Speech

A sense of belonging for an individual is shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts, although often plagued with gateways and barriers. This sense of belonging is represented profoundly in the in the central text, "Swallow the Air" which is a novel written by Tara June Winch, and the related text "Not in India", which is a poem written by Sadi Hussain. Both these texts acquit that an individual's path to belonging is plagued with obstacles, however, overcoming these barriers and obstacles leads to the individual finding their sense of belonging. Relate to thesis Obstacles in the path to an individual’s belong restricts them from successfully obtaining their sense of belonging and this is represented in both texts. In the novel we are introduced to the protagonist of the novel May. Readers can understand that May is going through an extremely arduous time, due to the suicide of her mother representing an extremely hostile family. Tara June Winch uses a variety of textual features in order to emphasize the loss of May's sense of belonging due to the suicide of her mother. A quote that represents this is, "I stopped feeling like I belonged. Anywhere", through the truncated sentence it emphasizes the loss of her mother, and how because of it, it has lead her to feel segregated from her family aswell as her cultural heritage. This forces the reader to empathize with May, and understands her pain. This is reinforced by the quote, "When me and Billy lost our mother, we lost ourselves", which exemplifies the distraught that the loss of her mother has brought to the family. The barriers May faces are further emphasized in the chapter "Bleeding Palms", in which May is referred to as a "little coon" by white Australians. Tara June Winch effectively uses colloquial emotive language to demonstrate the hatred in which these antagonists have towards May, referring to her as a "dumb black bitch". This positions us as readers to empathise with May, and how troubling it must be, to know her culture and race which are unchangeable things are restricting her from belonging. The barriers associated with an individual's path to belonging are also represented in the poem "Not in India", which depicts the life of a south East Asian student living in Great Britain. Throughout the poem Hussain uses repetition by repeating the phrase "Not in India", to convey the fact that the persona is no longer in a familiar environment but one that challenges his identity. This is reinforced by the persona's aspirations in becoming part of society, but is restricted from doing so due to his cultural and racial aspects. An example of this is when the persona uses personal pronouns and emotive language stating, "I want a proper bag, I cried", demonstrating how the persona feels segregated from the other school kids due to having a different kind of bag. His mother heightens his frustration by stereotypically stating "Indians are always good at Maths", which acts as a cultural barrier to the persona's belonging, due to the personas mother not realising his aspirations in belonging to society. Subsequently, due to the barriers restricting him from belonging to society, the persona is tormented by his peers, and is restricted from ever belonging to them. An individual's ability to overcome the barriers and obstacles are what sets them apart from those who are unable to do so. In Swallow the Air, although May did go through some confronting experiences, she remained determined in finding her sense of belonging, and the experiences she went through only strengthened her identity and the way she confronts situations. Tara June Winch once again uses textual features to represent May's overcoming of her barriers. A quote that represents this is when it states "I wanted to be free of them. I wanted pride instead", which is an example of anaphora and personal pronouns used by Tara June Winch, which effectively demonstrates May's determination in obtaining freedom from white Australians who have lead indigenous Australians to feeling oppressed. This is reinforced by May stating, "The land is where I’ll find my belonging", expressing the spiritual and cultural importance of the land to May. Readers can also depict May's acceptance of her identity, when Tara June Winch uses a paradox where May states, "I could run from my family, but I couldn't run from my family", expressing May has accepted the truth of her family history, and how she isn't running away from it and is instead returning home. Finally, we see May overcoming her barriers and finding her sense of belonging when she states, "My mother knows that I am home, at the water I am home", and demonstrating she has found her connection between the land and her mother which allows readers to understand May has overcome her barriers and found her sense of belonging. The overcoming of barriers is also thoroughly explored in Not in India. Although the persona in the poem is segregated from the school kids, he meets a character named Craig, who acts as the catalyst to the persona’s sense of belonging. Hussain uses descriptive language to describe Craig who has a “pink face, beaming with a smile”, which portrays the fact that Craig is white, however unlike the other kids; Craig is extremely friendly towards Sadi. This is reinforced in the third stanza when Hussain uses a metaphor where the persona is called “Chocolate!”, which is an example of high modality used by the other kids to demonstrate their animosity towards the persona. The persona retaliates by stating, “I’m not chocolate, I’m just like you, I think”, where through the shifting from high modality to low modality, it demonstrates his lack of confidence to stand up to the other kids. However Craig defends the persona, and Hussain once again uses the metaphor and high modality when Craig states, “Then you’re a milky bar!” demonstrating Craig defending Sadi and accepting him for who he is. This shows that Sadi is accepted by Craig, and the two together are able to form a friendship hence allowing Sadi to feel a sense of belonging, and overcoming the barriers that separates him from the other kids.