Migrant Hostel Belonging Speech
Belonging Speech
‘A sense of belonging and not belonging can be understood through exploration of the connections a composer has between themselves, people and places’.
The idea of belonging can be seen through an individual’s need to gain a sense of identity, within themselves and through their relations with others.
Critical to the notion of belonging it is important for an individual to gain a sense of acceptance and understanding between not only themselves but also place and others. The theme of belonging and not belonging can be explored through the connections a composer has between themselves, people and places. Belonging is the topic area for many of Peter Skrzynecki’s poems such as; ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘St. Patrick’s College’ …show more content…
Skrzynecki’s poem ‘Migrant Hostel’ discusses the theme of dislocation within institutional belonging. ‘Migrant Hostel’ portrays an image to the audience of an individual who doesn’t belong in this environment and also has a loss of identity. This migration to a foreign country creates a loss of identity in this individual as they don’t know where they belong and also the fact that they are being held at a hostel gives them a sense of non acceptance in this new country. Being paced in a hostel away from society represents the theme of institutional belonging as the individual has nowhere to go which clearly points to the individual not belonging. Skrzynecki uses techniques such as similes to give the viewer a deeper understanding on what his is trying to convey in this poem. The simile ‘ like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings’ creates imagery of an individual not knowing where to go and what to do. This simile provides the reader with a profound description and idea of the environment the individual was in. Another valid quote from the poem which helps depict the sense of not belonging to the hostel is ‘no one kept count of all the comings and goings’. This reveals how there was no such structure in this environment as the people who came in and out of the hostel stayed a very short time before being placed into society. This also depicts not belonging as they never felt comfortable in the environment in which they were kept and didn’t stay long enough to feel a sense of home or connectedness to the
‘A sense of belonging and not belonging can be understood through exploration of the connections a composer has between themselves, people and places’.
The idea of belonging can be seen through an individual’s need to gain a sense of identity, within themselves and through their relations with others.
Critical to the notion of belonging it is important for an individual to gain a sense of acceptance and understanding between not only themselves but also place and others. The theme of belonging and not belonging can be explored through the connections a composer has between themselves, people and places. Belonging is the topic area for many of Peter Skrzynecki’s poems such as; ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘St. Patrick’s College’ …show more content…
Skrzynecki’s poem ‘Migrant Hostel’ discusses the theme of dislocation within institutional belonging. ‘Migrant Hostel’ portrays an image to the audience of an individual who doesn’t belong in this environment and also has a loss of identity. This migration to a foreign country creates a loss of identity in this individual as they don’t know where they belong and also the fact that they are being held at a hostel gives them a sense of non acceptance in this new country. Being paced in a hostel away from society represents the theme of institutional belonging as the individual has nowhere to go which clearly points to the individual not belonging. Skrzynecki uses techniques such as similes to give the viewer a deeper understanding on what his is trying to convey in this poem. The simile ‘ like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings’ creates imagery of an individual not knowing where to go and what to do. This simile provides the reader with a profound description and idea of the environment the individual was in. Another valid quote from the poem which helps depict the sense of not belonging to the hostel is ‘no one kept count of all the comings and goings’. This reveals how there was no such structure in this environment as the people who came in and out of the hostel stayed a very short time before being placed into society. This also depicts not belonging as they never felt comfortable in the environment in which they were kept and didn’t stay long enough to feel a sense of home or connectedness to the