The Sense of Belonging in two Different Pieces of Literary Texts (Essay Sample)

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Literature and the Sense of Belonging
Literature and real life have close relation with each other. It is beyond any doubt that literature reflects and assesses various multi-dimensional aspects related to diverse implications of the human life and its development. Therefore, it is obvious that literary texts will also communicate with varied psychological and philosophical aspects that can help us to determine our reality, our potential, and our true self. The sense of belonging is one of the most discussed and studied aspects of psychology and philosophy. But this idea has been reflected and assessed in a number of literary works too. Therefore, it is highly relevant to analyze how this complicated idea is integrated with literature and its components. This paper will discuss how the sense of belonging is addressed in two popular literary works namely Easter 1916 by William Butler Yeats and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson.
The sense of belonging is an inherent part of human life and its development. Everyone develops a sense of belonging in order to make a meaning out of the life. The sense of belonging may relate a person to his family, friends, work groups, or even with the people over social media. There is not any particular trend or way that determines the belongingness of a person. An individual feels the need for being a member of a broader social context or group in order to relate himself to the social conventions. The sense of belonging helps a person to realize that he is a member of a broader society and that every person in this world has to fight with pain, failure and disappointment. This develops a better understanding of the human life. It also helps them to take part in certain activities that not only shapes the form and structure of the society but also relates that individual to social struggles, conflicts, improvements, and development. Most of the literary works relate to the sense of belonging to some extent. The characters are portrayed in the context of various social aspects that can address the historical events, the current situation, or the predictions for the future. This also reflects how the creator of the literary work think about the specific matter addressed in the text and how the characters develop the sense of belonging. But this is a completely complex topic. Therefore, there are various implications attached to this idea. It is relevant to find out if the sense of belonging can positively help in the understanding of life, or the exclusion of this sense to some extent can help an individual to assess his true self and real nature according to varied circumstances.
Easter 1916 is a remarkable poem from the pen of William Butler Yeats. The poet has tried to address a historical event, rather a rebellion movement that shaped the destiny of Ireland. The country and its countrymen had to affirm their independence and identity through a hard fought struggle. The pursuit of change was the result of the passion for transforming the history of Ireland as well as transforming the individuals in favor of the country. According to Yeats (2008), Ireland and its people "changed utterly" to reach the goal of independence and the "terrible beauty" ensured that the rebellion and the chaos could help the Easter Rebellion to announce the advent of a new bright age. The poet can relate himself with this struggling situation quite easily because being an Irish, he could realize and understand the demand of the situation and what Irish people were expecting at that stage.
At first, Yeats significantly confirmed the fact that the history of Ireland was somewhat stagnant at that time. There were a number of apathetic people who cannot be acknowledged sincerely at any cost. Yeats (2008) formally interacts with them through "polite meaningless words". This suggests that Yeats was trying to make some distance from those people who were despondent at that time. Those lethargic figures are the embodiment of disillusionment. He does not try to build or develop any kind of belongingness to this group of such people. But then again, Yeats (2008) asserts that through the rebellion movement "All changed, changed utterly" not only for those people but for the whole Irish community.
Yeats (2008) refers to many significant Irish figures related to the Easter Rebellion. This reference suggests that there is no need of extraordinary ability or heroic potential to evoke a change in the society. The average people can engage themselves in the movement and contribute effectively. The leaders of the rebellion movement were filled with humanity and passion but at the same time, they were not absolutely perfect. But that doesn't matter because it was only the activities of the people in accordance with the situation that could change the history of Ireland once and for all. There was no need or necessary requirement of attaining a prestigious social status, financial flow, or extreme political power. Every Irish individual with a passion and love for the country could emerge as a leader. This is quite evident from the references to the leaders made by the poet. The poet could relate himself to this group of average people who did not have any past experience of participating in a social or political movement but could effectively contribute to the solution of that alarming condition. The sense of belongingness plays a huge part in the psychology of the poet. The situation and the circumstances demanded the participation of every citizen of Ireland irrespective of social, political, and economic background. The love for his country influenced Yeats to consider himself as a part of this group of people and contribute to the rebellion movement either directly or indirectly. He could properly realize the vitality of the condition. Yeats could feel that he too was a part of this movement in this way or the other. This realization of the belongingness influenced Yeats (2008) to assert that the Irish people have been "Enchanted to a stone" and now they should bring in the stream of change. Yeats (2008) also asserted that English colonies have gained independence in the past but Ireland could not achieve it probably because the Irish people remained apathetic. But now the situation should be changed through the abandonment of conformity. Significant persons like MacDonagh and MacBride were the face of the movement. They transformed and sacrificed themselves for the betterment of the country. Yeats (2008) thinks that he could relate himself to these people too. He could understand that every people had the potential to turn himself into a leader of the movement. Yeats also asserts that the Irish people should always remember those leaders so that the flow of change and independence can never be upset. Yeats could effectively relate himself to the unified effort the Irish people were putting in. Yeats develops a sense of belongingness with the majority of Irish people who wanted change and independence. It suggests that human beings develop the sense of belongingness not only to relate themselves to a broader social aspect but also to realize the vitality and significance of different circumstances by understanding the potential of the self.
There is another literary work that can help us to realize the varied aspect of the sense of belongingness. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit is a popular and critically acclaimed novel written by Jeanette Winterson. This novel is woven in the form of stories within stories. The life of Jeanette, the main character, and heroine of the novel is juxtaposed with various myths and legends. Critics argue that none of those stories narrated in the novel can be taken as a real event or incident, rather those should be considered as work of fictional imagery. There is no trace of any objective reality in any part of the novel. Therefore, it is quite complex to assess the validity of the narrative. But we can trace the sense of belongingness and the development of this sense within the life story of the heroine. The story unfolds various aspects of this sense through the development of human progression. From her childhood, Jeanette developed a sense of belongingness to a particular community. Jeanette (1997) states that the heroine deeply believed in the church and its values at that time. Her ideas and her ideology were primarily influenced by the strong ideas advocated by her mother. She was so attached to the Christian values that she even decorated her art materials and other study materials with vario...