Notions of Belonging

Belonging, whether to people or place is fundamental to our needs and it is this need to feel connected which is timeless and is what ultimately creates a sense of security and individuality. It is through this that individuals also gain acceptance within a community or culture and empowers oneself both at a personal and collaborative level. However with these positive notions of belonging inevitably come consequences of not belonging. In Peter Skrzynecki’s poems “Feliks Skrzynecki” and “St Patrick’s College”, Khaled Hosseini novel “The Kite Runner” and Peter Weir’s film “Dead Poets Society” the use of literary and filmic techniques are used to address such notions of belonging and the resultant positive or negative consequences.

In “Feliks Skrzynecki”, Skrzynecki’s examines how obstacles in assimilation for migrants can affect one’s personal and cultural identity and also on their fundamental sense of belonging. Skrzynecki’s initial tone of admiration towards his stoic and dignified father, Feliks, in the word “gentle” shifts to one of melancholy as he reflects on Feliks’ resolute principles governing his strong sense of self. This strength of character in adhering to one’s own standards is clearly shown through the modified idiom “kept pace only with the Joneses of his own mind’s making” and is essential to Feliks’ capacity to foster a sense of communal and cultural belonging while overcoming prejudices against migrants when the rhetorical question “Did your father even attempt to learn English?” is asked. Feliks maintains these strong individual characteristics through the garden he diligently nurtured “like an only child”, which symbolises stability and continuity from “sunrise to sleep”. This symbolic imagery of the garden ...

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...undant white snow after his colleague Neil’s death to highlight that although belonging is of a transitory nature, whereby it is an ongoing search, it is fundamental to human nature and the discovery of one’s true identity. Ultimately, Skrzynecki’s “St Patricks College” and “Dead Poet’s Society” demonstrate that belonging is an innate and cyclical process that involves balancing conformity whilst acknowledging the need to establish one’s identity through ones individuality

In the texts, Peter Skrzynecki’s poems “Feliks Skrzynecki” and “St Patrick’s College”, Khaled Hosseini “Kite Runner” and Peter Weir’s “Dead Poets Society” it is clear that one’s ability to maintain individuality and gain acceptance within a group, community or culture is integral to their sense of belonging and without it can result in segregation and the corresponding negative consequences.