Belonging In 'The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas'

Belonging is an aspect of ones intrinsic nature, surrounded by the importance of spiritual, emotional and physical external factors, although the most significant aspect one must have in order to be accepted is an individual sense of self. Through Emily Dickinson’s selection of Poems, Leunig’s cartoon, Loser and Mark Herman’s 2008 film, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the composers question whether the price of to feel a sense of belonging and inclusion; whether to a religious, social or cultural group or individually, is worth the ramifications caused by the personal choices and sacrifices made.
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Emily Dickinson’s Poem, ‘This is my Letter to the World’ conveys her condemnation of her Victorian society due to her inability to belong. Her use of the ‘letter’ is a metonym of her
The contrasted colour encompassed within the frame portrays the hope that the ‘loser’ may have in finding his individuality, whereas the community is stuck in their cage, surrounded by dull colours, evocative of a prison-like setting. ‘…Another loser has-been fades into obscurity…’ is placed in the centre of the single cell cartoon, ironically conveys a juxtaposition of the bird flying into a bright setting rather than fading, unlike the ‘society’ who claimed it. The use of ellipses, ‘…’, portrays a communal message and agreement, therefore alluding the conformist nature of society rather than the individual who just flew off happily. The birds in the cage are characterized with uniforms and the cage symbolically represents societies restrictions. Each ‘community’ member has an offering stance towards the bird out of the window, placed in the new sector, therefore portraying that although the bird must leave what and who he knows to find his sense of intrinsic belonging, he has a greater chance of doing so by leaving and finding his own