An individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can enrich or limit their experience of belonging In most examples of life, positive experiences will enrich a person’s happiness and joy; creating a positive state of mind and enhancing their sense of belonging, while negative experiences will develop an un-healthy state of mind and limit their sense of belonging.
The nature of these progressions is a natural effect of engaging with one’s surroundings, and there are countless examples of this evolution in both the Immigrant Chronicle, written by Peter Skrzynecki, and the poem The Two Depressing Things, written by cartoonist Leunig. Skrzynecki’s poem Feliks Skrzynecki contains one of the primary examples of the barriers to belonging that the Skrzyneckis, and by extension all immigrants, face in the country that they migrated to.
Peter’s personal anecdote of a “crew-cut, grey haired department clerk” belittling his father by asking if he “ever attempt[ed] to learn English” shows the prejudice experienced by immigrants. Skrzynecki’s use of evocative language when he says “the curse that damned a (… ) department clerk” shows that these types of comments cause to severely limit his sense of belonging. It is to be expected that if one’s experiences are positive, it will have a positive effect on the sense of belonging experienced, and vice versa. However, in the same poem there is an example of the opposite occurring.
Skrzynecki’s characterisation of Feliks Skrzynecki includes the idolism of Feliks; how he is stoic and courageous in the face of adversity. “I never once heard Him complain of work, the weather Or pain. When twice They dug cancer out of his foot, His comment was: “but I’m alive”” The last line especially shows that even though his interaction with the world around him is so negative, the adverse experiences fail to prevent him from seeing the positive side and engaging with his family and everything that life has to offer.
This perseverance is an example of how what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, demonstrating that any adversity overcome will only strengthen the connection that Feliks feels with his family. Perhaps also Feliks’ comment is Skrzynecki making an allusion to the prophecy that you will only appreciate what you have when you come close to losing it. The hardship that Feliks suffers makes him realise that at any moment his life, or that of one of his loved ones, could be extinguished, thus any moment spent with them is precious.
This realisation serves to enrich the belonging he feels with his family. Leunig’s poem The Two Depressing Things is about how when a “depressing thing occurs” yet no one notices, the state of depression is doubled. Leunig presents the idea that belonging is linked to state of mind through the use of body language. The body language of the victim is extremely miserable; down-turned mouth, slumped shoulders, and lowered head all show the sadness felt.
He then shows, through placement of the ‘characters’, that the victim no longer feels that he belongs with the rest of society as he is facing away from, and is separated from, the other characters in the image. This shows that due to the negative state of mind, a lack of interaction with the surrounding world ensues and then the sense of belonging felt by the character is negatively affected. Another poem written by Skrzynecki is 10 Mary Street, which is about Skrzynecki’s first home in Australia.
Skrzynecki shows the strong connection that he developed with the home through the simile of his parents “tend[ing] roses and camellias Like adopted children”, Which reinforces the care and diligence in building a place of belonging. Skrzynecki uses another simile of how he is “like a hungry bird” in combination with the traditional symbolism of a bird representing freedom to show the freedom and the belonging that he feels at home. Furthermore, his sense of belonging to the house is created in the Polish cultural traditions which his family and friends have; Visitors that ate Kielbasa, salt herrings And rye bread, drank Raw vodka or cherry brandy”. These strong cultural interactions serve to deepen Skrzynecki’s feeling of belonging yet it is threatened since “The whole block has been gazetted for industry”. This line is written within a parenthesis which serves to create a detached tone, juxtaposed against the heartfelt tone throughout the rest of the poem. The effect that the loss has on Skrzynecki is shown in the metaphor that his family are inheritors of “A key that’ll open no house when this one is pulled down”.
This conveys that his sense of belonging felt at 10 Mary Street will fit only with that house and cannot be replaced. Both of Peter Skrzynecki’s poems Feliks Skrzynecki and 10 Mary Street and Leunig’s poem The Two Depressing Things, demonstrate that an individual’s interaction with others and the world around them can enrich, or limit, their experience of belonging. However, the poem Feliks Skrzynecki shows that this is not always the case, and demonstrates that not all positive instances of belonging must stem from positive occurrences; it merely depends on how one sees it.