circling to get its bearings” creates the idea of migratory nature of the new arrivals at the hostel.   They search for a place to feel as though they belong, or something similar to their pre-war home.
These feelings and beliefs similar to those in Sarah Dessen’s book ‘Lock and Key’. Along with the uncertainty of where Peter feels he belongs, Ruby also doesn’t know where she stands. Both people haven’t got one place where they belong.
This story is about Ruby who has been abandoned by her mother in the months before her 18th birthday. While waiting until she can live alone legally she is sent to live with her estranged sister and her rich husband. Going through a series of truths and ordeals Ruby realizes her old life is behind her but doesn’t know where she fits into this new luxurious life.
Through reading this text we learn that...