DHARA

JSN!

Belonging is often alluded to acceptance and interconnection within social, cultural, historical and
personal contexts of the wider community. This makes an individual feel comfortable and happy to
live among similar people. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connection made with
communities. Individuals have a choice of involving and committing their duties by being part of the
group for the purpose and ideals of the organisation. People's acceptance can result in closeness;
however their exclusion from the community can generate isolation. This can change over time with
new social and cultural experiences. This is explored in the text, 'The China Coin' by Allan Baillie,
where Ke and Leah feel a sense of belonging to their Chinese community so they protest against the
corrupt government to help China become democratic. This idea is also exemplified in the text 'A
sacrificed shoulder, a loyalty pledged beyond words' by Alice Pung, where the persona's parents
worked hard to contribute in many ways to belong and enrich the Australian community. Furthermore,
this idea is also demonstrated in the poems "Feliks Skrzynecki" and "Post Card" by Peter Skrzynecki,
which illustrates the persona's altering feelings of belonging and not belonging towards the
Australian community.
A sense of not belonging can emerge from language barriers and a choice of not belonging,
disconnecting individual from a community.. This is explored in the poem 'Feliks Skrzynecki', which
demonstrates a sense of not belonging mentally through father still reminiscing in his past rather
than accepting an Australian culture. This is displayed through the use of idiom and colloquialism,
"Kept pace only with the Joneses of his own mind's making". This implies Feliks is not trying to keep
up with his surrounded Australian community and living in his own world by holding on to his past.
This conveys the detachment of progression in his life and disconnecting from the Australian
community. The persona's father being rejected by a crew cut department clerk, who ironically asks
"did your father ever attempt to learn English". This further emphasizes Feliks doesn't want to
detach from his Polish culture and heritage so he faces discrimination leading to exclusion from being
part of the Australian community and language barrier further disconnects him from the Australian
community. Furthermore, "A sacrificed shouldered loyalty pledged beyond words" also exemplifies
this idea through the Persona's mother being "felt isolated" because she couldn't speak English and
she was "too shy to speak to anyone". The use of sibilance reflects the mother's quiet nature and
implies the persona's mother chose not to be part of the Australian community due to her poor
literacy and English skills. Moreover, in 'The China Coin', Leah rejects to accept her Chinese identity.
The use of a rhetorical question, "couldn't the woman see?... not even an ABC", reflects Leah's
negative attitude towards her Chinese identity and exposes no desire to belong, nor any empathy for
the sights or new experiences. In addition, through the use of the third person pronoun, "After a
while Leah became exhausted with the effort of translating the Cantonese in her head... conversation
flow over her", portrays Leah's difficulty to mentally connect to the Chinese community due to not
knowing Cantonese and eventually Leah chose not to learn the language reinforcing isolation and
disconnection from her Chinese identity. These texts reflect language barriers and disconnection
from the community can lead to a sense of not belonging.
Experiences and memories can act as a barrier towards a sense of belonging. This is represented in
the poem "Feliks Skrzynecki" through the use of imagery, "About farms where paddocks
flowered...they were skilled in slaughtering", highlights Feliks is still reminiscing his past lifestyle
where he was a farmer and content with his life. Even in Australia he "loves his garden like an only
child" displays garden is a symbol for farms in Poland. This further reinforces Feliks strong connection
to Poland through using his farmer skills to take care of the garden, meaning his experiences and
memories of Poland, disengaging him from the Australian Community. In addition, this idea is further
illustrated in the poem "Postcard", through the use of personification, "I never knew you/Except in
the third person" emphasize his disconnection to his Polish heritage due to not having his own
experiences and memories of Poland. Moreover, in 'A sacrificed shouldered loyalty pledged beyond
words', highlights this idea through the use of negative connotation ,"being isolated in the shed all
those years" displays the persona's mother's past horrible experiences and memories of Killing Field
in Cambodia mentally affected her and fear of war influenced her to stay inside the house for" 20
years in the darkness", alienated her from the Australian community. Furthermore, this idea is also
exemplified in 'The China Coin' through the repetition of "Dad's nose, Dad's freckles..." articulating
Leah thought she was Australian as she had a similar physical appearance as her Australian dad and
she was going to china "to solve her father's mystery". This illustrates she just went to china to fulfil
her dad's last wish of finding the other half of the coin. Consequently, her experience and memories
of her dad isolated her from accepting and connecting to the Chinese identity. In addition, through

the use of dialogue, "Should have left you in the Chatswood..... It's your rotten china!, reveals a
tension between mother and daughter due to Joan's emotional flashbacks of her terrible past
memories. Her reminiscence of her own fearful memories provoked a physical and emotional
confrontation in Shanghai with her daughter. Her fearful behaviour towards her daughter further
dissociates them from each other, leading to a sense of not belonging to each other. These texts
illustrate flashback of experiences and memories have great potential to generate disconnection.
A generation gap has the potential to disassociate the individual from their identity or family. This is
explored in the poem "Feliks Skrzynecki" through the use of historical allusion, "Watched me pegging
my tents Further and further south of Hadrian's Wall", interprets Peter's remoteness from his Polish
community. This reveals persona's changing attitude by avoiding his parent's culture in order to be
accepted and belong to the newly adopted Australian culture and language to feel a sense of
belonging to the Australian community. Whereas persona's father was strongly connected to the
Polish language and culture through reminiscing his past farming life by taking care of the garden,
being in contact with his Polish friends and speaking Polish all the time. Consequently, Persona's
father was concerned that his son was moving "further and further south of Hadrian's wall" so "He
repeated it so I never forgot". The use of the second person pronoun depicts persona's father prefers
that his son speak Polish so they can communicate and Peter can sustain his connection to his Polish
identity. Similarly, this idea is expressed in "A sacrificed shoulder a loyalty pledged beyond words"
through the use of negative connotation "She felt alienated from us" implying persona's mother
didn't know English ,Australian heritage and culture. This isolated her from her children as they were
able to speak English and " understand the bicameral parliamentary system", portraying they
accepted and adopted Australian culture to feel a sense of belonging to the Australian community
while their mother was unable to learn English thus, she was strongly connected to her Chinese
identity. Moreover, this idea is also articulated in 'The China coin' through the dialogue and repetition,
'In Australia you are Australian, but in China you are Chinese, In Chinese, you are a Pear'. This
expresses Leah's apparent removal and loss of her name which creates further detachment from her
gradual relinquished relationship with her dad. Her singular idea of belonging limits her emotional
identity, thus she is angry and afraid of losing her loyalty to Australian identity and her father.
An Individual 's refutation to be a member of the community can lead to isolation. This is exemplified
in "The China Coin" through Leah saying "I hate it. I hate China" represents Leah's mental
disconnection and lack of belonging to her Chinese heritage. This also depicts her physiological
difficulty through not being interested in her mother's desires to find a connection with her cultural
heritage. Thus, ultimately rejecting her Chinese identity . Moreover, " A sacrifice shouldered, a
loyalty pledged beyond words Furthermore, the text "Postcard" also represents this idea through
the use of first and second personal pronoun, "Warsaw old town/I never knew you" creates distance
between Peter and Warsaw. This displays the disengagement and alienation of the persona from his
motherland. Also, the repetition of " I never knew you" emphasizes the disconnection of the persona
to his heritage due to not having his own memories and experience of Warsaw, hence he rejects to
identify his connection with his motherland which alienates him from his Polish family.
Overall, the text portray belonging as connection through related identity, culture, place or beliefs
where one's differences and similarities are accepted and respected. Acceptance can create intimacy,
however rejection can result into segregation. There are various barriers such as choice, memories,
language or experiences that can influence a sense of belonging and enrich or limit an Individual's
sense of belonging over time.