Explore How Perceptions of Belonging and Not Belonging Can Be Influenced by Connections to Places.
- Submitted by: SquishyH
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- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 07/28/2014 12:11 AM
- Pages: 4
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Belonging is a perception that varies from person to person. It can be shaped through people’s connections to places or people, in both a physical and spiritual sense. In the prescribed text, Skrznecki’s ‘10 Mary Street’ and ‘Postcard’ as well as the related text, picture book ‘My place’, concepts of belonging are focused on connections the persona has on particular places. It doesn’t just have to be through the physical sense (by having been there) but also the spiritual sense (by having seen and been affected). Therefore, familiarity with a place can lead to a sense of identity which leads to belonging.
In 10 Mary Street, the persona talks about the house he lived in for 19 years. He uses the garden as a place the whole family had a connection on. His parents “tended to the Camellias and crops like adopted children” while he “ravaged the garden like a bird of prey”. From here it showed that the garden had a large degree of significance for the whole family. The crops in the garden were something for the persona’s parents to dote on and treat affectionately, while he fed of the garden’s crops occasionally. The “well-oiled lock” represents a sense of security for the whole family, in a metaphorical and physical sense. The house was a shelter for them, protecting them from their labels as migrants, giving them an identity and sense of connection with the house. “Stood in its baby blue coat” showed personification and familiarity with the house, it being viewed as a person. This in turn shows the family’s familiarity with the house, going so far as to treat it like a person. Repetition of 19 years emphasises the family’s time with the house further showing the familiarity they had with the house. “Citizens of the soil that was feeding us” is a metaphorical description of how they relied on the house. Rather than being fed physically, they were fed mentally. The house was looking after them. ‘Citizens’ shows that they had a level of belonging with the house. As...
In 10 Mary Street, the persona talks about the house he lived in for 19 years. He uses the garden as a place the whole family had a connection on. His parents “tended to the Camellias and crops like adopted children” while he “ravaged the garden like a bird of prey”. From here it showed that the garden had a large degree of significance for the whole family. The crops in the garden were something for the persona’s parents to dote on and treat affectionately, while he fed of the garden’s crops occasionally. The “well-oiled lock” represents a sense of security for the whole family, in a metaphorical and physical sense. The house was a shelter for them, protecting them from their labels as migrants, giving them an identity and sense of connection with the house. “Stood in its baby blue coat” showed personification and familiarity with the house, it being viewed as a person. This in turn shows the family’s familiarity with the house, going so far as to treat it like a person. Repetition of 19 years emphasises the family’s time with the house further showing the familiarity they had with the house. “Citizens of the soil that was feeding us” is a metaphorical description of how they relied on the house. Rather than being fed physically, they were fed mentally. The house was looking after them. ‘Citizens’ shows that they had a level of belonging with the house. As...