Identity Shapes Belonging
Being true to your own identity enables a sense of belonging
It is only when we understand our own identity that we can have a sense of belonging. A sense of belonging emerges from the connections made with people, places and the larger world. It is these connections that influence where we search for meaning in our lives and ultimately, where we belong. The texts immigrant chronicle by Peter Skrzynecki and interpreter of maladies a collection of immigrant stories by Jhumpa Lahiri a winner of the Pulitzer Prize both explore the concepts of belonging through the immigrant experience, as well as belonging through ‘home’.
Home and its connotations. Our home or a place in which we belong defies our sense of belonging. 10 Mary Street from the immigrant chronicles closely inter-links with the concept of home. It is the Routine predictable tasks that develop our sense of belonging. The entire first stanza of the poem is the daily routine; shut the house like a well-oiled lock, this emphasises the routine through the use of simile, a home isn’t temporary it forms our sense of belonging over time, as seen in ‘we lived together for nineteen years’. In the poems finishing lines, ‘naturalised for over a decade, we have become citizens of the soil’, sums up the effects of home, over the years their house has become a home with strong meaning and connections. By accepting their home they are accepting their identity and this is what enables a sense of belonging.
In the interpreter of maladies, in particular the third and final continent we see the importance of home in forming identity. Identity is defined as the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality. In this story the narrator uses symbolism where he compares his arrival in America to the moon landing, which had just happened, for him it is a major step in life. “While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly
It is only when we understand our own identity that we can have a sense of belonging. A sense of belonging emerges from the connections made with people, places and the larger world. It is these connections that influence where we search for meaning in our lives and ultimately, where we belong. The texts immigrant chronicle by Peter Skrzynecki and interpreter of maladies a collection of immigrant stories by Jhumpa Lahiri a winner of the Pulitzer Prize both explore the concepts of belonging through the immigrant experience, as well as belonging through ‘home’.
Home and its connotations. Our home or a place in which we belong defies our sense of belonging. 10 Mary Street from the immigrant chronicles closely inter-links with the concept of home. It is the Routine predictable tasks that develop our sense of belonging. The entire first stanza of the poem is the daily routine; shut the house like a well-oiled lock, this emphasises the routine through the use of simile, a home isn’t temporary it forms our sense of belonging over time, as seen in ‘we lived together for nineteen years’. In the poems finishing lines, ‘naturalised for over a decade, we have become citizens of the soil’, sums up the effects of home, over the years their house has become a home with strong meaning and connections. By accepting their home they are accepting their identity and this is what enables a sense of belonging.
In the interpreter of maladies, in particular the third and final continent we see the importance of home in forming identity. Identity is defined as the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity; individuality. In this story the narrator uses symbolism where he compares his arrival in America to the moon landing, which had just happened, for him it is a major step in life. “While the astronauts, heroes forever, spent mere hours on the moon, I have remained in this new world for nearly