English essay. skryznecki poems and romulus my father! please read and give feedback.

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elizatriggs

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IF ANYONE COULD PLEASE READ AND GIVE FEEDBACK. :) the essay is specifically looking at relationships affect on belonging.

As members of human society, it is within our fundamental core to actively receive acceptance, respect and friendship from our peers, and it is through these forged relationships that perceptions of belonging can be supported. This notion of belonging is evidently explored In Peter Skryznecki’s suit of poems Immigrant chronicle. Primarily looking at ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ and ‘ancestors’ and the Australian Book “Romulus my father” Written by Raimond Gaita. Through the analysis of relationships in these texts, it is easy for one to come to conclusions to the integral connection between ones relationships and their ability to belong.



A individuals ability to share functional relationships or for that matter the inability too, can have a serious effect on not only their identity but the cultural and physiological state of belonging. In Peter Skryznecki’s Poem “Feliks Skrzynecki” We see Peters growing disconnection from his father, ultimately leading to severed ties to Skryznecki’s cultural identity and his willingness to belong. Feliks Skrzynecki in this poem is represented as a happy simple man, which had adapted to his new way of life and belonged. This can be seen in the metaphor “loved his garden like an only child” and also where he is “talking” and “Reminiscing” with his friends about their past. The description in these lines characterises Feliks and proves him to be a carefree, happy man.
However we see Peter Skrzynecki as separated from this essence of belonging, and unable to relate to his father’s happiness, primarily expressed as he hyperbole’ describes his father as “happy as I have never been”. The negative connotations emote to the audience, further juxtaposes Skrzynecki and Feliks. The lack of relationships Skrzynecki is able to uphold, is clearly having a seriously negative affect of his Belonging and therefor, also his wellbeing.
Skryznecki’s relationship with his father appears distant. The personal pronouns multiply evident in the poem, such as “my father sits out in the evening, with his dog” Note, Skrzynecki does not refer to the dog as ours, but rather separating his connections from his father referring to it as “his”. Also in ‘his polish friends…’Again, the the personal pronoun “his” reinforces that these people weren’t Skryznecki’s friends too he does not associate with these people. They share stories of the past and of Skryznecki’s fathers culture, something he has purposely separated himself from. Furthermore in the quote “…always shook hands too violently, I thought” Is the contrasting nature between his fathers opinions and relationship to these people and Skryznecki’s inability to connect to them.

Skrzynecki and his father appear to have a strict relationship, which juxtaposes Feliks relationship with his garden, in which he loves and nurtures, whilst in the poem the only direct communication between father and son is when Skrzynecki refers to “I remember the words he taught me” which establishes reminants of Felick’s culture, trying to pass it on to Skyrznecki. Then In the final stanza Skrzynecki admits, “I forgot my first polish word. He repeated it so I never forgot” Skryznecki’s has let down his father, and let down what little relationship that had shared.
Peter Skrzynecki in this poem is represented as not being able to belong, and it has a great deal with the fact that his is unable to sustain a relationship with his father figure.

Similarily, to “felicks Skryznecki” in “Ancestors”, Peter Skyrznecki seems unable to connect to his origins, evidently leading his feelings of not belonging. The physical image of the ancestors is immperitve, Skrzynecki uses alliteration and imagery as the ancestors stand “Shoulder to Shoulder”. We see them as all being connected to each other, and Skrzynecki standing apart, unable to unite with them. This powerfully conveys the message that his ancestors are metaphorically creating a physical barrier preventing him from feeling accepted and belonging. Furthermore Skrzynecki’s sense of alienation from the “bearded, faceless men” is a contradictory statement, alluding us to realise that Skrzynecki does not identify with these people, and his isolation from his culture and ancestry.
The multisensory imagery in Ancestors, “The wind tastes of blood” shows that the origin is in our blood, which connects us and forges relationships to our ancestors.
However, Skrzynecki’s alienation forces him to be unable to belong or stabilise a connection between him and his ancestors. “Blood” therefore can sometimes restrict our understanding of our past, which is what we originally belong to.
Throughout Ancestors, Skrzynecki repeatedly questions his ancestors, without ever receiving even a hint of a reply, so these questions become rhetorical, as Skrzynecki begins to question himself. The inquisitive tone of the poem, symbolised through Skrzynecki’s questions such as “who”, “where”, “why” and “when” that almost all of the stanza’s ends with, aids as evidence for this lack of identity. Another prime example is “..to what star do their footprints lead…?” We see Skrzynecki’s search for which path he is to follow, as he asks into the unknown where will his own future lie. Skrzynecki in Ancestors experiences confusion as he is unable to communicate with his ancestors, and culture. Thus leading to having a negative impact on his belonging.
Representing these issues of connection to people and communities is the film ‘Romulus, My Father’. Romulus my father tells the tale of a migrant family establishes life in new land, that has been be isolated by language, culture and absence of connections to the people, leading to horrific impacts on their state of belonging.
The flawed and troubled father in “Romulus, my father” is originally isolated in his community by the slow approval of migrants in Australia in the1950s and by the mental illness of his wife. However, being a “hardworker” Romulus makes a good name for himself and creates connections within there new community, and therefor starts to settle in, whilst his wife Christine has had multiple failed attepts at forging relationships and fitting in to her new community. The contrasting characterisation of Christine with Romulus,. Further exemplifies the damaging effects of christines social rejection and not belonging on one’s state of wellbeing, which in Christine’s case leads to mental disability and her suicide. Christine’s unrestrained nonconformist behaviour is a barrier to belonging as she often condemned in being a “characterless woman” by others. The recurrent motif of suicide strengthens the negative impacts of alienation caused by ones inability to belong. Through the contrasting characterisation, Gaita reflects that belonging to one’s community is vital as it benefits identity, while a lack of it has serious detrimental effects on one’s ability to belong.

The relationships between father and son in Romulus my father are deep and extensive, portrayed by the possessive emotive connection of “…my son is everything to me…”. Throughout the memoir, Gaita expresses his love of his father as he develops an understanding of his father as a person “…I loved him too deeply…”. The relationship shared between father and son is one of unity and love, of safety. The affect being that that feel as if they belong when they are together.
Meanwhile the distinct absence of emotional connection to his mother is symbolised through her absence from the text itself. The only emotions Gaita ever expresses about his mother are “…embarrassed and sad…” Shows his relationship with his mum is not one in which he felt comfortable in, he did not connect to her the way he did with his father.
Gaita uses vivid imagery to describe Christine’s alienation within the new community when he says “I first saw her when she was two hundred metres or so from the house, alone, small, frail, walking with an uncertain gait and distracted air.” Using the adjectives to create imagery “alone, small and frail” also give us a haunting description of how Christine is on the inside and how she feels being isolated and not accepted in her relationships with people.
Belonging is one of the fundamental human needs for companionship and security. For those who have a place where they belong such as with a family, with friends, with the community; they feel safe and content. Those that don’t fit into their surrounding’s and forge relationships within their communities form a sense alienation and isolation and ultimately not belonging. Study of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs suggests that the need to make connections and fit in with communities and people, is a motive built into the core of ones being. And the ability to create and sustain these relationships and connections are inextrixebly linked to ones state of belonging. In Both Peter Skyrznecki’s poem’s and Romulus my father, we clearly see the effect of ones relationships in their ability to belong. Belonging, and in particular its link to relationships, is not a permanent state of being, it is fluid and consistently changing, in its state of flux. It is important to realise that everyone will experience both belonging and not belonging at different stages in their lives.
 

Raymott

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I'm sorry, but we can't do homework here. It's against the rules. (qv).
 

elizatriggs

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i thought this was the point of the site though? to help each other out?
 

Raymott

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i thought this was the point of the site though? to help each other out?
Did you read the rules? "
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Please don't ask us to do or correct your homework; this is a place to discuss language."[/FONT]
Yes we do help people to understand English, but doing or checking homework is not the point of this site.
 
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