Belonging-_Identity

English Assessment The desire to belong is essential for the human psyche as it ultimately shapes one’s identity and plays a significant part in the lives of individuals. The process by which belonging shapes our identity is complex, it requires hard work and suppression of certain traits that may act as barriers to belonging. A few barriers to belonging evident in these texts are culture, appearance, language, ideal, society, attitude and illness. The concept of belonging and not belonging is clearly portrayed in the texts “Romulus, My Father” by Raimond Gaita, “Feliks Skrzynecki” by Peter Skrzynecki and the movie “Edward Scissorhands” directed by Tim Burton. By carefully analysing these texts we will see how belonging is the cornerstone to finding one’s identity. The memoir “Romulus, my Father” by Raimond Gaita portrays how a sense of belonging can impact characters. The protagonists in this memoir must try to retain a sense of belonging and their identity although being victims of dysfunctional families and migration which have forged and broken bonds in individuals. Families essential in forging ones identity. Our culture and upbringing is the foundation which helps to mould our building blocks of moral codes to which we live our lives. In “Romulus, my Father,” Romulus culture and the way he has been brought up has been the baseline to the set of moral codes he lived by in his life. Romulus did not feel he belongs to Australia as the experience of another culture remains a barrier to feel a true sense of belonging. Due to his cultural experience and upbringing Romulus has strong values and ideals, namely his hospitality, patience, hard work, loyalty, morality and his vision of a character. When in Australia, Romulus wants to belong to the community on a deeper level and not on a superficial level, however he resolutely holds on to his ideals and opinions and doesn’t particularly fit in. Romulus feels that the way to belong to a community is through hard work as it demonstrates his ‘worth’ to the community and improves his ‘reputations’ which is essential for his moral. This is evident in the quote: “My father would have taken pleasure in his good name anywhere, but he had an additional reason for it in Baringhup. Those were the days before –multiculturalism- immigrants were tolerated but seldom accorded the respect they deserved” The serious tone of this reveals how work became a crucial factor in overcoming inherent prejudice in the Australian community. These have been barriers to Romulus’s sense of belonging. Similarly in the poem “Feliks Skrzynecki” by Peter Skrzynecki, Feliks has migrated from Poland and does not consider Australia his home. The poet’s use of imagery enables the figure of his father Feliks to take shape in our minds. Feliks home is the garden, where he walks it paths “ten times around the world.” This hyperbole creates a sense of belonging in this setting. His experience of displacement after war has led to his chosen state of positive isolation in a secure place that he can control. Feliks is gentle, determined and resilient and like Romulus is a hard working individual. Evidence of his hard labour in the garden is portrayed in the description of his hands “darkened” by cement and his fingers “with cracks.” Yet it is clear that his work is a labour of love, later contrasted with “the forced labour in Germany.” Identity is vital to an individual’s sense of belonging and self esteem. Therefore, Peter points out that it is too difficult for his father at his age to forge an identity as an Australian and demonstrates to us that he belongs to Poland Romulus and Feliks also want to feel a sense of belonging to a family and they do this by forming a close bond with people of their former European society. They may also feel that conforming to people of the same culture enables them to adhere to particular values that were forged in that culture. This does not involve suppression of their identity and individuality which are often compromised in order to blend into the foreign Australian community. In the movie “Edward Scissorhands” directed by Tim Burton, Edwards is an incomplete invention with scissor’s for hands and the story reflects on how the community makes him feel belonged and not belonged. In the movie we see that Edward’s character is shaped through his upbringing. Tim Burton uses flashback as a mode of giving us an insight into Edward’s past and also to demonstrate his sense of belonging to his inventor and the mansion (family). His belonging to the mansion is shown by the similarity in the physical appearance of the mansion and the costuming of Edward. Edward is instilled with certain moral codes by his inventor’s tutoring and actions evident in the flashbacks. These have shaped Edward identities. Even though Peg tries to mould Edward’s identity in order to fit into the communities conformist ideals, it proves to be an extremely strong obstacle to overcome.