It is through Migrant hostel, and Feliks Skrzynecki, by Peter Skrzynecki, and

Neighbors, by Tim Winton, that the composers reveal insightful perceptions

about the concept of belonging. Emerging from personal, social and contextual
circumstances, the sense of belonging, or not belonging, is an underlying factor
shaping one’s identity.

The despairing, bitter tone woven through the syntax of Migrant hostel affirms
the horrendous conditions that migrants, including Skrzynecki himself were
subject to. Immediately, negative connotations are established through “no one
kept count”, implementing a foundation for the hostile atmosphere, and a
contrast to the inhabitants, of which there are fucking “busloads”. Skrznecki’s use
of metonymy “arrival of newcomers” abolishes any sense of identity that the
refugees may have had left, and the collocation of “comings and goings” indicates
their transient lifestyle, reflecting the separation from not only a physical
dwelling, but also the dominant cultural group.

Further use of metonymy in “Nationalities sought/each other out instinctively”

signifies the longing for connection in the hope to regain a sense of personal
identity. The impermanent nature of the migrants is conveyed through avian
imagery “like a homing pigeon circling to get its bearings”. The personal and
social estrangement has produced not only a lack of belonging, but an erratic
way of life of which they have no control, “unaware of the season whose track we
would follow”. Prison imagery, “adjoining blocks”, shows the irony of juxtaposed
contexts. Through virtual imprisonment, the state is doing little more for these
dehumanized ‘numbers’, than erecting a barrier to homogeneity.

The metaphor “A barrier to the main gate/sealed off the highway” portrays their
physical and cultural segregation, whilst the highway represents a symbol for
freedom as authoritarian figures try to negate assimilation. The metaphor “that
had only begun/or were dying” articulates that the freedom they came looking
for has not eventuated. Skrznecki juxtaposes hope with fear; what they’ve left,
and what they are trying to find, adding to the irony of expecting freedom, but
receiving marginally better than prison conditions. The physical and emotional
separation of the travellers has led to a rupture in personal, cultural and societal
connections, and ultimately displays the lack of belonging for the distraught
inhabitants.

Unlike Migrant hostel, Feliks Skrzynecki explores the cultural and filial belonging
that exists in both Peter and his father. Juxtaposed to the negative atmosphere in
Migrant hostel, the personal possessive pronoun in “My gentle father” not only
signifies a connection, but establishes a personal, affectionate tone. Escaping
from war torn Poland, Feliks finds solace in his garden, in which he spends
“years walking its perimeter/ From sunrise to sleep” The alliteration
demonstrating time, highlights the extent of his passion, to which he is a humble
servant.
The exclusive pronoun in “His Polish friends/Always shook hands too violently”
conveys the dichotomy between father and son, and despite their undeniable
connection to one another, the generation gap has caused an ignorant Peter to be
oblivious to his traditional culture. Skrzynecki further conveys Feliks’ cultural
devotion through juxtaposition of “skilled and slaughtering”. Contrasted to
‘gentle’, the alliteration linking ‘skilled’ and ‘slaughtering’, shows how Feliks’
identity is built on both his experience and love of his homeland. The recurring
motif of racial vilification evident in Migrant hostel, materializes in Feliks
Skrzynecki also. The direct speech “did your father even attempt to learn
English”, displays the prejudice that can eventually leads to seclusion.

Skrzynecki contrasts the educative world of Peter, to the agricultural world of

Feliks “Stumbling over tenses in Caeser’s Gallic War/ I forgot my first Polish
word”. By insinuating the irony of learning an archaic language while his own is
dying within him, Skrzynecki is able to enunciate his lack of cultural identity.
Despite Feliks’ shit cunt efforts to promote cultural harmony in his son, he has to
watch him “peg [his] tents/ Further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall.” The
connotations of ‘tents’ and the metaphor of ‘Hadrian’s Wall’ illustrates the
barrier to Polish cultural fraternity in likeness to the migrants, and Peter’s
inevitable journey away from his father’s heritage. With his arrival to a new land,
Peter’s roots will become nothing more than spoken word, leaving his true
identity uncharted.

Neighbours by Tim Winton, explores the cultural experiences of a young couple

and their integration into a European Neighbourhood. Instantly, the sense of
dislocation is created through the simile “It made the newly-weds feel like
sojourners. The connotations of ‘sojourners’, illustrates the irony of an Australian
couple in a multicultural neighbourhood and provides contrast in relation to the
migrants. Winton rewords the proverb, “Good neighbours were seldom seen and
never heard” accentuating the juxtaposition of where they used to live, and their
new, unknown home.

Much like Peter, the newly-weds are deprived of cultural familiarity, and the
humorous hyperbole “The fact that their neighbours were not murdering each
other” highlights their lack of understanding. With temporal imagery, “in the
autumn” Winton represents the change in attitude, suggesting that belonging is
gradual. Listing, in “they planted leeks, onions, cabbage” parallels to Feliks, and
shows the couple literally ballsack and metaphorically planting roots, indicating
permanency as relationships develop. The fence that the neighbours are ‘at’, go
‘to’, and eventually go ‘through’ is a metaphorical barrier to belonging that, as the
preposition changes, slowly erodes.

The sensory imagery. “smell of woodsmoke” suggests a now rustic, homely feel,
reiterating their newfound similitude with their neighbours. Connotations of
‘themselves’ in “The newcomers themselves shouting” conveys the adoption of
foreign behavior in the couple, and reveals the newfound companionship that
they had thought was unreachable. Achieving cultural unity was an
insurmountable task for Peter and the migrants. Winton uses the metaphor
about the vagina “assaulting some unseen barrier, until it was smashed, and she
was through it” to portray the universality of giving birth as their cultural
barriers are abolished, and a new sense of identity is entrenched into their
psyches.
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