Identity and Belonging
The life of a migrant is one of trials and tribulations.
Humans are complex entities whose identities are formed through multitudes of experience and relationships.Peoplewere born with connections,connections with people and places, the contrasting in appearance, language suddenly stand out in the foreign country which makes them struggle to fit in or feel welcomed, no one is able to live a life completely alone, the natural instincts of living in a community makes them willing to sacrifice anything to achieve the expectations of the people around them.In Alice Pung’s anthology Growing up Asians in Australia, the narrator Sunil Badami reflects his identity crisis in Sticks and Stones and Such-like. “Neil seemed to fit their mouths better, and I could feel their approval at the effort I was making to fit in.”Sunil abandoned his name which is seen as his identity of being an Indian rather than an Australian. It clearly showed that people are willing to sacrifice anything even their name to make them to be more similar to the people around them. Because differences in individuals is breeding ground for discrimination, which would easily make people to be isolated and bullied. Therefore, people would do anything to achieve the acceptances from the others not just for the sense of belonging but in order to protect themselves.
Although we would sacrifice anything to achieve acceptance from others, we must be clear that change of appearance, languages or names does not mean being a fresh person. I have dyed my hair, but I’m still “me”, just a different “me”, for our entire life, we could never escape from who we really are, as the circumstances around us only describes us, it never define us, we could belong more than one group and identify with different
Humans are complex entities whose identities are formed through multitudes of experience and relationships.Peoplewere born with connections,connections with people and places, the contrasting in appearance, language suddenly stand out in the foreign country which makes them struggle to fit in or feel welcomed, no one is able to live a life completely alone, the natural instincts of living in a community makes them willing to sacrifice anything to achieve the expectations of the people around them.In Alice Pung’s anthology Growing up Asians in Australia, the narrator Sunil Badami reflects his identity crisis in Sticks and Stones and Such-like. “Neil seemed to fit their mouths better, and I could feel their approval at the effort I was making to fit in.”Sunil abandoned his name which is seen as his identity of being an Indian rather than an Australian. It clearly showed that people are willing to sacrifice anything even their name to make them to be more similar to the people around them. Because differences in individuals is breeding ground for discrimination, which would easily make people to be isolated and bullied. Therefore, people would do anything to achieve the acceptances from the others not just for the sense of belonging but in order to protect themselves.
Although we would sacrifice anything to achieve acceptance from others, we must be clear that change of appearance, languages or names does not mean being a fresh person. I have dyed my hair, but I’m still “me”, just a different “me”, for our entire life, we could never escape from who we really are, as the circumstances around us only describes us, it never define us, we could belong more than one group and identify with different