Understanding_Is_the_Key_to_Belonging

Belonging is the notion of acceptance among a certain group, which shares a common identity or interest. The key to creating this sense of belonging is through the understanding of another’s interests, ideas, values and morals. Without this common understanding belonging seizes to exist and a sense of alienation, ostracism and not belonging is felt. The poems “Post Card”, “Migrant Hostel” and “Ancestors” from “The Immigrant Chronicles” by Peter Skrzynecki, the film “Remember the Titans” directed by Jerry Bruckheimer and the novel “Just Another Kid “ by Torey Hayden convey this idea about belonging through the character relationships they display. The poems by Peter Skrzynecki were written based on his life after his family migrated to Australia during WWII and detail the struggles of trying to belong in Australia. The idea of understanding creating belonging through character relationships can be seen very clearly within the poems “Post Card” and “Ancestors”. In both these poems the generation gap between the two participants in the relationships serves as a barrier to belonging. The character relationships developed between Peter and his mother and father in “Post Card” represent the negative aspect about this idea of belonging. This relationship creates a sense of alienation for Peter due to the generation gap which exists. Both Peter’s mother and father are very familiar with the scenes of “Red buses on a bridge” and “High-rise flats” and this creates a strong sense of belonging for them. Peter feels his sense of alienation through the frustration he feels from not being able to familiarise himself with the images on the post card. This alienation caused by the generation gap between Peter and his mother and father conveys the idea that without an understanding, belonging cannot occur. The idea that understanding is the key to belonging is represented through the relationship between Peter and his ancestors in the poem “Ancestors”. This relationship also displays the negative aspect about this idea of belonging and is caused by the generation gap between Peter and his ancestors. In the poem Peter dreams of the Polish mountain landscape and through these dreams he tries to connect to his ancestors but he wakes “As their faces become clearer”. By setting the poem as a dream, Skrzynecki emphasises the isolation he feels from his ancestors – his dreams are just conjured images and figments of his imagination, he can never really understand who his ancestors are or what their appearances were. The frustration and uncertainty of Peter in this poem is shown through the inclusion of many rhetorical questions. Skrzynecki questioning his past and the identity of his ancestors represents the barrier to belonging provided by the generation gap; Peter seizes to belonging to his ancestors because the generation gap disabled him to know who is ancestors really were. This lack of understanding by Peter for his ancestors due to the generation gap is the reason for his isolation. Race acts a barrier to belonging between the main characters in “Remember the Titans” and between the different races in the poem “Migrant Hostel”. The film “Remember the Titans” directed by Jerry Bruckheimer is based on events from 1971 about an American high school football team. Although produced in 2000 the film encapsulates the main ideas that arose from this pivotal time in American history. The character relationships developed in this film especially between the characters of Julius (African American) and Gary (white American) convey the idea of understanding being the key to belonging. At the beginning of the film Julius’ and Gary’s relationship is obscured by the nature of race relations in 1970’s America. The two men are not allowed by the cultural values at the time to become friends and to have a relationship and this causes their alienation from each other. During the course of the film Julius and Gary begin to understand each other through the methods of Coach Boone (Herman Boone). Coach Boone forces black and white players to bunk together in the same rooms during a training camp. In addition to this he continues “3-a-day” training sessions until each of the players gets to know a player of another race on their team. In doing this Coach Boone forces the players to try and understand each other and in turn try and create a sense of connection between the players. Boone’s methods are very successful; the racial barrier between the black and white players is broken down and the group becomes a team. A key scene which shows how their relationship conveys this idea about belonging is the hospital scene. Gary is involved in a car accident and when Julius arrives at the hospital, Gary’s mother tells Julius that he is the only person that Gary wants to see. The dialogue “I was afraid of you Julius. I don’t know what I was afraid of and now I know I was only hating my brother” shows how at the beginning they were isolated but through the experiences the boys shared an understanding was met and this led to their belonging. This dialogue is reinforced by the symbolism of Gary’s closed fist like that of black power advocators. The camera zooms on Gary’s fist emphasising the coming together of two races. The relationship formed between Gary and Julius shows how after the racial barrier has been broken down an understanding can be met and belonging can occur. “Migrant Hostel” is a poem about Peter’s experience living in a migrant hostel after moving to Australia during WWII. Race serves as a barrier for the relationships between the different groups of races living in the migrant hostel. The context of the time when Peter arrives in Australia plays a large part in supporting the idea that understanding creates a sense of belonging. This time was during WWII and many of the displaced people who were at the migrant hostel were on opposing sides of the war. The relationship between the different races at the hostel was civil during the day as the races had a common understanding; they were all refuges and they were all looking for a better life in Australia. But as soon as night fall came, the refugees were “Partitioned off at night/By memories of hunger and hate”. The racial barrier would rise and any understanding between the different races would be forgotten creating a sense of isolation and not belonging between the groups. This rising of the racial barrier due to a lack of understanding between the races reinforces the idea that a lack of understanding creates alienation and hence supports the thesis. “Just Another Kid” is “An enchanting, inspiring book” based on real life events which happened during the 80’s. The novel entails Torey’s experiences as the teacher of a special education class in America and the struggles associated with this. The character relationship between Torey and Ladbrooke (a mother of one of the students) develops in such a way which supports the thesis. Much like the relationship between Julius and Gary in “Remember the Titans”, at the start of the novel Torey and Ladbrooke have a negative relationship clouded by their personal differences. In this case class acts as a barrier to their belonging as Ladbrooke originates from upper class society and Torey originates from middle class society. Dialogue between Carolyn (another special education teacher) and Torey shows how the class barrier acts as a form of isolation; “You got Considyne' Is this the Considyne'”, “This sounds like a soap opera, Carolyn” and also by the simile “It was like sharing quarters with Typhoid Mary”. Throughout the course of the novel the ladies begin to understand each other. The first event which shows this is when Ladbrooke vomits in Torey’s class because she is extremely drunk. After helping her, Torey begins to investigate into Ladbrooke’s life and starts to understand her. Ladbrooke then offers to become a teacher’s aide in Torey’s classroom and their relationship starts to develop. Whilst in the classroom Torey takes a likening to Ladbrooke and they start to become good friends. A key event which shows how their relationship has developed is when Ladbrooke rings up Torey in the middle of the night to pick her up from across town. She had lapsed back into alcoholism and still Torey came to pick her up and took her in to her home. Dialogue from this event which supports the thesis include; “I like you. Plain and simple”. The change in their relationship shows how that after an understanding has been reached, the class barrier can be broken down and the feeling of alienation can be alleviated. The character relationships displayed in all three texts convey the idea that understanding is the key to belonging. In the poems “Post Card” and “Ancestors” the generation gaps between the relationships act as a barrier to belonging. These barriers do not get broken down and no understanding is reached and hence the feeling of isolation is never resolved. In the film “Remember the Titans” and the poem “Migrant Hostel” the barrier to belonging is provided by race. After an understanding is reached between Gary and Julius the barrier was broken down and belonging occurred. The same cannot be said for the different races in “Migrant Hostel” as the barrier was never completely broken down and no proper understanding was reached. Through the novel “Just Another Kid” it can be seen that class can act as a barrier. Torey and Ladbrooke reached an understanding through their experiences in the classroom together and this caused the barrier to be broken down. After the barrier was broken down belonging could occur.