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Belonging Critical Essay

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Belonging Critical Essay
“Belonging to a community or group has a significant impact on an individual’s sense of self”
Introduction
Individuals desire a sense of belonging within various groups in the community to engage with others in an enriching and meaningful way. Displacement from a community, culture or family can have a significant impact on individuals’ sense of self and where he truly belongs. Peter Skryzynecki’s poems, “Feliks Skrzynecki” and “Migrant Hostel” explore the effects of displacement due to migration and the consequential lack of identity and place. Bruce Dawe’s poem “Enter without so much as knocking” and an image from Shaun Tan’s book “The Arrival” explores various aspects of belonging suggesting that belonging to a place is central to an individual’s identity and sense of security.
Feliks Skrzynecki
‘Feliks Skrzynecki” explores the hardships experienced by migrants growing up in Australia. Skrzynecki highlights the underlying idea of Peter’s difficulty in trying to accept his inherent Polish culture, which is evident in the third stanza “His polish friends always shook hands too violently…I never got used to” while at the same time unconsciously assimilating to a new civilized Western culture. Skrzynecki utilizes an extended metaphor of Hadrian’s Wall; “Watched me pegging my tents further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall” to epitomize the confusion and choice surrounding Peter in the ethics and values of each culture to which he must choose. Peter is unknowingly moving away from his Polish heritage and gradually moving towards a western culture resulting in his consequential lack of identity as he is yet to establish a sense of belonging.
Skrzynecki uses descriptive language such as “gentle” and visual imagery of the garden with its “geraniums” and “golden cypress border” to show his admiration for his father and the sense of

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