“Belonging Is More Than a Connection to a Place; It Also Means Being at Home Within Yourself and Knowing Who You Are.” Discuss This View with Detailed Reference to Ten Canoes and One Other Related Text of Your Own Choosing.
Belonging is an essential part of human life that is not always just a connection to a place; it is a feeling of being at home within yourself and having the patience to discover who you are. Being at home within yourself is a process that is not instantaneous and this is evident in the film Ten Canoes and the poem ‘Digging’. Through characters and text specific techniques, the film and poem portray processes of how developing an understanding of group dynamics and relationships allows one to gain a sense of personal belonging, deeper than merely a connection to a place. Understanding the group dynamics and laws relating to specific cultures allows one to avoid alienation and feel comfortable as an individual. The narrative voice of David Gulpilil in Ten Canoes invites the audience into his story of the covetous youth, Dayindi and his older brother who has three wives, Minygululu. Minygululu also has a story to tell, diachronically through time to that of the ancestors, Yeeralparil and Rijimiraril, not to the audience but to Dayindi, “to help him live the proper way”, however the audience is still involved through the narration of David Gulpilil, “it is Minygululu’s story for Dayindi back then, and it is my story for you now” so the audience can learn this ‘proper way’ too. Dayindi is introduced through the voice over as a young and somewhat naive boy who lusts for his brother’s youngest wife and resents living in the single mans camp. It is obvious Dayindi does not quite belong to this clan, despite his connection to the tribe and the land through birth, “they make fun of Dayindi, they know he is liking the younger wife of his brother Minygululu”. Dayindi steps outside what is socially accepted as the proper way, the law and this alienates him. Dayindi is impatient and throughout the story states, “the only thing he learned is that Minygululu take long time to tell a story”, but through this drawn out story Dayindi learns that understanding the right way is not