Belonging

The fundamental aspect of belonging is more than often associated with security and acceptance. The possession of these essential elements guides humanity into happiness. It is however only when an individual is capable of transforming into their true character that genuine belonging can be experienced and sheltered, a place like a home. Hence, belonging is not only a desire to be attached to something but also endorses deeper-rooted aspects. These aspects are exposed in the play ‘As You like It’ by William Shakespeare, the poem ‘We are going’ by Kath Walker and the picture book ‘Belonging’ by Jeanie Beaker. As you like it represents characters discovering a sense of belonging for themselves through the development of relationships with each other under the influence of a place, and that place is the natural setting of the Forest of Arden. This idea is conveyed in Act 2, Scene 1, in the setting in the Forest of Arden. This is juxtaposed with the courtly setting, where belonging is challenged. This is shown by the use of alliteration from Duke Seniors dialogue. ‘Painted pomp’ and ‘envious court’. This helps to characterise the court as a place of falseness and danger. This emphasizes the fact that the court is somewhere that the characters do not wish to belong and would rather be alienated from. The idea of belonging to place is also exhibited in Scene 2, Scene 4, where Celia and Rosalind arrive at Arden after Rosalind having been banished by her uncle Duke Frederick also Celia’s father. Celia being noble to her cousin banishes herself from the court and embarks with Rosalind as well as Touchstone to Arden. There they decide to belong by becoming households in this setting. ‘Buy thou cottage, pasture, and the flock’, symbolises their willingness to belong in the forest by buying a house in Arden. Orlando and Adam who also venture away from the court into Arden also find themselves having to strive for shelter, food and safety. They’ve decided to escape the court after Orlando’s elder brother Oliver tried to kill Orlando. In the forest Adam and Orlando find themselves out of place as they are unable to find food, water or shelter. However, as Orlando leaves Adam in the search for food he comes across the banished Duke Senior and his men. As he approached them he draws out sword and as he believes everything in the forest is savage, however the compassion shown by Duke Senior and his men by allowing him to eat with them allows Orlando to belong to the forest. The central aspect of belonging to place takes us further beyond the idea that to belong to a place we must be have some sort of affiliation to the place. The poem we are going by Kath Walker, known as Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal, captures the displacement of the Aboriginal people in Australian society/culture and their confusion about where or what to belong to as their traditional customs are taken away/forgotten. The text raises the issues and themes of ‘Belonging’ through a mostly-‘defeated’ tone as it shows their loss of tradition and culture in the new Australia. This is represented with the use of a simile ‘white men hurry about like ants’, suggests the invasion of white people into their land has seen them work busily and hurriedly to change the aspects of the land. This suggests the infiltration of unwanted people out to destroy their traditional land and customs, enables them to not feel connected to their home anymore. In poem the symbolism of the ‘Bora Ring’ becoming a rubbish dumps suggest that the white people do not accept or understand the Aboriginal culture which leads to separation. This portrays the feeling of alienation the aboriginal people towards their home as the white people show no respect to the land, permitting the aboriginal people to reside in their land, in their home. This creates a barrier for the prevention of aboriginal people to feel a sense of affinity to their home. The Aboriginals sense of community and kinship is shown through their prayer like listing of the elements of their identity, which is formed through their belonging to place and their interaction of the people around them. The repetition of the collective first person pronoun in ‘we are’ reinforces their unity and conviction in their beliefs. This suggests that because they are what the land is made up of, if it is gone, they will be unable to adapt to the environment. They feel that because their customs have been abolished and because they have been isolated, they face the challenge of preserving their beliefs, culture and identity. A significant factor for individuals being able to feel a sense of security and identity to feel inclusion in a place is to develop stability within the place by allowing one to develop positive relationships with others. This concept is explored in Jeanie Beaker’s picture book ‘Belonging ‘where the family belong together but are alienated away from the urban decay of their suburb. Beaker has used several visual techniques to portray the transformation of the family from being hostile and secluded to being harmonious and sociable with other member in their suburb. The first frame of the picture illustrates the family being united in the corner with their back turned to suburb to demonstrate that the is regarded important amongst them and they want to be away from the neighbourhood regarded as unsafe due to the old and damaged buildings and the boy that has no regard to the old lady as he knocked her off her feet being depicted in the background. The use dull colours also portray the dullness, boredom, unhealthy and unsafe neighbourhood that the people live in. As the book progresses into the characters Tracey’s life, slowly, slowly we see the Tracey and her family becoming less hostile and allowing themselves to be exposed to the community.