Simple_Gift

Despite the fact that family is one of the most powerful influences on an individual’s sense of belonging, Billy does not have this comfort in his life. His father is revealed to be an alcoholic and abusive of his son – ‘he’d be sober because I stole his beer his champagne’ and he also the reason that Billy is leaving home at the tender age of sixteen. A strong indicator of the fact that Billy does not feel a sense of belonging occurs in the juxtaposition of the character of his father with Ernie in the poem titled ‘Men’. In this poem Billy contrasts the good qualities that real men have such as generosity, friendliness and an appreciation of the simple things in life with his deprived childhood. Billy states by way of contrast, “There are men like Ernie and there are other men, men like my dad.” “So I wear the tartan skirt and the clean white blouse and I shine my shoes every week and wear the School Blazer on Sports Day, indicate to the reader her sense of rebellion against the values of the rich. By contrast, Cailtlin is happy to work at McDonalds and earn her own way into university rather than relying on the money of her parents. Old Bill’s sense of belonging to his family was destroyed initially when his daughter died and any sense of love from a family was completely severed with the death of his wife. So, although Old Bill did once find comfort and a sense of belonging with his family, now the ghosts of the house are so strong for him that he cannot feel a sense of belonging there anymore. He occasionally goes back to complete maintenance tasks to the outside of the house but cannot stand to enter the house due to the overwhelming memories that haunt him there. One of the most important factors that impacts on an individual’s sense of belonging is a feeling of attachment to a particular place. Billy, as he is leaving his father’s house, contrasts his feelings about Longlands Road (the road on which his house is situated) which he hates and Westfields Creek, which he loves and in which he feels a strong sense of belonging. His cumulation of negative language in ‘deadbeat, no-hoper shithole lonely downtrodden house’ is contrasted with “I love the flow of cold clear water…wattles on the bank…lizards sunbaking’. Language is clearly used by Billy to point out that he does not feel a sense of belonging at home but is completely attuned with nature and could spend all day reading by the water at Westfield Creek. Billy’s sense of belonging to Bendarat is also established through the incident of Billy’s purchase of the silver ring with the emerald stone. Billy is, at first, tempted to take the ring and run out of the jewellery shop, however, he comments that doing so would mean that he would have to leave the town and he did not want to do that. Old Bill’s sense of belonging to Bendarat also demonstrates the concept that a sense of place is important to an individual’s sense of self. In the poem ‘All that knowledge’, we understand that Old Bill was not always a hobo and the cumulation of ‘I’ in this poem followed by ‘worked in town//dressed neatly in suit and tie// understood the law// earned lots of money’ shows us that Old Bill initially belonged to the town of Bendarat and he held a prestigious position within it, however, this changed with the death of Jessie. With the help of Billy, old Bill is able to re-establish a sense of belonging for he starts to walk around the town as he contemplates how he is going to help Billy. In the poem ‘Old Bill and his town’, we see a new attitude emerging in Old Bill where he can reconnect with the people in the stores and in the park until he culminates these images in the line ‘where I’ll walk in mytown’. Old Bill is beginning to regain purpose and meaning to his life in this town. Although Old Bill does not immediately return to live in his home, there is a sense of possibility of this happening once he has completed his trip for Jessie. This is demonstrated through the poem ‘A project’ which begins in the past tense but changes to present tense as Old Bill contemplates the possibilities of the future. The Wellington Road home is also important as a place as it is the last setting that is used in the text. It is symbolic of the hope and freedom that comes with having a place that you can call your own or where you feel a sense of belonging. Similar to the concept of place in The Simple Gif_t, The Lost Thing_ by Shaun Tan reinforces the idea of the importance of place to an individual’s sense of belonging. In this text a large, red, mechanical object is found by Shaun who clearly understands that the thing is ‘lost’ or that it does not belong. This is depicted as Tan presents a scene where everything is homogenous, perfectly ordered and nothing is individualised; all people look the same, face the same direction and have identical umbrellas on the beach. The only unique thing on the beach is the ‘lost thing’. Shaun helps the lost thing find its place of belonging and when this happens a very interesting technique is used by Tan to show the significance of this place. Firstly, the orientation of the page changes: all the openings until this point had been of horizontal orientation, however, when the ‘lost thing’ enters the place where it belongs, the orientation of the page is vertical. Secondly, the colour scheme on this page contrasts firmly with that used in the rest of the picture book. The colours on this page are very vivid and bright, suggesting a positive connotation whereas the rest of the book is in sepia tones and very bland suggesting that the people arelacking individuality and conform to their society. Therefore it can be seen that important influences such as family, friends and places help to establish whether or not a person belongs in our society. The stronger these bonds and the more positive connotations that can be associated with these concepts the more positive is a person’s sense of belonging and self.