English Belonging Speech -Skrzynecki

I believe that the notion of belonging is embedded deep within us, as human beings. We all strive to feel as though we fit in, whether it be the eternal struggle for love and acceptance from our family and peers, the sense of security and camaraderie that comes from the kinship we have with our friends, or even the feeling of attachment we have to our childhood home; the fact remains: it’s universal.
This feeling is especially powerful in adolescents, the very group of people the curriculum you design affects. I’m sure you remember high school, when fitting in was at the top of all bucket lists. Learning how to belong in society and how to cope with isolation is such an important concept for teenagers to learn. It’s part of growing up.
There are two texts in the current area of study module that I believe are supreme examples of belonging-related texts, both the poetry of Peter Skrzynecki’s “Immigrant Chronicle”, and the newspaper article, “Marked as an enemy of the state” written by Will Hodgekinson. Both texts address the two aspects of belonging that I believe are most prominent in adolescent life, group identity and social isolation, and both texts use a myriad of different techniques to convey their illustrations.
Group identity, subconscious or not, is a major part of everybody’s daily lives, the country in which one lives, as well as spiritual or religious congregations, are perfect examples of everyday groups. Skrzynecki greatly utilizes symbolism in order to effectively portray the idea of group identity in his poem, “St Patrick’s College”. Groups often have a unique symbol attached to them, and in the case of Skrzynecki’s poem, these symbols are the school motto, as well as the uniform on which it is printed. Skrzynecki, having been assigned to the school, to a group that he feels as though he doesn’t belong to, develops intense emotions of antipathy. Skrzynecki reminisces “I stuck pine needles, into the motto, On my breast,” directly defying one of...