How Does The Poem Feliks Skrzynecki Relate To Belonging

“Feliks Skrzynecki”
By Peter Skrzynecki
Topic sentence: the poem explores the relationship between the poet and his father and their contrasting experiences of belonging in a new land

Point: the poem opens with a positive description of Peter Skrzynecki’s father and his detachment from the consumer competitiveness of his neighbours. His home is the garden
Example: “gentle” “ten times around the world”
Technique: positive description, hyperbole
Effect: hyperbole creates a sense of his belonging in this setting as he chooses to stay within its boundaries. His experience of displacement (after war) has led to his chosen state of positive isolation in a secure place (his comfort zone)
Point: evidence of his hard labour in the garden is highlighted in his body, yet it
is clear that his work is a labour of love
Example: his hands “darkened” by cement; his fingers “with cracks”; his arms over exerted through turning soil and rolling tobacco
Technique: highlighted
Example: “forced labour in Germany”
Technique: contrasted
Effect: he chooses to work in this hard setting, because of his sense of belonging in his garden
Point: the reader becomes to see Feliks Polish friends as further sources of acceptance and belonging for Feliks
Example: reminiscing about fertile farms (“flowered”) and animals (“bred”) in their native Poland
Technique: share memories, positive connotations of the verbs
Effect: suggest the immigrants shared nostalgia springing from their common experiences
Point: in contrast to the friends’ sense of belonging when reminiscing, Peter finds their speech and actions alienating
Example: shake hands “too violently”, never gets used to the “formal address” by which they greet his father
Technique: Negative connotations
Effect: heighten the sense of Peter’s discomfort in this situation. This feeling of alienation signals the beginning of Peter’s movement from his polish heritage as a young person, but also the natural movement of a child away from their parents as they grow up
Point: Peter’s difference from his father in the face of discomfort is highlighted
Example: his father has endured the suffering of “five years forced labour” without allowing “the softness of his blue eyes” to be dulled, “dug” “but I’m alive”
Technique: connotations of Peter’s description of his father, painful connotations of the verb “dug” highlight Felik’s stoicism
Effect: suggests the strength of the character in refusing to be discouraged by external circumstances.
His identity is firmly established as brave and resilient in the face of many obstacles. Contrasts Peter’s later reflections on his shifting identity

Point: Feliks firm sense of identity is contrasted between Peter’s anxiety about his identity
Example: peter describes how he realised he unconsciously remembered parts of the polish language as he grew older “Remnants of a language/ I inherited unknowingly”
Technique: contrasted, enjambment, describes
Effect: highlights Peter’s lack of involvement in his cultural inheritance and his consequent lack of belonging in this domain
Example: Peter Skrzynecki remembers his father’s “a curse that dammed/ A crew cut, grey haired/ Department clerk”
Technique: unflattering description
Effect: conveys Peter’s scorn of this man’s prejudice and justifies Felik’s decision to live in an isolated world where he is comfortable
Point: an image of peace, security and belonging is presents in the descriptions of Feliks in his garden
Example: “My father sits out in the evening/ With his dog, smoking/ watching stars and street lights come
on”
Technique: a harmonious atmosphere is created through the accumulation of positive images
Point: Feliks’ self-sufficiency and contentment contrasts to Peter’s discontent
Example: “happy as I have ever been”
Technique: contrasts, ironic
Effect: ironic considering Feliks life has been more difficult. Feliks capacity to enjoy a sense of belonging has come through his experiences of suffering. His mind has been broadened to understanding what really matters in life
Point: the focus on Feliks shifts to Peter’s lack of belonging in the realm of his heritage
Example: “forgot his first Polish word,” and then pegged his “tents/ further and further south of Hadrians Wall”
Technique: symbolise, peter tells
Effect: the barrier between the father and son is symbolised, and the barrier that peter self imposes to obstruct/ hinder his belonging in Polish culture
Point: Yet his belonging to his new culture is somewhat indefinite
Example: he is described as “stumbling” rather than confident, practising the dead language of “Caesar’s Gallic War” rather than English
Technique: describe
Effect: he has made a conscious choice not to belong to his father world, but also experiences a sense of alienation in the academic world that he has attempted to join. His new world has not brought his the same happiness that his father experiences.