Belonging

As humans we strive to belong and we struggle to feel accepted on a consistent basis, it is uncommon for one to belong without being accepted. A sense of belonging can appear from the connections and relations made with places, people, groups, communities and in term the larger world. There are many aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding. Good morning teachers and students, the characters in the prescribed and additional texts I have studied, reveal notions of acceptance, understanding, relationships, and identity in order to belong. The composers have used various techniques to reflect characterization. These include: method of narration, lyrical and musical composition and cinematic techniques in ‘Strictly Ballroom’, ‘The Lovely Bones’ and ‘Eleanor Rigby’. The novel ‘The Lovely Bones’ by Alice Sebold, is the story of a teenage girl Susie Salmon who after being raped and murdered, is stuck in an in-between fairytale world as she watches her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives. Susie is trapped in a world that she isn’t familiar with and has no sense of belonging, Susie tries her hardest to escape, return back to reality but it is impossible. Alice Sebold has portrayed this through the use of dialogue including colloquial language. Instantly we are confronted by Susie’s identity and the crisis to where she belongs and doesn’t belong. Susie begins to acknowledge that she has no way of returning to her family. The notion of acceptance and understanding is revealed with dialogue when Susie say’s “I wasn't lost, or frozen, or gone... I was alive; I was alive in my own perfect world”. This is used to underline how Susie has developed a sense of belonging and has come forward to accept herself and her in-between fairytale world. Susie is out of her comfort zone because, In order for Susie to belong, she has to feel open and accept where she is and now where she belongs. In contrast, and having similar links to the other texts, is the song ‘Eleanor Rigby’ performed by, ‘The Beatles’. This song uses characterization to reflect the notions of belonging through lyrical and musical composition. In verse three; “Waits at the windows, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for'” the use of metaphor and rhyme is used to highlight how Eleanor has disguised her sadness and her wish with the face by her window. Eleanor puts on a face to belong and feel accepted into society. There are all the women in the world that have metaphorically been swept off their feet and fallen in love by the heroic knight dressed in armour but On the ‘other’ hand, Eleanor Rigby, expresses her emotions of isolation that everyone feels sometimes and if we don’t make everyone feel welcome in this world, it will eventually come to an end. In conclusion, the desire to belong is a hard road; one must strive through constant troubles in order to belong. The notions of identity, relationships, understanding and acceptance have clearly been expressed through the composer’s techniques to establish a sense of belonging. Once again belonging is a constant struggle of acceptance and rejection, it is uncommon for one to belong without being accepted. This has been expressed in all three of my texts.