Explore How Perceptions of Belonging or Not Belonging Are Influenced by Connections to Places.
A connection to a physical location may present us with the perception that we either belong or not belong however, it is the connections that we form with people in places, memories of previous places and ones response to experiences within places that heightens ones sense of belonging or alienation. The concept of belonging through connections with people, experiences and memories in certain places is explored in the texts Romulus my Father a memoir by Raimond Gaita and Oranges and Sunshine directed by Jim Loach.
It is not a connection with the physical landscape that allows us to experience a sense of inclusion but rather connections built with people or communities that either heighten ones sense of affiliation or estrangement. This concept is portrayed in Romulus my Father through the character of Anna who is unable to form a connection with the community of Maryborough who ostracize her for her neglect of her young child (Gaita) and her inability to conform to the social expectations placed on a mother in the 1950’s in Australia. Her inability to connect to the people around her is exacerbated by her mental – illness and amplified by her perceptions of her surrounding landscape. Raimond states that “few people in the area liked her, most had taken against her for her neglect of me”. The quote shows Anna’s disconnection to the community who surround her and her inability to connect is intensified by her perception of the Australian landscape as barren and isolated, “a dead red gum, stood only 100m from the house and became for my mother a symbol of her isolation”. Whilst this quote focuses on separation due to the surrounding landscape Anna’s alienation of the landscape is her perception in comparison to the European landscape she has left behind. In the case of Anna, her isolation of Frogmore (place) is developed due to her inability to form any type of connection with the people and community that surround her.
Connections with people or a community rather
It is not a connection with the physical landscape that allows us to experience a sense of inclusion but rather connections built with people or communities that either heighten ones sense of affiliation or estrangement. This concept is portrayed in Romulus my Father through the character of Anna who is unable to form a connection with the community of Maryborough who ostracize her for her neglect of her young child (Gaita) and her inability to conform to the social expectations placed on a mother in the 1950’s in Australia. Her inability to connect to the people around her is exacerbated by her mental – illness and amplified by her perceptions of her surrounding landscape. Raimond states that “few people in the area liked her, most had taken against her for her neglect of me”. The quote shows Anna’s disconnection to the community who surround her and her inability to connect is intensified by her perception of the Australian landscape as barren and isolated, “a dead red gum, stood only 100m from the house and became for my mother a symbol of her isolation”. Whilst this quote focuses on separation due to the surrounding landscape Anna’s alienation of the landscape is her perception in comparison to the European landscape she has left behind. In the case of Anna, her isolation of Frogmore (place) is developed due to her inability to form any type of connection with the people and community that surround her.
Connections with people or a community rather