Belonging is a basic need of a human. A sense of belonging of a person shows the connection of that person to a place, people and communities. The person’s identity and personality, therefore, is influenced by their sense of belonging. Skrzynecki has explored that a person’s personality and identity can be shaped by making own choices. The poet has “St. Patrick’s College” as an example of how choosing not to belong can affect one’s personality and identity. Skrzynecki also uses “10 Mary Street” to express that choosing to belong to his house can do the same thing. One of the best books from Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling, “The Deathly Hallows”, also hyperbolises this idea of how belonging can shape a human’s identity.
Choosing to belong is one way of making up a person’s identity and personality. Denying belonging, however, can be another way of shaping identity. The poem “St. Patrick’s College” emphasises how the poet chooses not to belong to the school where his mother wants him to go to. The poem starts with a notion that the poet’s mother decides for her son to belong to a particular group in the community. She decides the future of her son by judging the school’s uniforms of her employer’s sons
“Impressed by the uniforms
Of the employer’s sons,”
The second stanza starts with a negative image from the Skrzynecki’s point of view. He uses a reference of the Virgin Mary, “Our lady”, to emphasise the fact that he doesn’t belong to this school right at the first place. This idea has been explored through the use of juxtaposition with “outstretched arms” and “overshadowed face”. Furthermore into this stanza, Skrzynecki expresses his feeling towards the school’s motto. Irony has been used to show the fact that he is desecrating the school’s motto. He couldn’t connect to the school and this basically create a different personality in Skrzynecki
Throughout the poem, Skrzynecki repeats “for eight years” twice. This reference of time stresses the length of...