Romulus My Father Belonging

Finding a state of belonging involves intense internal struggle

Through a consideration of this statement, consider the representation of belonging in your core text and at least one related text of your choosing

It is true that for an individual trying to belong, an internal struggle must be overcome in order to find a true state of belonging. This internal struggle, an individual may endure involves barriers that are needed to be overcome in order to feel included, as if these barriers are not overcome then alienation occurs. The memoir, Gaita’s “Romulus, My Father” highlights the prevalent intense struggle of seeking belonging in a foreign country in Romulus, and emphasizes the positive effect that finding a state of belonging has.
Gaita’s narration, “He felt like a prisoner in Australia” conveys, through an effective simile, the intense struggle that Romulus involves himself as feeling like a prisoner while trying to find his sense of belonging. This idea is represented thoroughly in the memoir as it is emphasized in how Romulus didn’t feel completely at home in Australia even though he was included into the community (“friendly shopkeepers allowed him to display his works in their windows”) he felt closer to the European lifestyle than he did the Australian. Belonging is represented as only beneficial if these obstacles, such as not feeling at home, are overcome. An individual’s intense struggle can often determine whether they give up and commit to alienation or whether they hold out for some form of belonging. This idea is demonstrated through the point of view and narration of Raimond Gaita “My father loved to be among people, a fact that made his years alone at Baringup so very hard “ Romulus’s
The poem displays an aboriginal tribe whose belonging is shattered by an infestation of whites on their land; their internal struggle is coming to terms with the broken physical connection to their land. Unlike Romulus, who is struggling to stay included, the tribe is struggling with no belonging sense at all. The idea that an individual’s internal struggle stops once belonging cannot be achieved is false. This idea, an individual faces is demonstrated through alienation as an internal struggle – as a result of being unable to belong. The line “They came into the town, a semi naked band subdued and silent” conveys, through fundamental sibilance, the way that alienation has grown as their once luscious town is now symbolically dead, it is silent and represents how their belonging is silent. The poem focuses on the negative aspects of belonging. The idea that alienation is part of the state of belonging, which fuels an internal struggle, is demonstrated through the anaphora. “They came here to the place of their old Bora ground where now the many white men hurry about like ants” conveys, through an effective simile, an image of white men representing ants – ants are pests and inhabit places they do not belong, ants taint places which are important to us. The line demonstrates their religious site/symbol ‘bora ground’ being infested by people who do not