Belonging_Essay_-_Emily_Dickinson

"THE HUMAN SPIRIT CRAVES A SENSE OF BELONGNING" TO WHAT EXTENT DO THE TEXTS YOU HAVE STUDIED SUPPORT THIS IDEAS' The human spirit craves belonging. It is part of the human spirit to seek interaction and search for acceptance as it is a basic human need, yet the forces associated with belonging or not belonging for the individual may evolve. Emily Dickinson has thoroughly explored how the human spirit desires a sense of acceptance and belong through her collection of poems. The Specific poems of Dickinson "I died for beauty but was scarce" and "A word dropped careless on a page" explore the human spirit in relation to belonging through techniques of metaphors, inverted syntaxes, structure, extended metaphors and precise and concise language. Society becomes equal in death as the human spirit lives after death. This can be explained by death silencing the individual, stripping their identity and making then equal. Throughout Dickinson's life she never was accepted by society so she lived a life of alienation which she was happy to live, as Dickinson believed that she could belong to society after death as they would receive her message, similar to Jesus Christ who was rejected by society who then died for mankind who finally understood his message after his death. Considering that Dickinson was never accepted by society, she has highlighted to her audience that she is happy to die, as society would then understand her message of equality through death from the lack of communication and individuality. Dickinson shows this within her poem, "I died for beauty but was scarce" through the quote "Themself are one" a paradox emphasizing to the audience that society is equal in death. Society becomes equal in death due to individuals becoming silent through death, which is seen in the metaphor "until the moss had reached our lips" . Dickinson has effectively portrayed this through her constant engagements with her audience. Within each stanza of the poem "I died for beauty but was scarce" the strength of the connection with the audience intensifies, this is done through the use of inclusive pronouns such as "brethren" and "kinsman" . In analysing these quotes it can be seen that Dickinson supports the idea of the human spirit craving belonging by reaching out to the audience to show them that they are equal in death and the human spirit can be accepted in death, as death is a force that contributes to belonging. Members of society may be rejected by society for various reasons but they still seek an understanding and acceptance by society. The forces of literature has affected how Dickinson belongs to society. Due to the constant misrepresentation of women in literature and the expectations of women in society that arose as a result, Dickinson chose not to belong to society. Dickinson is making a pointed attack on male writers throughout history for their misrepresentation of women and how it has become the accepted view and expectations of women of society. Dickinson is showing her audience how this distortion of the expectations of women has spread like an infection. Through the quote "infection in the sentence breeds" from "A word dropped careless on a page" the inverted syntax creates an awkwardness amongst the audience as that quote stands out in a cohesive, smooth-flowing poem. The inverted syntax is effective as it leads the audience to think about the purpose of highlighting how this distortion has spread uncontrollably. By using an extended metaphor Dickinson is able to provide an example of how quickly the misrepresentation of women has spread by comparing it to the disease Malaria. This is effective because there are multiple similarities between Malaria and the misrepresentation of women, for example both spread by word of mouth or inhalation and both of them creates and alienation as Malaria victims have to be quarantined and the misrepresentation of women creates an exclusion from society. In both cases the victims still seek acceptance by society as acceptance is craved by their spirit. By studying these quotes it seen that Dickinson believes in the idea of the human spirit requiring acceptance. This can be seen through Dickinson's comparison of rejection being like an infection similar to Malaria. In analysis of Emily Dickinson poems "I died for beauty but was scarce" and "A word dropped careless on a page" it is evident that Dickinson supports the idea that the human spirit requires belonging as it is a major part of the human condition. Although these forces that change belonging evolve, either to become more accepting or more despiteful, it can been seen that the individuals who were rejected by society seek acceptance and it can be achieved, even through death.