Belonging Speech (Catcher in the Rye, the Simple Gift)
- Submitted by: missmisfitish
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 06/12/2011 05:57 PM
- Pages: 6
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From my knowledge and understanding of belonging it is genuinely hard to define it as a single definition. So far I have not come to my very own definition of belonging, but I hope by the end of this topic that I have a clear insight of what it means to me. However I agree with this statement “ An individuals interaction with others and the world around them can enrich or limit their experience of belonging”. By creating my own thesis statements and showing examples from two texts, which is ‘Catcher in the Rye’ by J D Salinger year, 1951 and ‘The Simple Gift’ by Steven Herrick , year 2000, I can contribute to my agreements of this argument
My first statement is “without acceptance and understanding, one cannot belong”. Herrick portrays the protagonist, Billy, to the responder as a typical teenager who resents his father and does not like school. For example in the poem ‘Sport’ Billy recounts an event where his father hits him, which leads to not only ending his sporting childhood, but his childhood itself. By retelling this devastating event he used little emotive language, meaning its all facts such as the repetition of ‘I was ten’, emphasising the inappropriate father’s behaviour at such a tender age.
But the little emotive language he does use gives us a sense of the reality that he comes from a violent dysfunctional home. Another example is the juxtaposition of his excitement and enthusiasm quote “ I’d already scored a goal so I kept practicing” then to the metaphor “slammed the door on my sporting childhood that disappeared into the bushes with my soccer ball”. By this, the responder appreciates the isolation and disconnection that he must of experienced and the big impact it has had on him about belonging.
Holden Caulfield in ‘Catcher in the Rye’ also had a traumatic event, for him to end up in therapy, confused where he really belongs in society and his own family. Allies death, Holden’s brother, I believe was the most significant event that made...
My first statement is “without acceptance and understanding, one cannot belong”. Herrick portrays the protagonist, Billy, to the responder as a typical teenager who resents his father and does not like school. For example in the poem ‘Sport’ Billy recounts an event where his father hits him, which leads to not only ending his sporting childhood, but his childhood itself. By retelling this devastating event he used little emotive language, meaning its all facts such as the repetition of ‘I was ten’, emphasising the inappropriate father’s behaviour at such a tender age.
But the little emotive language he does use gives us a sense of the reality that he comes from a violent dysfunctional home. Another example is the juxtaposition of his excitement and enthusiasm quote “ I’d already scored a goal so I kept practicing” then to the metaphor “slammed the door on my sporting childhood that disappeared into the bushes with my soccer ball”. By this, the responder appreciates the isolation and disconnection that he must of experienced and the big impact it has had on him about belonging.
Holden Caulfield in ‘Catcher in the Rye’ also had a traumatic event, for him to end up in therapy, confused where he really belongs in society and his own family. Allies death, Holden’s brother, I believe was the most significant event that made...