Belonging is the new HSC Area of Study but it’s more than that, it’s a fundamental human need. I tend to conceptualize belonging in the negative, to think of the outsider, of the person who doesn’t belong. I always identified with those characters in books, with Erika Yurken in Hating Alison Ashley, with Elspeth in The Obernewtyn Chronicles and with poor ignored Anne Eliot in Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Each character was competent in her own way but out of place within their family, school, society. What made them not fit? What made these characters square pegs in round holes? For Erika it is simply a matter of perception, she thinks herself better than (or different from) what she is and, when she finds herself, she finds that she fits exactly in her own place. Anne and Elspeth are both out of place because they are extraordinary. I was always attracted to this idea of not belonging because of being special.
I love this quote about Belonging:
Belonging is a circle that embraces everything; if we reject it, we damage our nature.
The word ‘belonging’ holds together the two fundamental aspects of life:
Being and Longing, the longing of our Being and the being of our Longing.
- John O’Donohue
It is what we are and what we want to be all wrapped up into one. In this module I’m looking forward to exploring the idea of belonging to a Place as well as to groups, communities and families. My next entry will be about a time when I felt I belonged.
Belonging, is very hard to define, simply because that it means a different thing to each person. Belonging, to me, is the yearning in everyone to feel important and understood for who they really are.
I also think that the concept of belonging is more about the idea of NOT belonging. All those texts about belonging always focuses on the characters that do not in fact belong (or feel they don’t belong).
Belonging may not always be a good thing. Peer pressure can influence people to do things that they know is wrong. For example in Arthur Miller’s Crucible, belonging to the society led to mass hysteria and the multiple hangings of innocent people.
There are also some people may not want to belong. There are individuals who would rather not “conform” to society. It may be because they don’t agree to the way things are done or because they think it it will strip away their own individuality.
Just sharing my thoughts. I don’t know if my ideas are correct, but then again, everyone’s interpretation is different.
P.S. Could I quote you on some of your ideas? i.e. “It is what we are and what we want to be all wrapped up into one.”
Hi Ishita
You are welcome to use ideas found in this blog. If I’m quoting someone else please make sure you acknowledge sources. I tell my students not to quote me directly but of course you take ideas from different sources to inform your own concept of belonging.
I agree that with many of the texts it can be easier to conceptualise belonging in the negative. We are using the Emily Dickinson poetry as our core text and she is explicit and deliberate in her decision not to belong in society.
Cheers,
Mrs Langford
Excellent site, keep up the good work