Peter Skrzynecki's Immigrant Chronicles

In order for one to feel a sufficient sense of belonging, they must first experience the sensation of not belonging. “Immigrant Chronicles” is a poetry anthology by Polish/Australian poet Peter Skrzynecki and includes the poems ‘St Patrick’s College’ and ‘Migrant Hostel’. They explore the notion of belonging and the lack of it, and how one’s experience of it can be limited or enriched through interactions with other, and the world. ‘Migrant Hostel’ and ‘St Patrick’s College’ regards the belonging, or absence of it he felt in those places, as well as the watercolour ‘Alienation’ by Ian Kim.

A willingness to belong through making connections with people may lead to an increased sense of belonging. Skrzynecki effectively tells the reader how
Skrzynecki attended St Patrick's College for majority of his youth. The poem was written to reflect on his experience there. He attended the school for eight years, but he never felt a sense of real belonging. In the third stanza of ‘St Patrick’s College’ there is a symbolic simile ‘Like a foreign tourist’. While he should feel completely at ease after being there for so many years, he still feels as if he is just passing through. Skrzynecki portrays his younger self as not being comfortable at the school. he didn’t feel that he belonged as much as the other students. The reader effectively understands this, since the tone of the poem makes us feel a bit dejected, that was his experience. Since Skrzynecki didn’t feel a strong sense of belonging, he was a standstill, and couldn’t grow spiritually and emotionally. 
Similarly, the girl in ‘Alienation’ does not have a strong sense of belonging either. Her exclusion and social rejection, due to her religion, if it continues, would her spiritual and emotional
The migrant hostel the Skrzynecki’s were staying at was in a rural area, away from the general Australian population. The people living there were contained by a gate and barrier, sealing them off from the country. The gate ‘Rose and fell like a finger’, to open and close people in and out, the personification of the gate makes it seem personal for the reader, big finger scolding the people. It symbolises the real person controlling the gate, choosing who to let in and out, to exist in Australia. The newly arrived migrants are boxed in. We can sympathise with Skrzynecki, and how this poem doesn’t feel