Understanding_Helping_and_Hindering_Belonging

“Understanding nourishes belonging...a lack of understanding prevents it.” Discuss this statement in relation to As You like It and two texts of your own choosing. The thought of understanding nourishing belonging or a lack thereof preventing it is explored in a variety of situations in various texts by different composers. In As You Like It, William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy, Jean de Florette by Marcel Pagnol and Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, it is shown how understanding can nourish belonging, while a lack of understanding may prevent it. The three composers use a variety of techniques to highlight the value of belonging and the issues that may help or hinder one in their search for belonging. Shakespeare’s As You like It shows that a lack of understanding can prevent one from belonging. This is most evident through the characterisation of Duke Frederick and Oliver, whose lack of understanding of the importance of family brand them outsiders in their own homes. Duke Frederick stages a coup and banishes his older brother Duke Senior from the court. He cares little about the harsh treatment of his brother, telling his men to “bring him dead or living”, seeking only the power and glory afforded to Duke Senior through his status as progenitor. He further reveals his disdain for family and his love of, and need for, power by banishing his niece from the court (and banishing his own daughter in the process). Oliver too, as the younger brother of Orlando, feels he has been ill-treated because of his status as a younger brother; he believes the eldest of the De Boys is keeping family money from him that is rightfully his, and he threatens his brother, forcing him to escape to the Forest of Arden, allowing Oliver to keep the family home for himself. Both Duke Frederick and Oliver do not understand the generosity and love shown to them by their elder brothers, and in banishing them from court, have lost the only people with whom they belonged. As You Like It also portrays belonging afforded to characters through understanding, which comes in the Forest of Arden. Rosalind, who found herself an outsider at court after the banishing of her father Duke Senior, flees to the Forest of Arden where she undertakes a voyage of self-discovery. She disguises herself as a young, worldly man named Ganymede and proceeds to encourage Orlando to woo Rosalind. As Ganymede, Rosalind begins to gain a better understanding of the politics of gender and her own feelings towards Orlando. She is able to recognise that she loves him and that she belongs with him and it is this understanding that nourishes belonging. In Jean de Florette, Marcel Pagnol highlights the close sense of belonging among the townspeople of the small French country town of Les Bastides, nourished by a communal sense of understanding. This understanding related to the farming methods about which the Bastidiens are very particular, and is exemplified by the Bastidien moral code, the main rule being that they must consider their town the greatest, the most beautiful, in the whole of France. Each town member adheres to this set of rules, and consequently they do not welcome newcomers to town with open arms: they, as Bastidiens, inhabitants of the greatest town in France, are superior, and those of a different town are simply not worthy of their attention. It is shown in Jean de Florette that Jean Cadoret, though seeking to immerse himself in the countryside and the peasant lifestyle, does not understand the ways of the town. The arrival of Jean and his family sends a shockwave through the town: he is from the big city of Marseille and wants to try his hand at farming using the modern methods written in textbook and faming manuals - things alien to the Bastidiens, who have learned their trade from instructions handed down from generation to generation. The news of his new methods garners much disdain from the Bastidiens, who deem it part of the “Routine”, a city way of thinking that doesn’t represent or understand the true essence of peasant life. Jean also fails to understand the moral code of the Bastidiens; though he was born in Marseille, his mother Florette was from Les Bastides, but Jean’s refusal to share this information with the townspeople, his decision to think of himself as Marseillaise and not as a Bastidien, prevents him from belonging to the town. Pagnol highlights or summarises Jean’s lack of understanding and subsequent lack of belonging through the use of the Provencal dialect which is spoken throughout the town – Jean cannot speak it and just like the farming methods and other ways of the town, this prevents him from belonging to Les Bastides. Similarly, Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road is set in 1950s suburbia and examines the breakdown of the American Dream, exploring the idea that a lack of understanding prevents a sense of belonging. At a time when most Americans sought comfort and security in the suburbs to recover from the shock and destruction of World War II, Frank and April Wheeler desperately seek to escape their life on suburban Connecticut’s Revolutionary Hill for the freedom of New York City. Since leaving New York almost a decade after April discovered she was pregnant, the Wheelers have always considered themselves superior to their neighbours on Revolutionary road. Here, Frank constantly laments the “hopeless emptiness of everything” of his surroundings and can’t understand how others are satisfied with the mind numbing state of existence in the suburbs. Though he is provided with a daily escape into the city for work, Frank views his job as an unnecessary waste of time that he doesn’t understand – over the years he has perfected a carefully constructed plan to avoid getting any work done each day and knows Knox Machines could easily do without him. The Wheelers feel a desperate need to not belong to this world they believe they don’t understand, a world they are too sophisticated for. Yates emphasises this by juxtaposing their past and present, contrasting the freedom and fun of New York with the boredom of Connecticut. Their dissatisfaction with their life here leads them to plan an escape to Paris, where they believe they will finally be free to live the life they have long been dreaming of. It is when Frank begins to enjoy his work at Knox that it is shown that while a sense of understanding can help to nourish belonging, a true sense of belonging may never be found. For the first time, Frank feels he has a purpose in his work and is glad to belong in the Knox Building; this newfound understanding leads him to decide he would be happy to continue living on Revolutionary Hill instead of going to France, even more so when April discovers she is pregnant. However unlike Frank, April does not have a daily escape from the monotony of suburbia and is unable to accept the prospect of a future where she is now. Richard Yates believed that the main theme of Revolutionary Road was “that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy" and this is shown through the unravelling of the Wheelers’ marriage. While when they first met April had told Frank he was “the most interesting person I’ve ever met”, she now says “I don’t love you, and I never really have”. April and Frank are both inescapably alone, belonging neither to their surroundings nor each other. In conclusion, Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and Marcel Pagnol’s Jean de Florette both showcase instances which demonstrate that understanding nourishes belonging and that a lack of understanding prevents it.