Poem Analysis on Peter Skryznecki's Poems and Looking for Alaska

Poem Analysis Post card
The poem Post card by Peter Skrzynecki explores multiple ideas concerning belonging including barriers that accumulate with attempting to develop a sense of belonging, and aid to prevent this. As well the feelings and perceptions of belonging experienced by an individual changing over time, and lastly the ties between our feelings about belonging with our sense of identity. The poem presents the challenges undertaken by Skrzynecki to reach a sense of belonging within his culture and personal self.
Barriers that arise at times with trying to establish belonging make it difficult and succeed in finding this feeling. Types of barriers can vary from outside barriers such as economic factors, education, culture, age, gender to self imposed barriers including lack of confidence, self image and fear of acceptance. Alongside with these barriers that accumulate with belonging is the creation of tension between belonging and not belonging. The simple symbol postcard constructs a chain of reverie in the Poet’s mind which challenges his cultural heritage. Even though, Peter Skrzynecki immigrated with his family at the early age of four his cultural heritage still strongly impacts him. The tensions that arise in the poet is the constant struggle deciding on his place between the two cultures, he feels a sense of belonging in his new culture in Australia yet his homeland Poland has an undeniable pull which constants to affect him in ways he cannot fully understand. The poem follows the poet struggling to come to terms with what exactly culture he belongs to, and even the importance of his cultural heritage that refuses to be ignored. The personification in the poem of Poland in ‘Warsaw, Old Town ’is addressing Warsaw directly, as if he is confronting it as well as suggesting his culture is a living thing within himself. The emotive words found throughout the poem such as ‘Haunts’ referring to the postcard are used as they are connotations of disturbance and he intends to challenge the reader’s expectations of the symbolism of a postcard by providing it with haunting qualities. More deeply the symbol of the postcard signifies in terms of connections to his homeland, a previous existence and a feeling of belong which inevitably causes conflict with his Australian culture because of the diversity and lack of understanding.
The feelings and perceptions people feel and experience according to belonging change over time, no matter how hard an individual attempts this cannot be stopped as it’s due to us as human beings growing and maturing our attitudes and values which change. In the beginning of the poem, he notice the poet is challenging the importance of his cultural heritage only to later in the poem hint at that he might show some recognition of his cultural heritage. He hits a resolution in the fact that he is realizing the high modality of his culture and how it remains a central aspect of him. The detached tone in the second stanza ‘Red buses on a bridge, Emerging from a corner ’depicts a straight forward description which creates a sense of distance between him and his cultural heritage. The marginalization felt by Peter is also conveyed through his use of no emotion in words.
The ties that are closely connected to the emotions felt about belonging and our sense of identity determine how we perceive ourselves and the way we connect with others. Peter’s parents have achieved a sense of belonging and found their identity as for Peter he attempts to assimilate yet he struggles. Throughout his struggle to find himself, he raises the questions of personal individual choice ‘What’s my choice, to be?’, even though it’s clear he can’t understand the indicative of a pull from his cultural heritage we comes to terms with his place in the end of the poem. The personification of the postcard conveys his resolution, the words ‘I stare at the photography and refuse to answer the voices ‘depicts a sense of resolution within the poet.
The poem Post Card by Peter Skrzynecki provides a range of aspects of belonging to study, which is what makes it a deep and rich text to study for the subject of belonging. The success of this poem is recognized by the amount of popularity and reviews amounted by the poet. Peter Skrzynecki faces a variety of barriers in attempting to find himself only to realize his values and attitudes have changed drastically from nothing want to recognize his cultural heritage to now realizing the importance and how it is a central aspect of himself. This can be concluded by saying establishing belonging will always depend and affect our sense of identity.
Feliks Skrzynecki
The poem Feliks Skrzynecki written by Peter Skrzynecki follows his father Feliks’ sense of belonging throughout a couple of his father’s life experiences, perceived in the eyes of Peter and how he recognizes the difference between their connections to belonging. This text explores how people achieve unity in a variety of ways through people, place, shared memories/experiences and possibly culture. Another aspect explored by this poem is the barriers that accumulate to belonging and how perceptions of alliance change over time.
The sense of belonging through connections to place, people, a culture or shared memories and experiences is a human requirement often yearned for or experienced by majority of the human race. This stability felt by humans through this attachment aid someone’s sense of true self belonging, and help that individual develop their own identity. In Feliks Skrzynecki Peter depicts a connection between his father and his garden, this sense of belonging to a place which happens to be through the Felik’s garden shows the positive feelings and the sense of security received from belonging. As Feliks immigrated to Australia from Poland, his placement and sense of belonging was out of place as everything was new as well as he was seen as an immediate outsider in Australia but Feliks overcomes this alienation by drawing connections with his garden. This is evident in the simile ‘Loved his garden like an only child’ which expresses his comfort in his beloved garden. A hyperbole ‘He swept its paths, Ten times around the world’ is also included in the first Stanza to exaggerate the commitment his father has with his garden. Feliks Skrzynecki establishes a devotion to the garden because he was placed in a foreign environment, and this resulted in a strong feeling of comfort, contentment and peace within his inner self. The imagery of the Feliks walking the garden’s paths ‘Spent years walking its perimeter, from sunrise to sleep. Alert, brisk and silent’ conveys a position light onto his father’s love for his garden.
Everyone achieves belonging in various ways, typically highly individual ways. Some individuals seek to develop a connection with a place; others cling to cultural heritage while other establishes an affinity through an idea or by rituals and routines that create a sense of conformity and stability. Seen in the poem Feliks Skrzynecki the father Feliks experiences a sense of belonging in a way that is extremely diverse to the poet Peter. The use of the warm and gentle tone depicted throughout the poem highlight the admiration Peter holds for his father because Feliks has managed to establish a sense of belonging in a different country, ignoring the trauma caused by the past war he experienced. Yet he finds comfort in this new environment and acceptance. The poet uses images of his father ‘Kept pace with the Jones’s of his own mind making ‘and who ‘sat out the evening with his dog, smoking’ to depict an image of contentment and a sense of wellbeing felt by Feliks. In this new world Feliks has overcome the difficulties and laid down roots along with his family.
Within human beings, there is an apparent intrinsic link between the sense of belonging and personal identity, and this affects how we see ourselves as well as influences the connections we make with others. Through the poem we notice how Feliks finds it easy to be true to him, even seems as he is content with place and culture. He is depicted in the stanzas are feeling a sense of unity with his home, garden, friends and new country as for Peter this contrast shows the poet doesn’t find acceptance as easy yet he struggles to find his place in his new world and homeland, he sees himself as an alien to his culture. This lack of connection with Peter’s culture is implied in the poem with the images of the poet ‘pegging his tents further and further south of Hadrian’s wall’.
The poem Feliks Skrzynecki by Peter Skrzynecki explores primarily the aspect of developing a sense of belonging through a place and how this links to our personal identity. Feliks has established himself within Australia, in home and his society by overcoming the barriers and finding his purpose in life. This was all aided by his close connection between places which happens to be his garden. This simpler poem by Peter is still stressed to be a resource of study for the subject belonging because it shares a positive insight on achieving belonging once you have immigrated.

Looking for Alaska, John Green. Novel

Looking for Alaska
The novel ‘Looking for Alaska’ written by John Green explores the concepts of belonging in a modern context, as well as questioning what everything means to a teenage and with the reference of not belonging in the school environment but yet finding your place within a certain group of individuals.
Human emotions and perceptions of Belonging are constantly changing over time; it’s an impossible task to stop because all human beings grow in age which causes our maturity to grow which changes our attitude and values. In ‘Looking for Alaska’ Pudge feels alienation at his old school, but since he moved to his new school he developed a sense of belonging which triggers a dramatic amount of growth in himself. These changes could be considered small in a general sense but it also changes Pudge’s entire life. As seen throughout the text, we notice drastic changes in Pudge’s confidence; it grows significally and also a change in his personal views on school life and religion in particular. Pudge’s friends understand him like no one else does, they look at him and see Miles, for what he really is and accept all his aspects. This constant change depicted in the text is explored through the use of first person narration; this is due to giving Pudge’s perspective which draws readers in to the protagonist’s introspective, somewhat humorous outlook and provide an personal look on the intensity of his feelings. This literacy technique presents a deep unity between the audience and the protagonist Pudge, giving them a real insight into his change mentally.
Human beings desire a sense of belong, it is a vital human requirement. This can relate to belonging to an individual, place, concept or society- no matter the form of connection to belonging, it seems to be an integral component of life. It is obvious Pudge constructs a sense of belonging through a group of people, his first group of friends ever. Previously he was an outcast and didn’t belong to anything expect his interests. He feels a sense of companionship within his new found friends; you could also say he feels an attachment to his school. The unity between Pudge and his friends is depicted through the use of colloquial language and the lacing of expletives in Alaska’s and the Colonel’s language. This is shown in “I don’t understand why I screw up everything up… I have guts, just not when it counts.. What you must understand about me is that I am a deeply unhappy person… God, how many times can I fuck up?”-Alaska. The previous dialogue provides authenticity to the impression of the teenage life, as well as expressing their connections between each other with the same type of language which creates a sense of alliance.
Various advantages are produced with belonging, but this also means it may come along with some particular disadvantages which might not be worth it. Pudge is now thriving at school, within his particular group of friends which he belongs to but on the downside Pudge has now met Alaska whom is the greatest source of pain Miles has encountered throughout his life. Even known this pain Alaska brings to Pudge’s life, she is also the actual catalyst for his own personal growth, he starts to form his own values and viewpoints as well as new found interests which are beyond his simple main interest he began with at the school with the last words of famous people. The countdown to the climactic event of Alaska’s death through the use of the title of each entry, a date is shown at the top of the page provides suspense and provokes curiosity within the reader, as they tend to wonder where the story is heading next. Tragic outcomes arise with the event of Alaska’s death for all characters, especially Laura, Colonel and the protagonist himself as it devastates them traumatically. This outcome is the disadvantage to belonging, and it depends on the individual whether or not the sense of belonging once felt was worth the now felt pain.
The novel ‘Looking for Alaska’ appeals to a wide range audience and this is justified by the novel’s placement on the Printz Award list, the aspects of belonging depicted in the text aid the novel’s learning capability for all students particularly in the HSC for their case study belonging. Pudge develops a sense of unity within the book through his connections to people, which has caused changes within him but also provided dramatic outcomes Pudge must face and somehow overcome the labyrinth. It can be concluded that through our connections to others, we face challenges as well as growing and developing our own purpose in life.

Publisher’s overview
The stimulus booklet will explore three texts, including the poem Post Card written by Peter Skrzynecki, Feliks Skrzynecki also another poem by Skrzynecki and lastly a novel named Looking for Alaska by John Green. All these texts relate to aspects of belonging such as the feelings and perceptions experienced according Belonging change over time, this inevitable change it is due to the human nature of growing and maturing which affects our attitudes and values as they grow with us. The tensions that emerge between the desire to reach a sense of belonging and a need to remain true to oneself, as well as the fundamental link between establishing belonging and finding personal identity. In all the texts provided in my analysis’s, one main aspect highlighted is the tensions found in belonging and not belonging, these tensions exist due to cultural differences, different attitudes and values, lack of true understanding, diverse experiences of the world and various other reasons. This is conveyed in the poem Feliks Skrzynecki by Peter Skrzynecki as it emphasizes a variety of tensions listed above, such as the diverse cultural views between father (Feliks) and son (Peter) due to Peter growing up in Australia not Poland like his parents he lacks the understanding of the rituals and routines which are clearly understood by Feliks and his wife. This is evident in the adverb unknowingly in the sentence ‘Remember words he taught me, Remnants of a language I inherited unknowingly’. Peter’s fragile connection with his culture is apparent in the previous technique, which expresses the cultural tension within the two (Feliks and Peter). This can also be seen in Post Card another poem by Peter Skrzynecki with an obvious tension preventing the establishment belonging is the lack of understanding of the significance of the poet’s cultural heritage. This is highlighted in the personification of Poland in ‘Warsaw, Old Town ’as it is addressing Warsaw directly, he is confronting it as well as suggesting his culture is a living thing within himself. The links between both poems draw on the culture tensions between Peter and his father Feliks or the personal ties within Peter himself.
Human being’s emotions and perceptions concerning Belonging are continually changing over time; this constant change is destined to change our values and attitudes as we grow. In Looking for Alaska by John Green this is a prime aspect of belonging explored, Pudge establishes a sense of belonging within his newfound friends at Culver Creek this triggers a drastic change in him; he grows significantly in his confidence levels, personal views on school life, attitudes towards religion and his overall perception on life. This is evident in the use of first person narrative, because it gives us first hand evidence of the change process Pudge goes through. This literacy technique conveys the constant change that belonging brings within, and it presents a deep unity between the audience and the protagonist Pudge, giving them a personal insight into his change mentally. The poem Post Card by Peter Skrzynecki explores this aspect also, it highlights the change of Peter coming into realization of the importance of his cultural heritage from him struggling in the first half to understand it. Skrzynecki originally comes from Poland, yet immigrated when he was only four so he has difficulties distinguishing what culture he primarily belongs to, but in age as he matured he came into realization that he doesn’t need to pick his Australian culture or his homeland, just recognize both and their central parts they locate themselves within himself. This is evident in the detached tone found in the beginning of the poem ‘Red buses on a bridge, emerging from a corner’ this straight forward description represents a distance between him and his culture. The ties between both texts listed reflect the constant change in the perceptions and emotions held by a human, and how this is seen in their attitudes and values.
Essentially, our emotions concerning Belonging tie closely with our personal sense of identity, and how we see ourselves influences the connection we construct with others. This is displayed in both poem Post Card and Feliks Skrzynecki, as they both explore the ties found within belonging and identity. In Feliks Skrzynecki we notice how Feliks finds it easy to be true to him, even seems as he is content with place and culture. He is depicted in the stanzas are feeling a sense of unity with his home, garden, friends and new country as for Peter this contrast shows the poet doesn’t find acceptance as easy yet he struggles to find his place in his new world and homeland, he sees himself as an alien to his culture. In Post Card Peter’s parents have achieved a sense of belonging and found their identity as for Peter he attempts to assimilate yet he struggles. Throughout his struggle to find himself, he raises the questions of personal individual choice ‘What’s my choice, to be?’, even though it’s clear he can’t understand the indicative of a pull from his cultural heritage we comes to terms with his place in the end of the poem. The personification of the postcard conveys his resolution, the words ‘I stare at the photography and refuse to answer the voices ‘depicts a sense of resolution within the poet.
The stimulus book explores three main aspects of Belonging, and is a great source to consider studying as it effectively sums up the prime aspects found in each of the relevant texts Post Card, Feliks Skrzynecki and Looking for Alaska. It can be concluded that Belonging is associated with an individual’s identity comes along with the barriers and tensions but in the end belonging will always remain a changing force.