Belonging is a basic human need, it would seem to be a natural thing. We belong to groups, clubs, societies, and most of us long to belong to something. Belonging to a group, club or even the larger world can provide opportunities and disappointments to individuals. ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ and ‘St. Patrick’s college’, are two poems by Peter Skrzynecki which demonstrate this meaning of belonging. A related movie text is ‘mean girls’ directed by mark waters and a fiction book ‘Pinocchio’ by Walt Disney.
‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ is an ode written about his father. He describes his father – ‘he liked gardening’, ‘hard worker’, ‘didn’t sleep much’. This demonstrates that his father did these things as a getaway, a way to escape into his old life, as he felt he didn’t belong where he is now. He reminisces with his friends about how he was forced 5 years of labour in Germany, and how he had lived life previously, farming etc ‘loved his garden like an only child’. This shows us how much he misses his earlier life.
This latter is amazingly put. ‘Stumbling over tenses in Caesar’s Gallic war, I forgot my first polish word.’ At thirteen he is struggling with Latin and forgets his first polish word. There is irony here as he learns a dead language no one speaks anymore, and starts to forget his native language, which is very much still alive. The author also calls up the feeling of the father still being very polish in a country not his own. ‘Did your father ever attempt to learn English?’ he never lost his native language and never even learnt English, while the author is drawn more to the country.
Ironically, and this says a lot about the character of his father, it is not the author who is most happy, even though you would expect him to feel more at home. It is his father, ‘happy as I have never been’.
‘St Patrick’s College’ paints a portrait of Skrzynecki’s life at the school, it deals with belonging in relation to education, spirituality and faith. Skrzynecki’s mother was “impressed by the uniforms of her employer’s sons” suggesting that she hopes that by sending him to this school, he will eventually belong to their wealthy status and their country. The uniform is a metaphor implying a lack of individuality which allows the students to belong to the school.
The juxtaposition of “Our lady watched with outstretched arms, her face overshadowed by clouds” suggests that at first glance the school appears welcoming, a place where he will easily belong, however the use of the words “overshadowed by clouds” giving an ominous, foreboding tone. This predicts that Skrzynecki was doomed not to belong to the school.
Despite Skrzynecki’s mother’s hopes for her son that by sending him to a wealthy school he may eventually fit into a wealthy social class, Skrzynecki does not belong. This is because he chose not to belong from the moment he entered the school, he did not care. This can be shown through his actions, ‘I stuck pine needles into the motto of my breast’ which is ironic because the motto represents the core values of the school.
‘Mean girls’ is based on a 16 year old teenager called Cady, who has lived in Africa and been home schooled all her life. When her parents move to America, they enroll her in a mainstream school, Cady finds herself trying to fit in amongst jocks, mathletes and other subcultures. Her first day at school she is completely isolated, because she doesn’t know anyone and has no one to sit with at lunch. Fortunately for her she is saved by ‘the greatest people you will ever know’ who take her and show her about school life. Janice and Damian who refer them selves to ‘the greatest people you will ever know’ plan to get revenge on Regina (head of the plastics – most popular girls in school), as Janice has had a past with Regina. Cady is invited to join the ‘plastics’ and Janice takes this as an opportunity to get back at Regina.
Cady develops a crush on Regina’s ex-boyfriend, when Regina finds out, she pretends to like her ex and gets him back. This gets Cady mad, and so begins the plots of revenge. They give her nutrition bars which makes you gain weight, foot cream for her face and turned her plastics against her. In all of this commotion Cady’s manages to become head of the plastics, and takes Regina’s place, her-self identity disappears as she doesn’t realize she’s changed in order to fit in and feel like she belongs.
Cady realizes her mistake when she throws a party, while her parents are away, and forgets that she had prior arrangements with Janice. ‘You are cold, hard, shiny plastic!’ screams Janice as she confronts Cady. The movie’s climax is with Regina photo copying their ‘burn book’ (a book made by the plastics writing mean things about everyone) and throwing it all over the school. The principal orders everyone to the hall. Here everyone confronts each other. By the end of the movie Cady is back to being herself, Regina and the other plastics begin to lead a normal life, not as the plastics, ironic as it may seem, even though we see that their group of plastics broke up, we see another group of younger plastics begin.
‘Pinocchio’ is the story of a troubled lad searching for self- worth, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging. He is in desperate need of, and unconsciously seeking to fit in.
not finished yett though ...
‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ is an ode written about his father. He describes his father – ‘he liked gardening’, ‘hard worker’, ‘didn’t sleep much’. This demonstrates that his father did these things as a getaway, a way to escape into his old life, as he felt he didn’t belong where he is now. He reminisces with his friends about how he was forced 5 years of labour in Germany, and how he had lived life previously, farming etc ‘loved his garden like an only child’. This shows us how much he misses his earlier life.
This latter is amazingly put. ‘Stumbling over tenses in Caesar’s Gallic war, I forgot my first polish word.’ At thirteen he is struggling with Latin and forgets his first polish word. There is irony here as he learns a dead language no one speaks anymore, and starts to forget his native language, which is very much still alive. The author also calls up the feeling of the father still being very polish in a country not his own. ‘Did your father ever attempt to learn English?’ he never lost his native language and never even learnt English, while the author is drawn more to the country.
Ironically, and this says a lot about the character of his father, it is not the author who is most happy, even though you would expect him to feel more at home. It is his father, ‘happy as I have never been’.
‘St Patrick’s College’ paints a portrait of Skrzynecki’s life at the school, it deals with belonging in relation to education, spirituality and faith. Skrzynecki’s mother was “impressed by the uniforms of her employer’s sons” suggesting that she hopes that by sending him to this school, he will eventually belong to their wealthy status and their country. The uniform is a metaphor implying a lack of individuality which allows the students to belong to the school.
The juxtaposition of “Our lady watched with outstretched arms, her face overshadowed by clouds” suggests that at first glance the school appears welcoming, a place where he will easily belong, however the use of the words “overshadowed by clouds” giving an ominous, foreboding tone. This predicts that Skrzynecki was doomed not to belong to the school.
Despite Skrzynecki’s mother’s hopes for her son that by sending him to a wealthy school he may eventually fit into a wealthy social class, Skrzynecki does not belong. This is because he chose not to belong from the moment he entered the school, he did not care. This can be shown through his actions, ‘I stuck pine needles into the motto of my breast’ which is ironic because the motto represents the core values of the school.
‘Mean girls’ is based on a 16 year old teenager called Cady, who has lived in Africa and been home schooled all her life. When her parents move to America, they enroll her in a mainstream school, Cady finds herself trying to fit in amongst jocks, mathletes and other subcultures. Her first day at school she is completely isolated, because she doesn’t know anyone and has no one to sit with at lunch. Fortunately for her she is saved by ‘the greatest people you will ever know’ who take her and show her about school life. Janice and Damian who refer them selves to ‘the greatest people you will ever know’ plan to get revenge on Regina (head of the plastics – most popular girls in school), as Janice has had a past with Regina. Cady is invited to join the ‘plastics’ and Janice takes this as an opportunity to get back at Regina.
Cady develops a crush on Regina’s ex-boyfriend, when Regina finds out, she pretends to like her ex and gets him back. This gets Cady mad, and so begins the plots of revenge. They give her nutrition bars which makes you gain weight, foot cream for her face and turned her plastics against her. In all of this commotion Cady’s manages to become head of the plastics, and takes Regina’s place, her-self identity disappears as she doesn’t realize she’s changed in order to fit in and feel like she belongs.
Cady realizes her mistake when she throws a party, while her parents are away, and forgets that she had prior arrangements with Janice. ‘You are cold, hard, shiny plastic!’ screams Janice as she confronts Cady. The movie’s climax is with Regina photo copying their ‘burn book’ (a book made by the plastics writing mean things about everyone) and throwing it all over the school. The principal orders everyone to the hall. Here everyone confronts each other. By the end of the movie Cady is back to being herself, Regina and the other plastics begin to lead a normal life, not as the plastics, ironic as it may seem, even though we see that their group of plastics broke up, we see another group of younger plastics begin.
‘Pinocchio’ is the story of a troubled lad searching for self- worth, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging. He is in desperate need of, and unconsciously seeking to fit in.
not finished yett though ...
