Belonging Places In My Life Analysis

Ever since I was younger I have always tried staying away from reading. The only person in my family that likes to read is my mom; however, she does not read often. Once she picks up a book, she cannot put it down. My dad on the other hand, never picks up a book. He and I are one in the same; we do not like reading because we have a hard time comprehending what we read. My brother also does not like to read. He does not like reading because he has a learning disability. My mom always had an extremely tough time getting him to read. Overall, my literacy experiences at home are few and far between.

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Finding a sense of belonging to a place can influence an individual’s sense of acceptance within the community and culture or opposingly can enhance their sense of isolation and alienation from society.This is reflected through Raimond Gaita’s memoir Romulus My Father and Manfred Jurgensen’s poem Bonegilla 1916 through extensive literary devices.We learn individuals perceptions of place and their ability to adjust to new places governs their ability to belong and feel at home with new cultures.

My interest in reading started at an early age, before kindergarten. I have my mom to thank for reading a book or two to me at night before bed. My mom has told me that because she was a stay at home mom before I started school, it was her main goal to teach me as much as she could by herself, before any teachers had the chance to, and that included reading a couple children’s books to me every night. My grandpa had a hand in this too; he bought me a Dick and Jane storybook and before long, I had the entire book read by myself.

My love of reading blossomed when I was a child, because my parents showed me how wonderful reading is. There were countless nights when I remember myself as a little girl refusing to go to sleep before ‘tucking dad into bed’ by reading him a picture book. Not only did I uphold that tradition though, but my mother is a preschool teacher, so she gets really into reading out loud, and she would help me read books such as The Boxcar Children set, The Secret of NIMH and The Chronicles of Narnia weekly until I didn’t need help anymore.

Belonging is defined as fitting in to a particular environment or having the right personal or social qualities to be a member of a particular group. Our belonging to or connections with people, places and groups allows one to develop a distinct identity characterised by affiliation, acceptance and association. To gain a full understanding of belonging, it is essential to experience some significant moments in time as it shapes and develops our understanding of belonging. This is captured in the poems of Peter Skrzynecki’s,

“We belong … like fish in water. We’re in our environment.” This quote from the New York Times shows the perception of belonging as the idea about connecting to a place, person, group or a community. 'Feliks Skrzynecki' by Peter Skrzynecki, 'I'm nobody! Who are you?' by Emily Dickinson and 'The Rabbits' by John Marsden & Shaun Tan show the concept of belonging as being contrasted towards the New York Times quote, showing the alienation and non-existent connection towards it. These texts have furthered my understanding on the perceptions of belonging by recognising the different concepts of connection to people, places and things.

Belonging consists of a struggle with opposing pressures. A desire to belong also consists of emotional conflicts and struggles between being acknowledged while also remaining as an individual and retaining personal ideals which may ultimately result in a connection. This is explored in Emily Dickinson’s selected poetry I died for beauty, but was scarce and I had been hungry all the years , as well as Scott Westerfeld’s novel Uglies. These texts all depict a struggle between being recognised and accepted in society and the desire to remain true to one’s self, exploring the paradoxical nature of belonging which, on one hand, provides fulfilment, but also removes a sense of personal identity.

The feeling of belonging is not a necessity that everybody needs but is a common feeling that most people believe to be important in their lives if they want to be happy. People believe the feeling to belong helps them to be happy because if they feel like they belong somewhere they will feel safer and more confident when in that place. The place people feel like they belong in does not have to be a physical place like a house or a town/city but can also be a social place or in some ways an emotional place. An example of these would be a group of close friends or a person's home although a home is also a physical place it varies depending on the person because of the emotional feelings attached to that place are different so it could be considered an emotional place for someone to

Before I began elementary school, I enjoyed reading picture books, the touch and feel books and pop-up books. I loved the author Dr. Suess, because he was funny and because I loved the rhyming he did in his writing. I can remember before bed, my mom or dad would read to me until I got old enough to read myself. My mom has always enjoyed reading, if she is not reading a book, then she is reading a recipe or a magazine. My dad on the other hand, I have only seen him read one book, besides reading manuals for his tools. Reading was not a big deal in my house, all of us kids were told that we needed to read, but they did not force us to read. This brings me to Richard Rodriguez’s essay, in his household reading was not as important, but once he got to school, he realized that reading is one of the main activities. I can relate to Rodriguez because in either one of our households we weren’t told that we had to read before we did something else. Once I got to elementary school is when I realized that reading was not for me. Before school, I enjoyed reading, then once I began elementary school, I was forced to read, take tests over books, and read out loud in front of the class which made reading a chore.

I remember as a kid, how my parents use to take me to the library every month pick out a book. My parents would let me take at least two to three books home with me and they would read to me every other night before bed. When I first started elementary school, my parents learned that I had a learning inefficiency. That was when I was put into to the special program with Ms. Quick. When I started to progress in school my parents were literally forcing me to read a book every other day. As started getting older, I started to not to like reading because it was always little things that I would struggle with but my parents didn’t give up on me. From third to fifth grade, my parents were making me read chapter books; every night before bed my parents made me read a story to them for thirty minutes and afterwards, they would ask me to give an explanation on what I read to them. By the time I started junior high, I was a great reader. From then on, I had no problem with my reading abilities.

Growing up in the upper-middle class in New Jersey, many believe Montville is a snobby, white town. However, this description is entirely incorrect. Yes, Montville contains plenty of wealth, and, yes, there is some gaudiness that goes along with it. For example, every few weeks a girl will pull into the school parking lot with a brand new, pearly white Mercedes Benz. But this does not define Montville, instead the diversity and peacefulness is what makes Montville such an outstanding place to live. One day, I decided to stroll through the halls of the high school during lunch and count the number of students of different ethnicities. I journeyed down the halls counting to myself–There’s an Indian girl. One. An African

“We see what happens when we introduce toddlers to books. They fall in love.” (Johnson). Luanne Johnson, an accomplished author, discusses how children are not born with a natural distaste for reading, they are very curious and most find books intriguing. Much like my own experiences, I recall my parents always reading to me right before bed, there were two very important authors that my parents would read from, including Dr. Suess and Sandra Boynton, these were authors whose books were the first ones I tried to pick up and read myself. I would sit my stuffed animals up around me and I would read to them, reading aloud to my animals gave me a sense of impeccable intelligence, I continued that habit clear up until I was approximately 9 years

"It is only once we leave the familiarity of our own world that we come to an appreciation and understanding of the importance of belonging," that's how the saying goes. But, is it actually true? Can we not define our sense of belonging until we have a longing for it? It is an interesting concept, especially in a world so threatened by images of the other, who threatens the ideology behind our group ideology. In a world that is not our own, can we ever feel like we belong?

Reading has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a little child. I grew up as a normal child should grow and eventually I had to start learning for me to fit in society. My literacy started many years ago, after I knew how to talk and communicate with people. Reading my alphabet was quite stressful and I had to be given a hand by my family members. I remember my parents reading with me and it was the most meaningful and memorable way to spend time with me. This is because I liked reading a lot and I was eager to learn so that I could fit in with my older siblings. My favorite books were storybooks taking about adventures and fairytales