belonging- Peter Skrzynecki
Q: Explore how relationships with humans and to place affect an individual’s sense of belonging.
Human beings, like plants, grow in the soil of acceptance, and not in the atmosphere of rejection. The inability to accept the realities of a new world and its surroundings is a consistent challenge where individuals must struggle not only with their personal obstacles, but also with the adversity of discovering a sense of affiliation in an antagonistic culture neighboring them. Peter Skrzynecki’s widely acknowledged poems ‘Immigrant Chronicles’ and Peter Weir’s universally acclaimed film ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ both exhibit the way one’s disconnectedness to person or place affects an individuals resistance to belonging. These two texts also accentuate the fundamental need for individuals to conform to social expectations and identify themselves as a part of an accepted normality.
Some may say, in order to associate with certain people or a particular place, we must identify ourselves. But Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Immigrant chronicles’ namely the ‘Migrant Hostel’ suggest that to belong we must conform to social expectations and in turn suppress our individuality. The uncertain nature and impermanence of the Hostel creates a metaphoric barrier to inclusion along with the juxtaposition of “Comings and goings” which implies a sense of chaos and instability. This constant changing of the hostel “arrivals of newcomers” averts Skrzynecki from discovering a place of affinity. The poet ultimately accentuates the great burden migrants must undergo in a contradicting society, further reinforcing the distinct sense of inclusion an individual may gain from cultural and societal influences. Furthermore the migrants isolation from the outside world is displayed as a physical symbol of alienation “A barrier at the main gate, sealed from the highway…as it rose and fell like a finger”. This strengthens the migrant’s entrapment and marginalization through bureaucratic oppression.
Human beings, like plants, grow in the soil of acceptance, and not in the atmosphere of rejection. The inability to accept the realities of a new world and its surroundings is a consistent challenge where individuals must struggle not only with their personal obstacles, but also with the adversity of discovering a sense of affiliation in an antagonistic culture neighboring them. Peter Skrzynecki’s widely acknowledged poems ‘Immigrant Chronicles’ and Peter Weir’s universally acclaimed film ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ both exhibit the way one’s disconnectedness to person or place affects an individuals resistance to belonging. These two texts also accentuate the fundamental need for individuals to conform to social expectations and identify themselves as a part of an accepted normality.
Some may say, in order to associate with certain people or a particular place, we must identify ourselves. But Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Immigrant chronicles’ namely the ‘Migrant Hostel’ suggest that to belong we must conform to social expectations and in turn suppress our individuality. The uncertain nature and impermanence of the Hostel creates a metaphoric barrier to inclusion along with the juxtaposition of “Comings and goings” which implies a sense of chaos and instability. This constant changing of the hostel “arrivals of newcomers” averts Skrzynecki from discovering a place of affinity. The poet ultimately accentuates the great burden migrants must undergo in a contradicting society, further reinforcing the distinct sense of inclusion an individual may gain from cultural and societal influences. Furthermore the migrants isolation from the outside world is displayed as a physical symbol of alienation “A barrier at the main gate, sealed from the highway…as it rose and fell like a finger”. This strengthens the migrant’s entrapment and marginalization through bureaucratic oppression.