Romulus My Father Belonging

‘An individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can enrich or limit their experience of belonging.'

An enriched experience of belonging can be seen in the strong relationship between a father and son. This concept can be clearly identified with reference to both Raimond Gaita’s elegiac memoir ‘Romulus, My Father’ and Gabriele Muccino’s film ‘the Pursuit of Happyness’ which is based on the biography by Chris Garner. In both texts, a strong sense of belonging can be recognised between a father and son and through the unconditional love they share with each other as a parent and child. Each father contributes so much to their sons’ lives, in order to provide not only financially, but also to help them achieve a sense of belonging in the world, somewhat due to the lack of
Incidents such as when Raimond steels Schwaba’s aftershave and when he throws his fathers favourite razor in the dam, are times when his father expresses his “fear for raimond’s character” in great anger and disappointment. It was not mearly the fact that Raimond had done these things, it was that he had subsequently, lied over his actions. As Romulus had set such a strong standard of moral values, it would have been inconceivable if Raimond had grown up with any of the attributes of the moral failings of his mother. Romulus’s anger highlights his desperate need for Raimond to grow up decently, which shows how strong the connection really is between them. Their relationship shows that a father’s role is to not only provide physically for his son, but to provide the moral standards in which he uses to shape a strong character for Raimond in order to belong in society in the future. This shows how the belonging between father and son carries on to enrich a persons sense of belonging on