(Not) Belonging Essay, Skrzynecki's Poems 'Migrant Hostel' and 'Feliks Skrzynecki'

Initial picture of a man detached from the world that surrounds him-shows immigrant isolation but also Feliks strength of character.

Spiegelman has presented his father’s memoirs in a creative way by portraying racial groups as animals and by making the story into a graphic novel. By presenting it in comic form, Art Spiegelman is able to better capture the emotions of those in the graphic novel. Not a dedication in the conventional sense, the book eternalizes the memoirs of Vladek and those around him.

Many writers explore the notion that cultural differences may inflict feelings of disconnection for their central characters. This is shown in the two texts ‘Neighbours’ and ‘Migrant Woman on a Melbourne Tram’, as both protagonists struggle to cope with their newly exposed environment. Despite this, we learn that it can be resolved through the acceptance of one another, yet others may remain to dissociate themselves from society.

The migrant experience varies for each person, some will have endured traumatic episodes in their life and these experiences are explored in Skrzynecki’s poetry. Through thorough interpretations of Peter Skrzynecki poems, ‘Crossing the Red Sea’, ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘Immigrants at Central Station’ the responder gains insight into the emigration experience which encompasses the physical and emotionally draining journey which is a result of the grave uncertainty and doubt lingering around the migrants future. Despite this, through each of his poems the composer also alludes to a future filled with hope and a sense of belonging.

Skrzynecki utilizes a metaphor in order to amplify to the audience that the relationship between him and his father gradually weakened as time elapsed.This is evident in the quote “Further and further south of Hadrian's Wall.” Through the implementation of this allusion in the poem, Skrzynecki accentuates how the language barrier had provoked him to emotionally distance himself from his father due to the loss of connection between each other. Furthermore, it suggests that Skrzynecki is moving further and further away from his father and his Polish culture, as is assimilated into the Australian by becoming more educated and

Unfortunately, many migrants that come to Australia find themselves in this situation, struggling to feel included and comfortable with their changing identities. However, these differences make it harder to belong to one group; they can also strengthen bonds with one another. The most immediate and obvious indicator of difference with migrant is that of

Good Afternoon teachers and students, The following texts express how an individuals understanding of belonging can quickly be changed by the people and place around them. “Jasper Jones a novel written by Craig Silvey”, it is a short story of a boy named Charles Butkins and the events that occurred because he helped Jasper Jones mask the death of Laura Wishart. “Australia by Ania Walwicz”, is attacking the people of Australia in the form of a poem, because of their point of views and attitudes in life. She also hates Australia itself because the people are not welcoming, this is the main point of this poem.

Belonging requires an individual to build a connection with another person or group over time, these connections are often developed through shared experience and understanding. Peter Skrzynecki’s poems; “Feliks Skrzynecki” (1975) and “Migrant Hostel” (1975) offer various perspectives and representations on this concept. Ernest Hemingway’s short story “A clean well lighted place” (1926) and the picture “Berlin Wall” by unknown (1973) compliment these perspectives and representations further.

People’s perceptions of belonging can change over time, but this isn’t the case for all. When people experience moments of crisis in their lives they sometimes force a change within themselves and that is what helps them find an individual sense of belonging. This is highlighted in many texts and even composers life works. Texts that support this statement include Peter Skrzynecki’s Immigrant Chronicle poems, of which I have chosen St Patricks College and Feliks Skrzynecki. Skrzynecki’s poetry expresses the difficulties he faces when change doesn’t occur throughout time, as time alone isn’t a factor and that your sense of belonging is something that comes from within, with or without anyone.

The development of acceptance is a process laid upon several significant factors, and by belonging in community settings, one may gain confidence and feel tolerated. Likewise, being alienated and ostracised because of racial and social insecurities can have a negative influence on how one may act, and thus outcasts are made to feel inferior as a result of the harmful manner in which they are treated. These concepts of inclusion and discrimination are explored through the contemporary memoir of Anh Do, which focuses on a refugee’s journey from Vietnam to Australia. The Happiest Refugee (2010) methodically displays an array of perspectives surrounding belonging and presents factors of both family and community allegiance.

An individual’s search for identity is fuelled by a need to find a place in the world where we belong, thus not belonging consequently leas to a feeling of alienation and isolation. This notion is explored through May’s journey seeking to connect with her racial heritage, her idea of understanding and acceptance. The old man Graham, May encounters at the mission expresses an Aboriginal perspective on the contemporary relationship between the two societies. “no one to talk about it. And they die, kill em selves, than those governments just put another numba, nother cross in they list. They still trying to do it, kill us of, tell us that its always been they plan.” They hybrid vernacular communicates the hatred through the ethnolect strongly marked by the non –standard features of the pronouns in “they list,” “they plan.” Graham’s diatribe reflects him as an individual demonstrating the marginalisation of the minority groups. Similarly, Armin Greder’s picture book The island demonstrates the notion concerning the duality of belonging with its inherit prejudices and xenophobic attitudes expresses the majority’s deliberate exclusion of ‘the other’ outside

Belonging comes from an understanding, or the knowledge that an external sense of being comes from an internal sense of connection and safety. This critical analysis will portray how the text “Stolen” by Jane Harrison relates to the concept of belonging. Stolen is a play that tells the stories of 5 Aboriginal children that were stolen away from their families and were forced to grow up in institutions, following the European way of life. The children were segregated from their communities and treated as inferiorly. Their worth was seen as minimal and only useful to Europeans as slaves. “Stolen” is an example of not belonging to the environment that one is living in. The children are stolen from their parents, their culture and traditions,

This essay is about the universal refugee experience and the hardships that they have to go through on their journey. Ha from Inside Out and Back Again and other refugees from the article “Children of War” all struggle with the unsettling feeling of being inside out because they no longer own the things that mean the most to them. Ha and the other refugees all encounter similar curiosities of overcoming the finding of that back again peaceful consciousness in the “new world” that they are living in .

Before introducing any major events, or analysis, it’s important to note that this autobiographical work was only made possible with the aid of written documentation, and tales passed on from the family and the community. This is imperative because a great portion of the piece focuses on events that Edwidge didn’t experience first-hand, so she heavily stresses on the details being re-surfaced through friends and family to complete a holistic emigration story. Family history and the involvement of cherishing family moments is often an overlooked form of communication, but without this, this and many other important minority stories would have never been complied in a way where we can now discuss them in a culturally-reflective academic setting, like this course.

Lj Smith, the author of the Vampire Diaries, wrote, “...but right now everything looks strange to me, as if I don’t belong here. It is me that is out of place, and the worst thing is that I feel there’s somewhere that I do belong, but I just can’t find it.” In 2016 65.3 million people are refugees around the world that are displaced throughout the United Nations. These people now have to adjust to a new life, in a new country, and a new “home.” Although some might believe that newcomers, immigrants, and refugees adjust and adapt to culture easily, Lahiri illustrates through Interpreter of Maladies the difficulties and issues men and women experience when adjusting to a place and culture where they do not feel at ease.