Belonging is about making connections.

Explain how your texts support or challenge this

view.
Kenneth Luu
Year 12 Fort Street High School 2009
The intrinsic nature of mankind can arguably be describe as one's wish to develop a sense of
connection to one another, and this desire to make connections can be described as the wish to
belong. Belonging describes the state when one finally reaches an affinity, whether it is physical,
emotional or otherwise, with an entity, that may be a community, a place, or ideal. The importance
of the desire to belong can be seen in the texts Romulus, My ather by Raimond !aita, Mao's "ast
#ancer by "i $unxin and iddler on the Roof by %orman &ewison, all which explore potential
barriers to an affinity. These barriers can be described as the inability to make connections due to a
different cultural background, physical isolation and conflict caused by differing ideals, which
frustrate one's ability to make connections.
Mankind's desire to create connections can be described as the most powerful motivating factor in
day'to'day life, and this primarily occurs through development of relationship with other people. (
common cultural background can lead to the development of relationships based on mutual
interests. )owever, the opposite is also true * it is difficult to build relationships when there is no
common ground. This can be seen in tales of the migrant experience in texts such as Romulus, My
ather, Mao's "ast #ancer and iddler on the Roof. +n Romulus, My ather, Raimond !aita asserts
that ,+mmigrants were tolerated, but seldom given respect accordingly due.- )is careful word
choice, namely that of the word ,tolerated- demonstrates to us that due to differing cultures, the
(nglo'.axon (ustralian community is slow to accept Romulus due to his /astern /uropean origins
that they cannot relate to. )owever, they are able to appreciate Romulus' fine works and his
character following changes in their attitudes to him. This shows that a cultural barrier is a very real
impediment to the creation of relationships, particularly that of immigrants' relationships with the
wider community. Mao's "ast #ancer explores this similarly * upon "i's first visit to (merica, he
describes himself as having thought ,The (mericans' smiles also unnerved us. .omething is wrong.
These people are our enemies0- This shows that mistrust and a lack of mutual understanding can
create not only cultural, but mental barriers which must be overcome. iddler on the Roof, a tale of
a &ewish family living on a shtetl during pre'Revolutionary Russia also demonstrates the very real
cultural gap. Tevye, the protagonist remarks ,1e don't bother them, and so far, they haven't
bothered us,- referring to the wider Russian community. +mmediately the audience is alerted to the
segregation of &ewish people from the Russians. )owever, Tevye continues on to say ,(mongst
ourselves, we get along very well-. This is shown to be a fallacy when ironically, two &ewish
children immediately begin arguing over a cow, demonstrating to us perhaps there are no such
clear'cut distinctions.
2hysical isolation may result in the loss of one's relationship with a place, and emotional alienation
and disconnection can be the cause of discontent. +n Romulus, My ather, Raimond's mother
$hristine is continually isolated from her surroundings at rogmore, and her emotional
disconnection is reflected by Raimond3 ,( dead red gum stood only a hundred metres from the
house, and for my mother became a symbol of her desolation.- )ere we see the landscape is used as
an ob4ective'correlative for the misery that $hristine feels, and her lack of emotional connection to
rogmore, in contrast to Raimond's personal epiphany later on, demonstrates the importance of the
need to feel at ease in a place. .imilarly in Mao's "ast #ancer, "i says ,The thought of not being
allowed out of $hina frightened me.- #espite the fact that $hina is his place of birth, "i yearns to
return to (merica due to his emotional connection to his friends at the )ouston Ballet (cademy.
This blurs the distinction between one's place of birth and adopted country and challenges the
notion that one's place of birth is one's automatic place to belong to.
iddler on the Roof, however, supports the notion that a place is only a place, and that a family and
community are what make it special. Tevye says ,+n (natevka, everyone is like a fiddler on the
roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck-. Through this, he
stresses the importance of the people in the community rather than the actual benefits or physical
attributes of (natevka itself.
inally, relationships between people and ideals they hold dear may be a cause of conflict in the
course of attempts to create connections. This can be seen in Romulus, My ather when Raimond
develops a fondness for the delin5uent characters in Blackboard &ungle, but his teacher
subse5uently warns him ,+f you did anything bad, the disappointment would kill your father.- The
teacher uses hyperbole to illustrate that the ideals of Romulus, which derive from /astern /uropean
traditions of raising children in a responsible and proper manner can be seen to conflict with
Raimond's personal freedoms. This conflict creates friction throughout their relationship,
particularly in the ra6or incident. Mao's "ast #ancer also explores conflict in ideals, with "i's
defection from the $hinese to the (mericans tearing him apart. )e says ,+ had nightmares... + would
be shot on a wall with my family, like the people back home in the commune.- )ere, through
emotive language he displays particular concern for the welfare of his family, which can be seen as
the cost of his perceived dereliction of the concept of filial piety for 1estern notions of freedom and
individuality. Tevye, in iddler on the Roof emerges as a die'hard traditionalist despite his grief for
losing his daughter $hava. )e says ,Traditions, traditions... if we had no traditions, our lives would
be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof-. (t the end, he gestures to the fiddler, who represents tradition,
to follow him on his path to exile, despite all the hardships he endures in attempting to uphold his
traditional ideals which he feels a firm dedication to.
Through texts such as Romulus, My ather, Mao's "ast #ancer and iddler on the Roof, it can be
perceived that belonging, and its antithesis isolation co'exist in relation to peoples' relationships
with their places, other people and their ideals, and thus belonging is in fact about making
connections.
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