...many factors and experiences affect how this sensation of belonging can prosper within each individual. This concept of acceptance and understanding is represented in Raimond Gaita’s memoir, Romulus, My Father through the exploration of Australian migrant life. The concerns of cultural difference and empathy is mirrored in Hanif Kureishi’s short story, My Son the Fanatic, where Parvez undertakes a metaphysical journey to realise the importance of belonging and how this sense of belonging involves many factors and experiences. Through the character’s responses to the challenges posed upon them, acceptance and understanding is developed as a uniting force in bringing individuals together. An individuals’s acceptance towards his environment greatly influences their ability to form strong links with it. For example in Romulus, My Father, Raimond, having the advantage of being young when he migrated forms his experiences in Australia grows up acknowledging Australia as his home. This is shown when Gaita metaphorically describes the landscape outside the hospital to be “the back of [God’s] workshop”, where he recognises the significance of the land in his life and has come to accept the environment and hence develops a sense of home. The concept of acceptance is further maintained within My Son the Fanatic where Parvez, a Pakistani migrant in England has accepted the values of the new land. His realisation of how the practicing of Islam has “sparked many disputes” in England drives him...
Words: 912 - Pages: 4
...An individual’s perceptions of belonging evolves in response to the passage of time and interaction with their world The continuation of time can morph an individual’s interaction in their world, changing their perceptions of their milieu that they associate themselves as a manner of response to life experiences. The dynamic nature of the primordial desire to belong is heavily explored by Raimond Gaita through the reflective memoir ‘Romulus My Father. Within it, Gaita seeks to discern the effects of establishing strong connections with the external environment over time in order to understand and ultimately belong to a new environment. From this, we are able to perceive how a personal sense of belonging can be attributed on experiences from those around us, and how their influence increase over the passage of time. The ability to gain an understanding and attachment with one’s changing environment creates an interminable bond with one’s adaptive identity. In Romulus My Father, Romulus was initially unable to accept his status as a “New Australian”, as he was initially unwilling to disassociate himself from his European lifestyle – “Romulus Gaita always considered himself a Romanian”. His description of the European foliage as “soft and generous” includes emotive language to resonate the resilient relationship between his origins. This lack of assimilation is corroborated through his detachment from the Australian landscape “His eyes looked directly at the foliage and turned...
Words: 591 - Pages: 3
...: A person’s sense of belonging is shaped by their connections within their physical and social environments. This representation of belonging is seen in Gaita’s memoir Romulus, my Father and the short story “neighbours” by Tim Wilton. Romulus,my Father is Raimond Gaita’s memoir to his father Romulus; focusing on exploring his father’s moral identity and their joint experiences living in Central Victoria as European immigrants arriving in the 1950’s. The main connections of belonging explored in the two texts are connections to place, in terms of landscape and community; as well as connections within relationships. These connections serve to enrich an individual’s sense of belonging to their community, environment and within their personal identity. One’s connection to the landscape can contribute to their sense of belonging to their environment as well as their sense of harmony and affirmation within their identity. In Romulus, m Father; Raimond’s deep emotional connection to the stark landscape of Central Victoria evinces his sense of belonging to the environment as well as within his identity. This is apparent in his description of the landscape: ‘The tall yellow burnt grass…gave colour to my freedom and also to my understanding of suffering. ‘ The lyrical passion which imbues his description conveys his strong emotional connection to the landscape, as does the descriptive imagery of the landscape e.g. ‘tall’ and burnt’. The depth of this emotional connection established...
Words: 544 - Pages: 3
...human needs for companionship and security. For those who have a place where they belong such as with a family, with friends, with the community; they feel safe and content. For those who don’t belong and cannot “fit” into their surroundings they are faced with problems of alienation and loneliness. These different aspects of belong are reflected in a variety of texts; “Romulus My Father” by Raimond Gaita explores a sense of familial belonging and how it shapes who we are, “The Comic” by Leunig explores the troubles of being accepted and “fitting” in. Finally, the feature article, “Compulsive Gamers ‘not addicts’” by Pady Maguire explores the need for gamers to belong to a community. In “Romulus My Father” the most profound sense of belonging exists with the narrator himself. The narrator delivers his observations in a reflective and thoughtful tone. The high modality of verb choice suggests a pleasant nostalgia about events in the book. Particularly his recollections of his father, notions such as, “I loved him too deeply… no quarrel could estrange us” displays the sense of belonging \ he feels with his father. This is evident even after Christina dies. He observed, “We came together as son and husband with the woman whose remains lay beneath us”. Raimond’s aspect of belonging is that of family and culture. Juxtaposed against Raimond’s belonging is the suffering of Christina in her displacement. For the mother her inability to belong is described by Raimond as, “a troubled city girl...
Words: 1009 - Pages: 5
...Back to School A country thrives when its citizens contribute and make an effort to make the most of what they are offered in life. President Barack Obama is very aware of this and has made it an important subject and goal in his presidential career to inspire youngsters in the right direction, both for their own sake and their country’s. Barack Obamas’ speech “Back to School” at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia was held in September 8, 2009. The age of the present audience varied to children from kindergarten and all the way up to twelfth grade. In addition to that, the speech was also broadcasted to students all over the country. The audience is obviously extremely great, and the speech will therefore have a tremendous impact on several individuals. The first thing Obama seems to focus on in his speech on the first day of the children’s school day are in fact the children themselves. He speaks directly to them, and initiates the whole thing by telling everyone that being nervous is perfectly normal. He has obviously tried it himself when he was their age. Very easily he finds a way to make everyone relate to him by telling stories from his own life. Barack Obama did not grow up under the best circumstances. He was raised by a single mother whom was very passionate about doing what was best for her son. She even sought to homeschool Obama, when he wasn’t at school. She wanted to make sure he would have the best possible future. This particular section of the speech...
Words: 881 - Pages: 4
...in place just for people of color or minority and some that are set in place for all if the all fit in the category set forth in that particular law. To this day the law is not equal. Crucial Social and Political incidents When my parents moved our family from Newark, NJ to Piscataway, NJ in the early 70’s, my father wanted to find a place better than where we were coming from. He found a home in an area that the builder was told not to sell to blacks. The builder did not care, he cared that my father had the down payment and he was approved, so the builder let my father buy the home. There was a reason why blacks were not allowed in that area. It all started with the bomb threats, sugar in our car gas tank, screen door torn from off the front door and racial slurs written on the garage doors. That is just the tip of the iceberg. My father told us never to cross to the other side of the road. We could never figure out why, until one day we decided to ride our bikes to the school on the other side of the road. We were at the school no more than five minutes before three police cars pulled and with sirens hailing. They told us to drop the bikes and lay on the ground. He asked us where we stole the bikes from. We told them our father bought them for us. One of the officers then asked us, “Where are the receipts”. (Mind you we were 13, 9, and 8) We told them we did not buy them so we don’t have receipts. The officer said that he was going to arrest for stealing...
Words: 937 - Pages: 4
...from My Father by Barack Obama he talks about his life experiences and how it formed him as a human being. The story also shows his interpretation of what a solid community should consist of, as well as how individuals should interact with each other within the community. Through out his life he was discovering who he was by new meeting people and trying new things. An individual’s identity is formed through life experiences and cannot be sustained because it is ever changing. A community is a group of people that are brought together by friends, family, neighbors, and people with common interests. Communities are important because it gives people a sense of belonging and being wanted. And in Dreams From My Father, those were the needs and values that Barack was searching for. Communities are sustained through shared values, trust, loyalty, and a sense of safety. In a community people have moral responsibilities to other people and the community as a whole. Communities have moral responsibilities to their individual members because they need to keep their community together. Sometimes you get put into situations where you want to look out for yourself rather than the big picture with the community. You have to be able to put others in front of you sometimes so that you can avoid these types of conflicts. My favorite excerpt from the text came when his father was insulted by a man who said that he would not “drink next to a nigger.” (Obama 25) Barrack’s father did...
Words: 1304 - Pages: 6
...In the Name of Identity: Who are you? What makes you, you? How are you recognized as a human being? What makes you different than every other person in the world? These questions contribute to your identity regardless of what you look like or where you come from. Every single person in the world is different whether it is visible to others or not. Although we are all different, we connect and form relationships through common ideas, values, and goals. In the novel Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama, he recalls many different issues involving his identity as a whole in addition to the communities he lived in and principle values he was raised to believe. Throughout the story Obama creates a theme of struggle involving his own identity. He relates these issues towards his own community and explains how certain occurrences shaped his character values and personality. The word individual can be defined in various ways. It is a word that can apply to many different aspects of life as well as raising questions about who exactly we are as individuals and how we became the who we are today. Some factors that contribute to shaping our identities are social, educational, economic and historical. While Obama was growing up, identity was something he struggled with deeply. He was constantly moving, which forced him to experience different communities and ultimately aided in forming his identity. Looking back on it now, it seems beneficial, but at...
Words: 2294 - Pages: 10
...a white chicken, fond memories resonate through my mind about the special bond and relationship that I had as a five-year-old girl with my pet chicken. On that day, a lesson was learned about family values and pride. There are many events that have occurred throughout my life that have impacted me as an adult, and this event was one of those events. I can still remember the events that played out during that day, and I believe that I can hear the sounds of the chicken echoing through the woods when I go home for a visit. I was raised on a farm in Kings Mountain, North Carolina with my father, two brothers, and one sister. Although I had siblings to frolic in the woods with, and do fun activities like swim in the creek, or build tree houses, I still felt a need to have a pet for companionship. I spoke to my father about the possibility of getting a pet of my own, specifically a kitten, and he decided that I was too young to tend to the needs of a kitten. He did allow me to pick a chicken from his large coop located in the woods above the house as my pet. If I could prove to my father that I was able to keep up with the responsibilities of caring for the chicken, I may be allowed to get a kitten. This was a ritual that my father had with my older siblings with respect to their desire to have a pet. I remember spending an ample amount of time observing all of the chickens in the coop, and trying to decide which one would become my pet. I finally decided that the bright, fluffy white...
Words: 1293 - Pages: 6
...from a joint system family that is typically common in Pakistan. My father has 3 brothers and 4 sisters and he is younger among the all. We were having a prefect life with my paternal grand-father, my parents, uncles and aunties. We all faced the death of our grandfather that effects on everyone at some instant. But my father didn’t imagine that his life would have been affected the most....
Words: 1220 - Pages: 5
...Oklahoma in the year 1935. As I was plowing the dirt in the field, I heard the grass rustling. I stopped my work and looked around for my father who had been working only 15 feet away from me. I wipe the dirt from my hands and face onto my plaid shirt and jeans. I look down at my boots then to the grass again. I see a rabbit pop out of the grass near me. I pick up my shovel and slam it against the ground near the small rabbit. I looked around as I started hearing wind whirring near me. I looked off into the distance and saw it. A 7,000 foot high dust storm coming right at me. I hold my hat onto my head and run to the house. The house was at least a mile away from where I had been working. As I run I scream for my father “Papa!” I continuously yell as I get closer to the house. The house is 2 stories high and is old, wood on the outside is rotten and warped on the bottom, the room is a sun-bleached brown. The house is old and weak. I breathe heavily as I run, I jump onto the porch of the house and look around for my dad. No sight of him. I run into the house and yell for my mother “Mom! The storm! Its back!” She rushes in with worry and begins to wet cloth and stuffs them in the windows, wids cracks of the house and around the doors. “Where’s your father Mary?” She asks as she hands me a wet cloth....
Words: 812 - Pages: 4
...doctors claimed they had ever seen. My sisters cried in disbelief and bewilderment at the news. How would we take care of our parents we all had wondered? It would be a heavy responsibility to take over our parents’ house and look after them with such a devastating case of Alzheimer’s. Alone lived my parents in their large estate that was filled with empty memories. What is left of this massive house that my parents now live in? Eight large styled living quarters and countless hallways encompass this antique styled estate. My Father and Mother were stuck on their daily routines, waking at 7:30 to roam the house for dust to sweep and dirt to mop. Ever since I was a young child my parents stuck to their routine. The...
Words: 1061 - Pages: 5
...“the FATHER”. That guy is really complicated to understand, sometimes he lets you go out and stay at your friend but sometimes he gets mad and fires the place where he controls, which is called HOUSE. You can never know if you really want to escape from the house, not just because of you economically need him, you know you love that guy but you cannot know if you want to live in the same house. In this piece of writing, you’ll read my journey of escaping from this hell and the results of that getaway. After this journey is finished, nothing is going to be the same. The Father was “the Architect” of the house and system of my life, but hope was with me and I, I let the force be with me. If I took the blue pill, the story would end. I’d wake up in my bed and continue to live like a slave, but I took the red pill, to fight for my independence, to fire my ropes. That afternoon, I arrived next to the Father, I just wanted him to let me go out for one night, and I just said him: Father, please give me my freedom for one night. He asked me: What will you use your freedom for, are you going to study and bring me higher grades? I stopped and said: No, father. He asked: So what you’re gonna do? Save the world? Then something exploded in my heart like something. I said: No daddy, I’m gonna smoke, listen to music, and at the end of the night, after I make out with some b*tches, I am going sleep with one of them, and maybe if I am very drunk, I’ll get a tramp stamp right before my ass h*le...
Words: 997 - Pages: 4
...My Father Goes To Court (Carlos Bulusan) When I was four, I lived with my mother and brothers and sisters in a small town on the island of Luzon. Father’s farm had been destroyed in 1918 by one of our sudden Philippine floods, so several years afterwards we all lived in the town though he preferred living in the country. We had as a next door neighbour a very rich man, whose sons and daughters seldom came out of the house. While we boys and girls played and sang in the sun, his children stayed inside and kept the windows closed. His house was so tall that his children could look in the window of our house and watched us played, or slept, or ate, when there was any food in the house to eat. Now, this rich man’s servants were always frying and cooking something good, and the aroma of the food was wafted down to us form the windows of the big house. We hung about and took all the wonderful smells of the food into our beings. Sometimes, in the morning, our whole family stood outside the windows of the rich man’s house and listened to the musical sizzling of thick strips of bacon or ham. I can remember one afternoon when our neighbour’s servants roasted three chickens. The chickens were young and tender and the fat that dripped into the burning coals gave off an enchanting odour. We watched the servants turn the beautiful birds and inhaled the heavenly spirit that drifted out to us. Some days the rich man appeared at a window and glowered down at us. He looked at us one by one...
Words: 1401 - Pages: 6
...Amid my initial immature years growing up, I never would have envisioned making such a troublesome choice at a youthful age. At just twelve years of age I understood that settling on the wrong choice can influence my life until the end of time. I confronted one of the most difficult situations on where to live. I was adhered between whether to live with my mother or my father full time. Despite the fact that it was one of the hardest choices I have needed to make so far, my family and companions arrived to bolster me the whole time. Having an astonishing care group helped on making the circumstance less demanding. When I was in the third grade my guardians got a separation. I generally had an awesome association with them two, but however...
Words: 877 - Pages: 4
