Feliks skrzynecki essay

How has the poet challenged your thinking and broadened your understanding of the concept of belonging. In your response you should support your idea by close reference to “ Feliks Skrzynecki”, “ St Patricks College” and one related text of your choice. Belonging is a broad but complex perception that highlights our sub conscious need to feel a connection with our peers. A sense of belonging or not belonging can produce a strong emotional response within us. We can also develop a sense of belonging through connections with people, places and things. The poems ‘ Feliks skrzynecki’ and ‘ St Patricks College’ written by Peter Skrzynecki, along with the film “ “ challenge our ideas and explore many aspects of belonging and the barriers in which prevent it. In the affectionate representation of Peters father in the poem ‘ Feliks Skrzynecki’ the issues of relationship between family and the barriers in which separate them are evidently highlighted as he attempts to connect with a man he so seemingly admires but knows so little about. The idea of belonging is challenged as the poem displays the isolated, self-contained world in which Feliks exists, the same world that Peter feels such a disconnection from. The alliteration, “ his own minds making”, and the personification, “ loved his garden like an only child”, demonstrates that Feliks is his own man and that he is indifferent to the standards set by society. He has a very special, unique bond with his garden and refers to it as an, “ only child”, which suggests that his care for the garden is greater than that of his son. Peter is an observer rather than a participant who can not really fathom his father’s dedication. The use of Hyperbole “ why his arms didn’t fall of” emphasises the poet’s confusion towards his father’s hard-labouring life. Peter also finds it difficult to comprehend Felik’s relationship to his polish heritage and community to which he belongs “ his polish friends… shook hands to violently…Feliks skrzynecki that formal address I never got used to”, the friends have a connection with feliks that his son cannot share, which draws a sense of the child feeling detached from his fathers heritage. The use of enjambment “ remnants of a language/ I inherited unknowingly” shows the poet has little affiliation with his father’s language and this places a strong barrier between them as he grows and matures. Feliks has a different perspective of the world to his son’s. Ironically he is happier even though his life was a lot harder. In the simile, “ Happy as I have never been”, Peters underlying tone of regret represents his struggle to understand his fathers happiness and his ability to find pleasure in the simplest of things, he is unable to empathise with his dad and therefore cannot share his experiences in the same way. The final stanza again distinguishes the distancing relationship between Peter and Feliks that will continue to grow. Skrzynecki draws a connection between this situation and the boy “ at thirteen” learning a new language. The repetition of the word “ Further” in the quote “ Further and further south of Hadrian’s wall”, displays the son growing up, and away from his father both in a normal adolescent way but also in the context of the immigrant experience as the father clings to his old ways and the son embraces his new society.