Beloning_Essay,_Immigrant_Dreams_and_Feliks_Skrzynecki

"You can't build a society purely on interests, you need a sense of belonging”. This famous quote spoken by former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing , defines how important belonging is to people living amongst different groups, communities and societies all over the world. Belonging is central to how we define ourselves: our connections with places, people or groups enables one to develop a unique identity characterised by affiliation, acceptance and association. Through literary techniques, Peter Skrzynecki poem, “Feliks Skrzynecki” explores concepts about cultural belonging and the difficulties for immigrants to assimilate within the Australian community. A similar concept is explored in the Related text, “Immigrant Dreams”, Written by Maureen Chesoni. The struggles and hardships faced attempting to belong in a new country, are depicted throughout the text. A complementary visual too these two texts is the image used in the news article, titled “assimilation Tomorrow”. The text represents a group of American Immigrants gathered at a ceremony pledging their oath to their adopted homeland. The three texts all portray the concept of assimilating into a new country and the difficulties immigrants face belonging in their new society. In the poem, “Feliks Skrzynecki”, the sense of belonging conflicts with the feelings of attempting to assimilate into the Australian society through use of a metaphor. “Kept pace only with the joneses’ of his own minds making”. Feliks, following the trends of others that belong within the Australian society, attempts to assimilate and become accepted within the community, by copying what they do. Feliks’s endeavour to assimilate within a new country, conveys his desperation to belong however difficult this undertaking may be. In “Feliks Skrzynecki”, we see the conflicting feelings of belonging caused by migration and how constant tension between cultural identities challenges one’s sense of belonging. Similarly, in “Immigrant Dreams”, the authors pursuit of belonging is shown through the use of irony. “so i work in a diner, although I have four degrees”. It is ironic as the author has left her homeland where she has distinguished and recognized degrees, however, in America, where she has began her new life, she is willing to take any job. The use of irony in the text, conveys the struggles and hardships she has faced in her undertaking to belong in the American society. A resembling concept is explored in the visual related text, ”Assimilation Tomorrow”, where symbolism is used to portray the attempts of American immigrants to Belong within the American society. The Flag, a symbol of America, is being waved and held up patriotically by foreigners who have immigrated to America. The immigrants pictured are following the trends of fellow American citizens in their search for the sense and feeling of belonging, by waving the American flag while pledging their elegance too their new found homeland. The concept of Feliks trying to belonging is again shown in “Feliks Skrzynecki”, through the use of hyperbole. “He swept its paths ten times around the world”. This line again indicates Feliks’s determination to assimilate into the Australian society. The over exaggeration portrays the image of Feliks obsessive behaviour in terms of keeping his patch neat and tidy for the world to admire. The motif of Feliks’s frequent efforts to impress others within the Australian community helps to convey how determined Feliks is to assimilate and belong to Australia. Determination and willingness as a concept is shown in “immigrant Dreams”, where a simile is used to portray the authors efforts to assimilate and belong. “I toil like a soldier, in the diner”. The sentence conveys the author’s efforts to feel a sense of acceptance from both her colleagues at the diner and the American society. Like Feliks, Her obsessive behaviour related to high work ethics, links to their endeavours of belonging to their new lifestyle in their adopted countries. In “immigration Dreams”, the determination and willingness to be accepted and belong within society is depicted through the use of a simile. Likewise in, “Assimilation Tomorrow”, Body language portrayed by the immigrants depicts their willingness to assimilate within American society. The act of taking the oath of allegiance is a symbol of immigrants becoming American citizens. Immigrants raising their palms and collectively reading the oath portrays the sense of belonging within the society, and the societies acceptance of the immigrants as new American citizens. In conclusion, “feliks Skrzynecki”, “Immigrant dreams” and “Assimilation tomorrow” all explore the concepts about cultural belonging and the difficulties immigrants face while assimilating within a new society. The resembling hardships and struggles are depicted through the use both poetic and visual techniques throughout the three texts. Through the texts it is evident that belonging is central to how we define ourselves.