English Speech

Belonging is a concept we’d hope to find instinctive. It is an idea that most take for granted until it is threatened. To belong is to be accepted. To belong is to be yourself and be embraced for it. To feel at home without feeling obliged to take of your shoes as you walk through the front door and overuse the words “thank you”. Good morning miss Collins and fellow students. Today I will be discussing how understanding nourishes belonging and how shared experiences, congruent values and cultural heritage are factors that create understanding between relationships and nourish belonging. I will also discuss how when these factors are different between people there will be a lack of understanding and will prevent any sense of belonging within your own identity and society.

“Big World” by Tim Winton, found in the collection of short stories, “The Turning” expresses the idea of not belonging with friends, family, school and community and the journey that must be embarked upon in hopes of finding it. It exposes a relationship of being loyal out of duty versus truly belonging to someone.
When you’re cultural identity is misunderstood within a geographical location you can feel dislocated and displaced. This is represented by the use of many techniques, one of which is setting or use of landscape. Romulus’s lack of understanding of the Australian landscape is shown in an incident where he stupidly sets alight a stook to try and a snake. “Without thinking, responding with the instinct of an immigrant unused to the tinder-dry conditions of an Australian summer, he set fire to the stook in order to kill the snake”. This alienates Romulus from society a lack of understanding between him and the landscape, locals and society. Gaita uses foreshadowing to show how Romulus reacts differently to how someone brought up in Australia would. Romulus gains a sense of belonging in the community in another incident where his fast response saves one of the local farmer’s lives. This...