Reena Virk Analysis

* Our growing understanding of the belonging concept: The desire to be included is strong and the action of being excluded is humiliating:

It is a well-known fact that belonging to a group can make an individual feel not only accepted, but more powerful that if they were on their own. Whether it is a community, youth group or even religion, belonging is an everyday occurrence of like that many of us do not even realise. Belonging to a group is more influential than belonging to an individual. We can see this in the texts The Crucible by Arthur Miller, 1984 by George Orwell and the listening task. Belonging to a group can give you a feeling of acceptance, but also can help you not to be targeted or marginalised. Also, people who appear to belong to groups, when looked at closer, in truth do not belong. Belonging to a group can also give you more power as a

As we grow as develop as individuals we begin to make choices about where we want to find belonging. This can be seen in choices as minor as belonging to a football club or friendship group, to more life-altering choices such as being a member of a political party or protest group such as Green peace. As individuals make such choices they do not sacrifice their identities, but rather work to increase and from their ever-changing sense of self. Such choices can also be made after life-altering circumstances, such as when people feel a need to join victim’s group or support groups when they or a loved one contract a chronic or terminal illness.

Yes, It IS an essential human need, but…. then…. What happens when an individual doesn’t feel like they belong. What if… this same “essential” sense of belonging, the same “need” to belong, is what barricades and imprisons us? What effects can not belong have on individuals?

No matter where one goes on this dismal chunk of rock, one will probably encounter an outsider. In high school lunchrooms there is always at least one poor, sad teenager who has the unlucky seat next to the trash can. In parks and school playgrounds there is always that one melancholy kid that provides a stark contrast from the joyful shouts and screams coming from the other playing children. The experience of being an outsider is an inescapable universal condition that can be caused through social class, appearance, or other factors.

Good Afternoon teachers and students, The following texts express how an individuals understanding of belonging can quickly be changed by the people and place around them. “Jasper Jones a novel written by Craig Silvey”, it is a short story of a boy named Charles Butkins and the events that occurred because he helped Jasper Jones mask the death of Laura Wishart. “Australia by Ania Walwicz”, is attacking the people of Australia in the form of a poem, because of their point of views and attitudes in life. She also hates Australia itself because the people are not welcoming, this is the main point of this poem.

Starting as children, people are inclined to strive to be socially accepted. With social standards being very difficult to fit into, many people feel as though they do not belong to a set group of people; therefore, they tend to have a lower self esteem which causes them to act out. Being isolated causes one to feel a lack of confidence within themselves because him or her can feel as though they are not wanted and do not belong. This low sense of self esteem affects a person’s motivation and mental health. Social norms can cause people to feel alone and as though they have no one there for them. On the other hand, belonging to a community or a specific group can allow people to feel as though they have a support system, making them feel more confident in themselves and becoming better in their overall life. Feeling accepted and supported by people can increase intellectual activity and boost a person’s self esteem tremendously. Belonging and acceptance increase and decrease self esteem thus dictating a person’s behavior.

An individual 's sense of belonging is determined not only by their own choices but also attitudes of others.

An individual’s sense of belonging is determined not only by their own choices but also by the attitudes of others.

When an individual’s sense of identity is corrupted through prejudicial attitudes they are left exposed and vulnerable allowing a sense of isolation and displacement in society. An individual’s ability to promote change within is largely influenced by the hardships they experience in their struggle to conform and the connectedness of identity that stems from acceptance. Tara June Winch’s novel Swallow the air, adapts the core concept that the perceptions and ideas of belonging are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts defining who we are resulting in a true understanding and

It is a primary psychological driver of children and young people to ‘belong’. Young people are compelled to identify with a particular group to satisfying their need for belonging, even if the group is at odds with another group.

Reification refers to the categorization of people based on those anxieties from fears around conceptions of self-worth and status. Anxiety, a basic component of humanity, is recognized by its feeling of dread rather than its causes. Reification of others is born out of reification of oneself (Weisband, “Social Groupings”). It reduces the freedom and choices available, and it assumes that one is too stagnated to change, especially in comparison to others. This denies that all human freedom is similar. In denying the situatedness of the human condition, people develop the desire to create the uncreatable, and thus they reify themselves to confront anxieties over their own situatedness. As the freedom they have is not what they want, this leads to self-reification, self-contempt, self-denial, and self-disgust (Weisband, “Reification”). It is the beginning of hatred. The reified “self” judges the self in discipline. Similarly, the logic of illogic starts with reification, which develops feelings of supremacism which lead to racism, then racialization, then, finally, spatialization (Weisband, “Rwanda and Nativism”). These reflect the different modes of cultural development that rationalize self-contempt, self-rejection, and denial of self-worth. It represents the beginning of doctrines that aim to explain stereotypes, prejudice, and other forms of hatred (Weisband, “Social Groupings”).

When you were young, you may have seen that one kid at school who did not belong to a friend group. You might have noticed how shy they would have been and how conflicted they might have felt. No friends to talk to, to laugh with, to play with. They would have seemed very dejected because they were not accepted by a group of friends. In class, they may not have raised their hand as often or communicated with others. Nobody would want to be that kid, but when someone is, others do nothing to help them even though in their place, we would also want help and acceptance. The novel, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros shows that feeling like we are not accepted can have a big impact on us. The novel highlights a young girl, Esperanza, a Latina who lives in a neighborhood in Chicago who faces hardships and develops insecurities about herself that make her feel self conscious and judgemental towards herself. Cisneros argues that not feeling like we belong can affect our emotions negatively and make us more withdrawn and timid to prevent ourselves from being judged by others.

Repeatedly throughout the book we see Mr. Malter earnestly advising Reuven to befriend Danny. Once they are friends, he is persistent in making sure that Reuven is there for him, and supports Danny. Mr. Malter was not only aware of Danny's brilliant mind, but he understood his anxiousness to leave Hasidism. This desire was not stemmed from bitterness, although that by no means would have been unwarranted. However, Danny's desire was driven by him not wanting to be tzaddik, but to be a psychologist. There is a scene in the book where Reuven watches a fly caught in a spider's web. Intently Reuven observes as the fly struggles to escape the web, before the spider can make it's way to it. Reuven blows at the fly, attempting to help free him from

The struggle to belong and find one’s place is significant in the lives of some people.