Belonging - Peter Skrzynecki/Hairspray
Belonging is a feeling an individual experiences when they feel a sense acceptance within a group. Once an individual experiences this they begin to feel a sense of identity and confidence within themself. It is believed that an individual's interaction with others and the world around them can either enrich or even limit their experience of belonging. Both of Peter Skrzynecki's poems “10 Mary Street” and “St Patricks College” along with the 2007 film “Hairspray” explores this concept.
10 Mary street refers to the story of the house that Peter and his family lived in after moving to Australia from Germany. A recurring theme throughout the whole poem is time, this is shown through the repetition of the line of “for nineteen years” this being the period in which he lived there. In the first stanza he says “Over that still too-narrow bridge, Around the factory That was always burning down.” This gives us the idea that the bridge shows a connection between his home, where he feels comfortable, and beyond the bridge in the community where he does not. The bridge signifies the difficulties that Peter faced in making a connection and/or transition into the community. Due to feeling this we understand that this is limiting peters chance to feel as though he belonged.
St Patricks College looks at his experience at starting at a new school. The poem opens with the reasoning of him attending this new school, “impressed by the uniforms of her employers sons, mother enrolled me at st pats with never a thought to fees and expenses - wanting only “What was best” From the mother interacting with people from her workplace we are shown this was the main influence for sending her son to this school and interacting with other people helped her make this decision. Later on we get the sense that he is beginning to feel as though he is becoming more comfortable with the surroundings,
“For 8 years i walked strathfields paths and streets, playing chasings up and down the station
10 Mary street refers to the story of the house that Peter and his family lived in after moving to Australia from Germany. A recurring theme throughout the whole poem is time, this is shown through the repetition of the line of “for nineteen years” this being the period in which he lived there. In the first stanza he says “Over that still too-narrow bridge, Around the factory That was always burning down.” This gives us the idea that the bridge shows a connection between his home, where he feels comfortable, and beyond the bridge in the community where he does not. The bridge signifies the difficulties that Peter faced in making a connection and/or transition into the community. Due to feeling this we understand that this is limiting peters chance to feel as though he belonged.
St Patricks College looks at his experience at starting at a new school. The poem opens with the reasoning of him attending this new school, “impressed by the uniforms of her employers sons, mother enrolled me at st pats with never a thought to fees and expenses - wanting only “What was best” From the mother interacting with people from her workplace we are shown this was the main influence for sending her son to this school and interacting with other people helped her make this decision. Later on we get the sense that he is beginning to feel as though he is becoming more comfortable with the surroundings,
“For 8 years i walked strathfields paths and streets, playing chasings up and down the station