• Shaun Tan’s picture book, The Red Tree,
immerses the reader in the nameless girl’s
journey to find herself and where she is
meant to be. This emphasises her
yearning to belong.
• Select one double page spread and
provide a detailed description of how
belonging is represented in the text:
symbolism, colour, images and the
significance of the written text.
Picture Book
The poem presents issues of
belonging and not belonging
through Gray’s representation
of the abattoir compared to the
natural environment.
Explore the persona’s reaction
the workplace? To the feelings
associated with the job?
Auditory and tactile imagery
“bellowing, sloppy yards” is
used effectively to present a
hellish working environment
and to convey the fear and
noise of the pigs.
Poem by Robert Gray
The Meatworks
Gray builds upon his imagery of disgust:
“grinding around inside it, meat or
notchomping, bloody mouth-”
The machine is personified as a “chomping
bloody mouth…” spitting blood; its sole
purpose to destroy.
The migrant leaves his
home land and
feels a sense of
alienation as he is
confronted with a
surreal environment.
Lack of written text
makes this picture
book disorientating for
the reader.
NOVEL
An Imaginary Life (1978)
 Roman
poet Ovid exiled to Tomis in
8AD.
 Emotional, intellectual and physical
impact of displacement.
 Ovid is ostracised by language and
culture.
 Language- vividly descriptive
 self questioning narrator
 use of present tense
4/9/2015
4
NOVEL
• Adolescent
inarticulateness
• Retrospective narrativelimited time frame
• Moral revulsion against
anything ugly…acute
responsive to beauty and
innocence.
• Slang, idiomatic,
colloquial language,
informal schoolboy
vernacular…
• Picaresque- rich in
incident
How is the concept of
belonging explored in this
text?
Belonging to a schoolBelonging to a familyBelonging to a peer-groupBelonging in your own skin-
FILM
Into the Wild, Sean Penn, 2007
• Both characters are alienated from their
home and choose to leave. (Disconnection)
• In their search for inner peace, both main
characters find a sense of belonging
through nature.
• The search for their own road drives these
two main characters and has implications
for their sense of belonging.
Extended Responses
 Conceptual
understanding:
- The thesis or line of
argument
- In response to the
question
- The framework and
drivers for extended
responses
- Integrates the response
- Support and challenge
The Simple Gift
• The language used is broadly colloquial to
make the verse novel more appealing to
readers
• Set in the fictional town of Bendarat
• “another state/miles from home…”the
distance Billy travels to arrive in Bendarat
is significant in being far enough away
from his father to ensure that he can make
a fresh start
Developing a Thesis
 Strong opening paragraph that introduces a clear
line of argument or thesis that directly addresses
the question.
 A response that is driven by a thesis connected to
the question. Each successive point must further
the thesis through textual analysis and support.
Support or even challenge then thesis through
the analysis of the text/s.
 Precise topic sentences that are connected to and
build on the thesis.
• Caitlin does not like to conform or to be
stereotyped
• By comparing himself to a satellite in
Caitlin’s orbit Billy clearly expresses the
attraction he feels towards her
• Explore the concept of belonging through
the following places: Longlands Road,
Wentworth High, Westfield Creek,
Bendarat, carriage 1864, Caitlin’s Home,
Wellington Road
Developing a Thesis
 The human experience: Overarching idea first….
 When developing theses students should consider
that the notion of belonging is never fixed. It is
constantly shifting depending on the individual’s
experiences, emotional state and relationships with
self and others.
 They need to consider how humanity’s flaws and
qualities challenge and enrich belonging.
 Regard belonging as an ambivalent notion. Explore
when and why individuals move between belonging,
indifference and alienation.
• Issues such as grief, loss, homelessness
and young love are explored
• Billy enjoys the imaginary escape and
insights provided by books
• He displays independence and strength of
character
• For Old Bill, the death of Jessie has left
him completely incapable of going on with
his previous life.
Theses
 Overarching through the
question to specific lines of
arguments.
 Supporting the thesis with the
reasons why the student has
arrived at this point of view.
 At least two – three supporting
arguments used to further the
thesis that addresses the
question in the essay.
 E.g. The greatest barrier to
belonging is the self: our
perceptions, assumptions and
degree of self-efficacy.
• Old Bill loses his sense of belonging
to his family, his past, his work and
his town…
• Tragic events can completely change
a person’s sense of belonging
• Billy and Caitlin experience a
physical, emotional and intellectual
bond
Lines of Arguments
 We spend our lives trying to belong to self, a place
and others, not realising that it is our perceptions
and attitudes that enable us to belong.
 When we begin to understand the forces that drive
us to belong we develop empathy for others and
personal insight.
 The simple act of unquestioning friendship and
kindness nurtures the notion of belonging.
 When individuals experience a strong connection to
a place the notion of belonging is strengthened and
enriched.
• Through the process of belonging
characters are transformed
• Billy has no conventional sense of
belonging to his family unit
• For Billy and Caitlin, mutual desire for
escape from the significant adults in
their lives proves a platform for
belonging
Theses
 The pressure to belong and
conform has the potential to
threaten individuality and
independent thought.
 Belonging to a community or a
group is not always a positive
thing. To maintain the
cohesion, power and authority
of the community or group,
individuals could be forced to
conform and suppress their
individuality. Freedom and
independence can become
casualties of conformity.
* knowledge
* awareness
* insight
* empathy
Area of Study 2009
* nurture
* sustain
* promote
* foster
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Association
Attachment
Acceptance
Integration
Closeness
Raport
Fellowship
Understanding nourishes belonging ...
a lack of understanding prevents it.
* halts
* hinder
* impedes
* hamper
Demonstrate how your prescribed text and ONE
other related text of your own choosing
represent this interpretation of belonging.
* ignorance
* blindness
* apathy
* hard-heartedness
Plan …
• ARGUMENT (not just a repeat or rephrasing of the question)
• Names of texts
• THESES (Sub points)
– Understanding may …
• Texts; the scenes in which …
– Lack of understanding can …
• Texts; the section in which …
– Sometimes understanding…
• Texts; the moment at which …
Area of Study 2009
Understanding nourishes belonging ...
a lack of understanding prevents it.
Demonstrate how your prescribed text and ONE
other related text of your own choosing
represent this interpretation of belonging.
Issues related to Belonging
Do some people want to
belong more than others?
Why/Why not?
How do people show
they belong?
When can it
be fulfilling
to belong?
How do people
show they do not
belong?
When is it unfulfilling to
belong?
Why do people or groups of
people want to belong?
* person
* solo
* lone
* solitary
* conversation
* meeting
* discussion
* participation
* group
* partnership
* community
* an individual
Area of Study 2010
‘An individual’s interaction with others and the
world around them can enrich or limit their
* stall
experience of belonging.’
* confine
* fertilise
* moment
* process
* understanding
* feeling
* develop
* polish
* enhance
* environment
* place
* culture
* atmosphere
* restrain
* control
• Association
Discuss this view with
detailed reference to your
• Attachment
• Acceptance
prescribed text and ONE
other related text of
• Integration
your own choosing. • Integration
• Closeness
• Raport
• Fellowship
Plan …
• ARGUMENT (not just a repeat or rephrasing of the question)
The extent to which an individual’s experience of belonging is
enriched or limited by interactions with others depends on the
nature of the encounter and the repationship whith the
person or group the individual meets.
• Names of texts
• THESES (Sub points)
– Interaction may …
• Texts; the scenes in which …
– Limitation can …
• Texts; the section in which …
– Sometimes enrichment …
• Texts; the moment at which …