Belonging: the crucible.hotel california, painting 1977 22/25

Thesis: To belong is to be accepted as part of a group, culture, place or society in general. Belonging Is essential to the human condition, for their wellbeing and their mental health. Related text 1: written text- Hotel California lyrics The lyrics in this song indeed have, a hidden meaning pertaining to belonging. For example; “ On a dark desert highway” the first line in the song. The name of the highway is not specified implying that he has never been on the highway before, also connecting to the first line of the chorus which says “ welcome to the hotel California. ” Which implies the same,(that he has never been there before, he did not belong, but is welcome which does implement a sense of belonging.) The line “ we’re all just prisoners here of our own device” shows that the person saying that feels like they should not belong and are being held prisoner, but they also in a sense belong in that everyone is held there together for a similar reason. The last verse of the song gives the impression that the singer/writer does not belong and is trying to leave. The lyrics “ you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave. ” are clear evidence. The mood of the song is eerie and gives the audience a strange isolated feeling. The whole song relates to an unwillingness to belong and a yearning to leave. As well as the unwillingness to leave, the mood of the song is isolated and this pertains to not belonging, which relates to the feelings of Tituba in the crucible. Tituba is out of place due to her difference in race and culture. Like in the song, she has no choice as to whether she leaves and is given virtually no rights, as a black woman slave. Related text 2: Visual text- painting 1977 by Peter Booth. Booth paints self-portraits built from his deep inner most personal thoughts and feelings. He uses thick brushstrokes and dark desolate colours to provoke negative emotions in his audience. A painting of isolation, alienation, displacement and estrangement. This painting brings about a sense of not belonging in the audience through the expression on the man’s face, the colour scheme and his body language. His expression emotes sadness through his blank stare. He looks out of place and unhappy about it. The desolate colour scheme suggests mayhem and busyness. The colours red, orange and black representative of anger, displacement and isolation and prevalent over the painting. The stance of the man (hands in his pockets) suggests he is uncomfortable where he is, creating a feeling of not belonging. The white dog seems out of place too, being white and both emote not belonging, the dog through its colour representing acceptance and peace, also related to Tituba not belonging in the crucible and also john proctor feeling out of place, isolated an like he doesn’t belong because of his own actions of adultery, not belonging to the church and not belonging to the court, which is unheard of in a theocracy.