The Human Quest to Belong is Characterized by Both Belonging and Alienation

Belonging involves triumphing over failure to belong. This is seen in Peter Skrzynecki’s anthology Immigrant Chronicle. The poem St Patricks College explores the persona’s struggle to overcome alienation in his search for belonging. The poem Feliks Skrzynecki explores the persona witnessing his fathers triumph to belong. The picture book The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan explores the things initial failure to belong, which is then overcome. St Patricks College explores the personas failure to belong into the school society.The imagery â€Å"our lady watched/ with outstretched arms† gives the persona hope that he will belong in this school. This gives an early sense of triumph in his quest to belong. This is then inverted when the statues face is seen to be â€Å"overshadowed by clouds†. This use of pathetic fallacy gives early warning that the school will not be a place where he belongs, but a place were he will fail to belong and become out casted. The personif ication heightens this feeling of exclusion by having a personal bond created between the two, which is then broken by the clouds.This gives a further feeling of isolation from the school. The persona then tells of his exclusion from the school when he reminisces on his bus trips. â€Å"caught the 414 bus/ like a foreign tourist/ uncertain of my destination†, in this line the simile is coupled with the use of tautology. The simile of the persona being a foreign tourist gives him a lack of permanence in society, that he is a nomad with no sense of place. This is then contrasted with the repetition of â€Å" eight years† which shows how in this time he should have found a sense of belonging.The persona referring to himself as a tourist, also shows how he is out casted from society and not accepted. This also gives a feeling of exclusion faced by the persona. The tautology of â€Å"foreign tourist† is used to increase the feeling of exclusion. At the end of the per sonas schooling he reflects on his time at the school and the effort that his parents had gone though to get him through it. He still feels that it had not been a worthwhile sacrifice, but hopes that after school he could o something to make it worthwhile for them. that the darkness around me /wasn’t â€Å"for the best†/ before I let my light shine†. This line uses the imagery of darkness surrounding the persona to show his regret and alienation that he faced from his schooling. He then repeats his mother’s line of â€Å"for the best† but this time showing her how she had been wrong. This puts a negative tone on the line. Hope is then gained for the persona when he states, â€Å"before I let my light shine†, which indicates that in the future he will triumph and belong into society.Feliks Skrzynecki explores the personas failure to belong in society, and his father triumph over belonging. The father is seen to have â€Å"kept up only with th e Joneses/ of his own minds making†, the alliteration of â€Å"minds making† helps add emphasis to he line. This reinforces the feeling of his belonging in is own mind due to the added emphasis now placed on â€Å"mind†. The quote also utilises the cliche of â€Å"keeping up with the Joneses† as a metaphor for people conforming to societies expectations in a search for belonging. Feliks however, chooses to belong only within his own mind, and not conform to society.This shows how he has a sense of belonging within his own mind. Feliks is seen to have â€Å"loved his garden like an only child†. This quote utilises the simile to portray the message of his belonging within the garden. Comparing the garden to an only child turns Feliks’ instincts to love and protect onto the garden. This is then reinforced later in the stanza when he is seen to walk around the garden from â€Å"sunrise to sleep†. The quote also utilises the high modality w ord love which gives added depth to just how strong the connection between the two are.A father and son share a unique bond, utilised in this line, where father and son belong together, this is now placed on the father and garden. This also acts to create a sense of jealousy between the son and the father, as the father cares for the garden not his son. This shows how the son has failed to belong with the father. â€Å"like a dumb prophet/ watched me pegging my tents/ further and further south of Hadrian’s wall†, this quote uses the extended metaphor of Hadrian’s Wall as his old culture. The persona is seen to be moving away from his old culture as he attempts to embrace the Australian Culture.The paradox of the father being a dumb prophet indicted not him being stupid, but silent as he watches his son move further away from him and their Polish heritage. By using the word â€Å"tents†, the persona describes himself as unsettled and impermanent, this give s the impression that he still belongs nowhere. The repetition of further and further indicate that the father and son are growing apart and will never return to their previous feelings of belonging. The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan explores the journey of the â€Å"thing† as it attempts to find a place of belonging.Initially, it is seen to be alienated from the rest of society by a high angle shot of it at the beach. This shot allows for the whole scene to be viewed and for greater contrast to be made. The thing is seen I the middle of the beach, however it stands out from the rest of the beach goers. Its bright red colour is in contrast to the rest of the grey people and grey city. The high angle shot is able to show the hundreds of people who all belong together in grey clothing, while also showing the insignificance of the thing as it sits alone.The thing is then later seen walking through the streets. All of the people surrounding it are the same height and wearing the same b lack suits, showing how they all belong to this conformist society. The thing however is seen at least three times as tall as the people, and in bright red, completely opposing the people of the city. This flat angle shot shows how the thing is still alienated from society. In the final pages of the book the thing triumphs over its quest to belong when it finds its new home.The low angle shot of the area shows the size and excitement of the place. It shows for the first time in the book colours, which give the thing a sense of belonging, as it now no longer stands out. The sky is seen to be blue and sunny, giving the place a feeling of happiness. The thing is seen to finally have triumphed over its quest for belonging. Belonging involves triumphing over failure to belong. This is seen in Skryzynecki’s anthology Immigrant Chronicle and Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing.