Swallow The Air Belonging Analysis
Explore how perceptions of belonging and not belonging can be influenced by connections to places.
Perceptions of belonging and not belonging can be influenced by connections to places and their offers of, or lack of, the physical, emotional or spiritual support. Each place offers or has an absence of support, which in turn results in either the feeling of belonging or not belonging. In the three texts; “Swallow The Air” by Tara June Winch, the poem “Last of His Tribe”, and a Tropfest short film, “Missing Her”, the perceptions of belonging and not belonging are greatly associated with the connections to places and this is emphasized through a number of techniques.
In the novel “Swallow The Air”, Tara June Winch explores belonging and not belonging through the journey of the protagonist May Gibson. After May’s connection to the land around her is shattered by the suicidal death of her mother, she is left feeling like she ‘doesn’t belong …show more content…
Throughout the short film, the director Michael Weisler shows how a connection to a place provides emotional support to a young orphaned boy and contrasts it when that place is taken away, to show how the perception of belonging changes. Henry is a young rural Thai boy who is orphaned after the death of his mother and consequently adopted by a couple from Melbourne, Australian. The stars provide Henry with the sense of belonging through his natural mother, who is ‘watching him from the stars’. After he moves to the busy city, his emotional support and perception of belonging is lost. He finds that he cannot see the stars like he could in his rural hometown and therefore loses this essential connection. This contrast between his hometown and the busy Melbourne city shows the audience how important connections to places are in establishing and maintaining perceptions of
Perceptions of belonging and not belonging can be influenced by connections to places and their offers of, or lack of, the physical, emotional or spiritual support. Each place offers or has an absence of support, which in turn results in either the feeling of belonging or not belonging. In the three texts; “Swallow The Air” by Tara June Winch, the poem “Last of His Tribe”, and a Tropfest short film, “Missing Her”, the perceptions of belonging and not belonging are greatly associated with the connections to places and this is emphasized through a number of techniques.
In the novel “Swallow The Air”, Tara June Winch explores belonging and not belonging through the journey of the protagonist May Gibson. After May’s connection to the land around her is shattered by the suicidal death of her mother, she is left feeling like she ‘doesn’t belong …show more content…
Throughout the short film, the director Michael Weisler shows how a connection to a place provides emotional support to a young orphaned boy and contrasts it when that place is taken away, to show how the perception of belonging changes. Henry is a young rural Thai boy who is orphaned after the death of his mother and consequently adopted by a couple from Melbourne, Australian. The stars provide Henry with the sense of belonging through his natural mother, who is ‘watching him from the stars’. After he moves to the busy city, his emotional support and perception of belonging is lost. He finds that he cannot see the stars like he could in his rural hometown and therefore loses this essential connection. This contrast between his hometown and the busy Melbourne city shows the audience how important connections to places are in establishing and maintaining perceptions of