Belonging is the spiritual and emotional connection between people and place. If this sense of connection is absent, one will feel displaced and alienated, rendering them from ever gaining a sense of safety and inclusion. Migrant hostel and feliks skrzynecki by peter skrzynecki recounts the composer’s experience of displacement and confusion during his earlier life. The red tree by shaun tan depicts a lonely persona, void of any sense of affiliation with the world. Both composers depict isolated individuals that struggle of discover a sense of connection between them and society.
In new previously unchartered environment, one may feel a sense of disassociation with the community. This is expressed in migrant hostel in which a tone of anonymity and monotony is set by the use of collective addressing, “no one”, “newcomer”, “all”. The tone reflects the personas, as well as the refugee’s, experience of incongruity as they lack connections between them and a sense of unity is absent. Uncertainty within the persona is also established by the use of paradox, “to pass in and out of our lives that had only begun or were dying”, which highlights the confusion undergone by the composer. This indicates the sense of disconnection with the society as one venture to alien surroundings.
As an isolated individual in society, one will be shunned and ignored. The red tree illustrates the frustration a secluded individual experiences. The alienated character is segregated from the crowd, presented with a looming monstrous fish over her head. The dark, dull coloured fish represents, “darkness over come you,” in which the darkness is the despair and futility felt within the character. The stark fish embodies the character’s sorrow; black tears are streaming down its face, representing the girl’s inner emotions as she is overshadowed by the gruesome figure. However, the passersby do not acknowledge the girl and instead continue in their day to day lives as the persona has no...