Belonging: Indigenous Australians and Connected Family Relationship Essay

Belonging is the enlightenment felt when man gains an awareness of themselves, which may or may not include affiliations to others & the wider world. This insight is plunge in the texts of As You Like It by William Shakespeare, The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick & The Past by Oodgeroo Noonuccal.As You Like It initially accentuates familial & political usurpation, injustice, exile & the pain of cosmos made to feel that no one longer belongs in either court or family. The fleshly level of wrestling within the play metaphorically acts as an impulsive level of grappling amongst civilisation. This diminishes both sense of connection amid urban society & in effect, the court is seen as a world of division, inadequacy of acceptance & w here powerless people such as Orlando do not seem to belong.In the play, belonging, however, develops from the interaction of the characters nature & nurture. For Oliver & Orlando these aspects varied. Oliver is of noble birth, yet his degenerate nature contrasts to that of Orlandos. Despite this, Oliver accuses Orlando of being a villain, whilst carrying barely hate for him, personifying his soul, I hope I shall see an end of him, for my soul hates nothing more than he. Henceforth an absence of filial connection existed between the siblings.Nonetheless this insufficiency dwindles as the two embark through Arden, discovering diverse values, emotions & essentially a forced change of nurturing, with Oliver in particular. He experiences brotherly neck & sacrifice, evoking an inherent benevolence, in the paradox, Twas I, but tis not I I do not shame to report you what I was, since my conversion so sweetly tastes, being the thing I am. Oliver now belongs in a connected family relationship, & to a self that he can now perceive as being antithetic from before.Shakespeare uses Jacques to show how the guise of not belonging, veneers a desire to find belonging on other level. Out of these convertities there is much matter to be heard & learned. In repelling a harvest-tide to the court, Jacques endorses a transcended form of belonging, a self-belonging of a philosophical, intellectual & spiritual degree. Ironically, while isolating himself from man, it is through the beau monde of various temporary characters that Jacques cultivates his conceptions about humanity.From the movie The Last Samurai, the concept of belonging is centred on the idea of phylogenetic relation & assimilation. Recalling Algrens initial encounter with the Samurai, a reservoir of fear in the modernised Japanese soldiers is vex as they are overwhelmed by their masochistic nature. Zwicks use of fog concocts an atmosphere of ambiguity & evokes terror amongst the moderns, symbolic of their imbalance in contrast to the kinship of the Samurai. Evidently, Zwick shapes meaning by contrasting two debate societies & values, allowing the responder to realise the importance of belonging.Zwicks attempt to provide the responder with an insight into Algrens prospect is achieved with flashbacks & diary entries. The flashbacks are nightmares of Algrens shameful past, which creates within him a resent & rage towards all things, the essence of his isolation. Likewise the diary entries are an extension on this device in which they keep the responder informed on Algrens current state.Per contra, a clear breaking of disparity emerges as he writes It is here Ive known my first untroubled sleep thus gradually assimilating with eastern culture. The entries part to re give way a lack of defiance & a growing curiosity, the idea of acceptance being associated with reason & comfort ultimately grants Algren refuge & a sense of belonging.The composers use of symbolism contributes to the assertion of attaining belonging. The rainwater is a recurring symbol which represents revelation & growth within Algren & the fire signifies creation & rebirth of a new asylum found with the Samurai. Colour itself is a symbol the dull darker colour s are by and large associated with the westernised area, rendering a disconnected aura. On the contrary, we are introduced to the collation of vibrant earthly colours found at Samurai village, betokening a sense of truth, a place where Algren can develop a conceptual sense of himself & others.In The Past, Noonuccal enunciates her sense of belonging to Aboriginal culture with the direct juxtaposition of the past & present White & Aboriginal ethnology. The importance & connection to the land for Aboriginal Australians is accentuated through metaphoric antiquity, But a thousand camp fires in the forestAre in my blood.The multitudinous campfires insinuates the significant length of Aboriginal history in antithesis with late European settlement & comfortable white culture, In weak chair before electric radiator. Noonuccal differentiates past & present to express how an individuals unresolved identity operator can influence their belonging in the present. Noonuccal fails to find assoc iation with present, white ethnics due to her inability to link & attain solidarity.As an Aboriginal Australian, Noonuccals belonging lies within her Aboriginal identity & her strong interdependency with nature, the land, her ancestors & the past. Her firm belief in animism expresses the camaraderie she shares with her environment. Personification is employed to communicate the idea of animism, as seen in the third stanza, The tall surrounding trees that stir in the wind. Noonuccal achieves a state of harmony through an adumbrate alliance with the land that shapes their integrity.Ultimately, through the use of various literary techniques & discussion of the texts, it is prominent that