In every human being exists an innate sense to belong because belonging is a fundamental value in our lives which must

be developed through personal experience. We see in Emily Dickinson's poems 'I had been hungry all the years and I gave myself to him' ideas of belonging are seen through the persona's interactions with society where in order to belong one must sacrifice a part of themselves. Similarly in Emily Prager's 'A Visit from the Footbinder' demonstrates that belonging must be developed through an individual experience where characters learn that they must give away freedom to gain society's recognition, while in Emily Dickinson's other poem 'This is my letter to the world' explores the power of language and communication to create belonging and relationship. Through techniques such as themes, metaphors, paradox, symbolism, juxtaposition, the texts are able to show the importance and value of belonging is gained through personal development.

In I had been hungry all the years, Dickinson explores that belonging is an essential value in society, through symbolism of food as a metaphor to belong to society. The persona's longing to belong in society is illustrated by the use of extended metaphor of hunger i had been hungry in the poem. Where belonging is represented by the imagery of Curious wine and ample Bread, the personification of the food represents belonging, where as the hunger is the desire to belong in society. This symbolism shows that where food is essential to living, so is a sense of belonging in society. The theme in the poem is explored through the commitment of the persona to belong. To commit to the sense of belonging the person gives their old life and gaining a new one. This theme explores that after the persona can imagine the benefits of belonging but once belonging is achieved and realised, your expectations will become a disappointment. The paradox in the contrasting lines in the third stanza 'did not know the ample bread, T'was so unlike the crumb' presents a metaphor of foods the heighten sense of tasting the lack of experience, because she is so use to the crumb she usually eats she is still unfamiliar with the plenty bread. This reinforces the main paradox of the poem which is that the persona can still only belong back in like her old self, where she seemingly belongs at the state of not belonging in society. Similarly, the same idea is also developed in I gave myself to him, where Dickinson depicts that belonging is an important value in society and to belong in society, people must sacrifice their individuality. This idea is also explored through an extended metaphor of 'contract of life' where the contract is marriage and the marriage is metaphorically a business contract, because to be married you will fit in to society expectation and be valued by society. By committing ourselves to each other, it is similar a contract where you can belong in society. The poem explores the theme that when a women marries a man, she must give away her own individuality. E.g. The daily own where the adjective 'own' is used as possession or where you giving away some of your own self to in the contract to your husband, and as a verb, to 'own' means that your husband now owns

you. In contrast to I had been hungry all the years through a different thesis the paradox of contradicting belonging in I gave myself to him is portrayed differently. The thesis is that there is 'Mutual Gain' in marriage where you belong to each other in marriage and you and then valued by society and have its approval. Through marriage you gain belonging but there is the paradox that there is also 'Mutual risk' where you lose your own sense of identity to your husband through the contract. The use of juxtaposition in both 'Gain' and 'Risk' sets up the paradox. Belonging often means that some personal identity is lost, thus the decision to belong can be less fulfilling than expected, creating a paradox. However, in A Visit to the foot binder, like both persona's in 'I had been hungry all the years and I gave myself to him', because belonging is fundamental value in society, one must sacrifice something in order to belong in society. Prager through the symbolism of the foot binding on characters as a metaphor for society's control on an individual, but because belonging is valued highly in society, one would do anything to belong. We see that Lady Guo Guo gives up her own freedom to belonging in society. Lady Guo Guo's lack of freedom is shown by the comparison between her shuffling and Pleasure Mouse's leaping, in which her restricted movements are representations of her lack of freedom due to wanting to belong in society. It is also seen that in order to belong one must follow rules that society have, the repetition of do not and a list of rules show the conditions for an individual to belonging to society. This shows the control society has over those that belong to it, but inorder to belong to society one must follow these rules/values. This shows the contrast between A Visit to the foot binder and I gave myself to him' and 'I had been hungry all the years. Where value of belonging in society is important but the consequences in A Visit to the foot binder are far worst then I gave myself to him' and 'I had been hungry all the years'. In This is my letter to the world, similar to Dickinson's other poems, the persona hungers to belong to society that never wrote to her. Contrastingly this persona does not actually belong to society other anthing else. The paradox of communicating through language and the 'Letter' actually makes the persona not belong. The paradox that she wants to belong to society, she tells the audience through a letter which distances herself from society and the audience and lends her to not belong as she never meets them face to face. The poem ends with a plea by her to belong to the world and her audience to Judge tenderly- of Me. Through the use of symbolism, metaphors themes, paradox, juxtaposition in the texts. It is clear that belonging is valued very importantly in our society and in order to belong one must sacrifice some part of themselves to achieve this belonging and society's recognition.