Belonging Essay
Text One: The China Coin.
The China Coin is a short fiction novel for adolescents composed by Allan Baillie, released in 1991.
The text explores the instinctive human need we feel to belong culturally, within our family and to belong to a peer group. Following the life of an Eurasian teenager named Leah and her mother, Joan, as they journey to China in search of the missing half of a broken coin, which Joan’s father sent her before he passed away. The coin is the only connection the women have left with their lost family in China.
Upon searching for the coin, the characters are not only discovering their extensive family, but the history behind it, giving them an ultimate sense of identity and belonging, bringing a positive change in both characters’’ mindsets.
A relevant concept is that belonging may emerge through a person, object or place to enrich a community or group. A massive element of belonging within the text is the symbolism of the half-coin. A quote from page 35 states: “This broken coin has been in our family for a long time. The other half of the coin is kept by the family in our ancestral village. Perhaps the coin should become one again.” Outlining the coin acting as a connecting passageway between the members of the family, and showing the enrichment stowed upon the group.
Baillie has used symbolism to portray self identity and cultural identity, much like the Simple Gift.
“…and I looked up into the sky, the deep blue sky that Old Bill and I shared.’ (page.205) also indicates this connecting passageway through an object shared between individuals like Baillie.
Another connection item in ‘The Simple Gift’ is the key Old Bill gives to Billy, symbolizing the key to all of Billy’s problems, and also metaphorically unlocking the door to his future.
Metaphors are also used in ‘The China Coin’.
Metaphors are used to paint visual images, page 16 is a good example of this.
“I am a giant, she thought.” This quote explains the self
The China Coin is a short fiction novel for adolescents composed by Allan Baillie, released in 1991.
The text explores the instinctive human need we feel to belong culturally, within our family and to belong to a peer group. Following the life of an Eurasian teenager named Leah and her mother, Joan, as they journey to China in search of the missing half of a broken coin, which Joan’s father sent her before he passed away. The coin is the only connection the women have left with their lost family in China.
Upon searching for the coin, the characters are not only discovering their extensive family, but the history behind it, giving them an ultimate sense of identity and belonging, bringing a positive change in both characters’’ mindsets.
A relevant concept is that belonging may emerge through a person, object or place to enrich a community or group. A massive element of belonging within the text is the symbolism of the half-coin. A quote from page 35 states: “This broken coin has been in our family for a long time. The other half of the coin is kept by the family in our ancestral village. Perhaps the coin should become one again.” Outlining the coin acting as a connecting passageway between the members of the family, and showing the enrichment stowed upon the group.
Baillie has used symbolism to portray self identity and cultural identity, much like the Simple Gift.
“…and I looked up into the sky, the deep blue sky that Old Bill and I shared.’ (page.205) also indicates this connecting passageway through an object shared between individuals like Baillie.
Another connection item in ‘The Simple Gift’ is the key Old Bill gives to Billy, symbolizing the key to all of Billy’s problems, and also metaphorically unlocking the door to his future.
Metaphors are also used in ‘The China Coin’.
Metaphors are used to paint visual images, page 16 is a good example of this.
“I am a giant, she thought.” This quote explains the self