Migrant Hostel Analysis

Understanding nourishes belonging, a lack of belonging prevents it.

The author Masashi Kishimoto once penned 'the day peace comes is the day people understand one another'. It is through this understanding of each other that people are accepted and can belong to each other. This notion of belonging is made evident in Peter Skrzynecki's poem “Migrant Hostel” where immigrants are distanced and isolated due to a lack of connection. In contrast, Skrzynecki's poem “Feliks Skrzynecki” demonstrates one's ability to flourish by belonging to one's self. However, Tim Winton's short story “Neighbours” demonstrates the eventual nourishing feeling of acceptance that can develop from people's acceptance of one another. Steven Spielburg's film “The Terminal”
further asserts this aspect of belonging to understanding others generating unspoken bonds.Through each text's relative use of literary and dramatic techniques and devices, they express the adversities of language and cultural identity that one encounters attempting to connect with others and how one overcomes them to belong to others and themselves.
Peter Skrzynecki's “Migrant Hostel” reflects the harsh reality of being excluded due to one's heritage and culture. Skrzynecki reflects upon his childhood years as a new migrant in Australia being met with indifference and hostility. The rhetorical inquiry “Who would be coming next” underlines the uncertainty, shock and surprise of the migrants who were forced to come to the hostels and alienated from the rest of the population. This is further emphasized through the irony of the use of the word 'hostel' which typically defines a kind, hospitable building. Skrzynecki emphasizes the need to be with others they understand through the simile of 'a homing pigeon'. This image expresses the instinctive behaviour of people to find those similar to themselves like the pigeon that is 'circling to get its bearings'. He continues to express this nomadic and isolated feeling as being like 'birds of passage'. The recurrence of a bird simile evokes a sense of being in transition, never ever connecting to anywhere, emphasizing the suffering of the migrants. The final stanza emphasizes
the sense of separation. 'The barrier at the main gate' is the physical manifestation of the migrants' exclusion from the outside world, symbolic of their feeling of alienation. The highway itself symbolizes the road to a new life which they are prevented from entering. Skrzynecki's description of the barrier which 'rose and fell like a finger' highlights the migrants' separation from the real world. The simile of the finger further accentuates the disdain for the migrants that were 'needing its sanction'. Through the repeated use of the pronoun 'us', Skrzynecki makes it clear that it is a general experience shared by many migrants. This only serves to emphasize the number of individuals who have been ostracized from moving into lives 'that had only just begun, or were dying'. The emotive language in the last line expresses the sacrifices the migrants have made in either giving up their culture or their children growing up without it. Through a use of first-person that extends beyond himself to a general group, the composer accentuates how a lack of understanding one's culture leads to alienation.

However, Peter Skrzynecki's poem “Felix Skrzynecki” expresses a different notion where one can be perfectly comfortable belonging to one's self. He reflects upon his memories of his father and his steady devotion to his culture. The comparison with the 'Joneses of his own mind's making' express this aspect of Feliks being his own individual. However, through the cumulative listing of the 'corn and wheat' that Peter has never known, his detachment from his father and his heritage becomes evident. Much like those whose lives 'had only just begun' in “Migrant Hostel”, the son's exclusion from his father's heritage is evident. The composer demonstrates Feliks' contentment by evoking beauty in the visual imagery of the garden 'bordered by golden cypress'. A harmonious mood is generated in this stanza as Feliks enjoys the garden he has created. This happiness generated from belonging to one's self is contrasted with the disconnected and unhappiness of the poet who cannot understand his father. This is demonstrated through the juxtaposition of the father being 'happy as I have never been'. Through the contrasting emotions of the poet and his father, Skrzynecki expresses how one's inability to understand or connect to one's heritage can lead to unhappiness and isolation.

Skrzynecki and Spielburg both explore the notion of understanding others fostering a sense of connection. In Spielburg's “The Terminal”, the protagonist Viktor Navorski has been left without a home after his home country erupts into civil war. This is emphasized through the analogy of his country's state being compared to a destroyed bag of chips in an attempt to convey the situation to Viktor. He is left to fend for himself in a commercial world, much like the migrants in “Migrant Hostel” who wonder 'who would be coming next'. He becomes isolated, left to watch the comings and goings of others through the front door to America which symbolically opens and closes to everyone but himself. This mirrors the gate that rises and falls 'like a finger' to Skrzynecki in his childhood. Both Viktor and the migrants are treated with hostility and indifference. For Viktor, it is due to the inability to understand literally. His initial inability to speak English acts as a symbolic barrier that prevents him from understanding or communicating with anyone around him. This isolation is further displayed by the far-camera shot showing him as a small figure surrounded by the large white walls of the airport. Through these techniques, we are able to see how a lack of understanding results in one's inability to connect with others.

However, Winton and Spielburg show us the eventual closeness and inclusion individuals feel when they understand one another. Tim Winton's “Neighbours” demonstrates this through the journey of a newly moved couple into a new neighbourhood and their interactions with their neighbours. Upon moving in, the figurative language of how the couple felt 'like sojourners in a foreign land' is quite literally Viktor Navorski's predicament. The irony of realizing the way 'the Macedonian family shouted, ranted, screamed' were 'not murdering each other, merely talking' expresses the disconnection between the family and the couple. This barrier of language parallels Viktor's own disassociation with the passers-by of the terminal due to his inability to communicate with them. However, eventually the couple 'no longer walked with their eyes lowered', the description of the couple suggesting a feeling of acceptance in the community. This is further emphasized by the neighbours grouping together sitting 'around on blocks and upturned buckets and told barely-understood stories'. This visual imagery accentuates the bonds that come from understanding one another. Similarly, Viktor also eventually gains a comraderie with the blue-collar workers of the terminal once he is able to symbolically communicate with them through his learning of English. Through the experiences of both protagonists, we realize how understanding can bring about a sense of acceptance and inclusion.

Skrzynecki and Spielburg convey the feeling of isolation and exclusion that comes from not being understood or accepted by those around one's self in “Migrant Hostel” and “The Terminal”. However, Skrzynecki demonstrates that this disconnecting sensation can also come from not understanding others as demonstrated by his relationship with his father. But when people can connect and understand each other as Winton and Spielburg show, a sense of belonging to each other is gained and truly known.