we have a deep, natural need to connect with other people and to belong to a social group. This sense of connection and belonging comes from good relationships with the people around us - in our families, at work or school and with our friends. There is strong evidence that when we feel we belong, we will flourish.…
I believe Ishmael’s level of resilience throughout the story was immensely high considering the age he was during the war. One example, was when Ishmael first experiences the war and loses all of his family except his brother, Junior. Ishmael does not complain about walking miles and miles all day long in the scorching sun, when many kids his age would start complaining after fifteen minutes on a nice breezy day. As well as, when Ishmael was all alone in the forest he did not act crazy about the freedom he had, but instead was orderly and still did day to day necessary activities while remaining calm. He always shows that even in the toughest situations he acts just like an adult and is always in control, when kids his age lost their cool and acted crazy leading them to die. Last but not least, when Ishmael was at the rehabilitation center he did act agitated, but recovers from the worst thing a child could be during the war, a child soldier. He acts insane and puts his life at risk when he is a soldier because he did drugs everyday and killed hundreds of people for years, and all it takes for him to recover to be a normal child again is eight months.…
Deceit I also enjoyed Goody Cloyse's character. Goody Cloyse character is based on an actual woman (Sarah Cloyce), who was tried and convicted of witchcraft during the historical Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Her character proves that people hide their real identities. Goody is a Christian woman who assists young people study the Bible, but in secret she performs magic rituals and joins witch conventions in the forest.…
In the novel A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah describes to us what it was like to live in the terrifying times in Sierra Leone, South Africa. A civil war started from the want of mass diamond production, Streets were filled with chaos. Children traveling the streets from town to town were exposed to traumatizing and life changing events. In Beah's novel the traumatic effects of war, drug addiction, and mass murder all lead to the experience of PTSD. A post traumatic stress disorder that not only affects themselves but family members and friends also.…
Belonging gives a strong sense of identity. It colours who we are and what we belong to. Belonging gives a sense of safety amongst our friends and family. Famous 19th century poet John Clare- ‘Self identity is one of the first principles in everybody’s life. Self identity defines who we are and what we have become.…
Belonging is the process of identification that recognizes the relationship between individuals and the society. It expands over time and is inconsistent, depending on the social and cultural contexts. This process can reveal our identities by challenging our morals. This can create tension between our need to fit in and our aspirations of individuality to establish the significance of inner self. The concept of belonging isn’t just the perception of identity, but the connections they create with broader communities. Belonging accommodates for shifting attitudes and enlightens new experiences with people and places hence a constantly evolving relationship between ourselves and the world.…
The need to be socially accepted and connected with others is an intrinsic yearning in…
Belonging in some instances cannot be beneficial for ones wellbeing. Negative consequences may arise from the way in which one develops belonging. Barriers to belonging can be imposed or voluntarily constructed, and allowing one to distort the barriers can affect the way one belongs to people, places, groups or the larger world.…
I want you to do something for me, I want you to think of your parents, now in the same thought put yourself in the picture. Now think, what have you inherited from your parents, is it just their physical appearance or is it also their way of thinking. What if I were to tell you, that it is something much more, that each and every one of us, has inherited our parent’s sense of belonging or not belonging, and then developed it. Forces both external and internal shape our identity. The people that form our families, the friends that surround us and the positions we occupy in society, are all links that together form our belonging in this world. Belonging is important in Romulus My Father by Raimond Giata and Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger as they both show that fitting into a group is integral to human existence and brings more meaning to one’s life.…
Belonging is an instinctive human need in all of us as it provides us with security, happiness and a…
Belonging is not an easily identified term. It is an inherent human condition in which we strive to feel an unconditional bond of security, and is essential in confirming our identity and place in the world. This connection can be acheived through a reciprocated understanding between people, their identity and their surroundings, in which the seed of understanding, nourishes a sense of belonging to grow.…
A sense of belonging is a fundamental human need that can be formed from connections made with people. This can have a varying impact – both positive, for example in offering, security and/or enhancing self-esteem, and negative for instance, in the suppression of individuality. Those experiencing barriers to belonging, often due to being different, can also suffer a range of negative consequences such as unhappiness and alienation. The drive to belong and its varying consequences are well represented in Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing, a nonsensical picture book about an imaginary creature lost in a retro/futuristic world.…
Belonging is a gift we all require. It colours who we are and how we fit into the world around us. The hunger for the need to belong to groups or places is what drives us and is common to all humanity. A famous quote from the Bible states ‘How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity’. Throughout our life, the ever-changing personal, social and cultural contexts can transform ones sense of belonging and self identity. Levels of connectedness with friends and family will change over time and can be positive or negative.…
“Show me Yours” by Richard Van Camp narrates the promising and apparent upturned in life experienced by Richard, a middle-aged man who at the beginning has experienced a nadir in his life caused by addiction issues and harmful friendships. After a bad night, by mere randomness, he decides to glue a found baby picture of him to his grandparent saint’s necklace and wears it under his shirt. Abruptly, the baby picture necklace becomes a trend in his community and seems to encourage care and positivism around the participants of the furor. Richard, who starts experiencing acceptance and recognition around the locality also reunites with an old love, Shawna, with whom he spends the night and appears to bring more hope to Richard’s situation. At…
It is a well-known fact that belonging to a group can make an individual feel not only accepted, but more powerful that if they were on their own. Whether it is a community, youth group or even religion, belonging is an everyday occurrence of like that many of us do not even realise. Belonging to a group is more influential than belonging to an individual. We can see this in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, 1984 by George Orwell and the listening task. Belonging to a group can give you a feeling of acceptance, but also can help you not to be targeted or marginalised. Also, people who appear to belong to groups, when looked at closer, in truth do not belong. Belonging to a group can also give you more power as a whole, rather than as an individual.…