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How do composers of texts you have studied convey the scene of belonging of characters? Refer your 2 prescribed texts and 2 texts of your own choosing.

The theme of belonging is a profound pillar behind most of literature works today. Composers tend to implement the sense belonging as a cornerstone for their works so readers can easily relate to it. What is the sense of belonging? A sense of belonging is something we all endeavor to seek in life. It is a need we pose as social beings to have companionship in our daily lives. Some scientists even argue that to belong is a basic human need. Bonds are everywhere, the bond between friends, the alliance between family members or even the attachment between pets. All these associations are where mankind finds true meaning to life and thus, have a right reason to live and something to fight for. The two prescribed texts I have analyzed are Educating Rita by Willy Russell and Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The two chosen texts would be the multi award winning blockbuster movie, Titanic directed by James Cameroon and the novel The Sister Keeper by Jodi Picoult. These texts depict a solid sense of belonging in their characters and each has their own unique way of journey in quest of true belonging in life.

The primary sense of belonging in these texts would be of alienation at the beginning but eventually crawl back to true belonging at the climate of the texts. In the text Educating Rita, the main character Rita who hails from the working class strives to find a “better way of living” in seeking an education to find certain “deepness” her life, thus having an aspiration to talk “things that matter”. In the pursuit of it, Rita is ostracized by her own working class society as she is labeled as a “whimp”. They do not value higher education and are resistant to change as shown when they cannot understand why she wants to “rock the coffin”. Consequently, she is alienated by her all kind and become a “freak” and “half caste”. She moves on her life by seeking education which fills her “with life itself” and giving her the variety of “choice” in life and eventually found true belonging. Similarly, the theme alienation is also spotted in the text Heat and Dust where Olivia, an Englishwoman arrives in India just to find herself marooned in a whole new culture and world. Like Rita, she feel “extremely bored” with her life in India, and does not enjoy the company of her class of British officials in India who are “so dull and boring” and always thought that “they knew best”. The bond between Olivia and her husband, Douglas, gradually diminish with his increasing workload and she felt alienated by her own husband when all the “endless conversation” between Douglas and the Nawab “did not include her”. Through this solitary desperation, Olivia soon began to seek an affiliation with the Nawab who she “noticed and realized that here at last was one person in India who was interested in her”. Likewise, this alienation is also portrayed in the movie Titanic as Rose, the main female character in the movie who is engaged with Carl doesn’t feel belong to her own fiancé albeit the public decoration of engagement should impersonate otherwise. She expressed intelligibly that she is not one of Carl’s “foreman” which he can “command”. Rose resembling Olivia, found a better sense of belonging in Jack, a guy she met in Titanic just like Olivia and the Nawab. The bond between Rose and Jack is so unsounded which one willing to sacrifice oneself to be with the other, as quoted “you jump, I jump” by both Rose and Jack in different situation. However, alienation in the text The Sister’s Keeper is a tad bit different from the rest. Anna who is the sister of a leukemia patient, Kate appeared to feel alienated by her parents as they conceived her just because they needed a donor of umbilical chord to keep her sister alive. The situation worsened when she seek help of an attorney to litigate a case of medical emancipation as quoted “I want to sue them for the right of my own body”. This shows no signs of belonging toward her parents as she’s willing to reach this extent which can tear her family apart. It is revealed at the end of the text that she did those unmerciful actions are all at the request of her sick sister who hates to stay in the hospital anymore and is prepare to end all her suffering by giving up her life. This shows the true bond between Anna and her sister, as she’s willing to sacrifice to fulfill her sister’s wish.

Another sense of belonging shown is the social differences of the characters live in. In Educating Rita, Rita lives in a society carved up by the educated class and the working class. One distinct quality between the two classes are the exercise of language. Rita who represents the working class is witty and bad-mannered with her thick colloquial accents and slangs of profanity, whereas Frank, her teacher is part of the educated class portrayed with their high standard of English in the text. Any person who equates in features like in Rita will be blackballed by the educated society. Therefore, the working class is considered as a lower class as they do not have an advanced education. This lineament could also be seen in Titanic as Jack who hails from the lower class is constantly discriminate by Carl who labeled Jack as a “gutter rat”. Albeit Rose is from the upper class, quotes from herself “I saw my whole life as if I had already lived it. An endless parade of parties and cotillions, yachts and polo matches. Always the same narrow people, the same mindless chatter. I felt like I was standing at a great precipice, with no one to pull me back, no one who cared... or even noticed.” proves that any class has their own up and down. She further solidified her hatred for her own class by disliking her class of “looking down” on the lower classes and thinks they are “giant” but instead they are merely “dust” in the eyes of God. Class distinction is also represented in Heat and Dust. The character of the Narrator is involved with both the lower and upper class. However, she is like Rose in Titanic who seeks a belonging with the lower classes. What we assumed that the educated world is “a better way of living” and lead perfect lives, which is like the Indians in Heat and Dust who view the western world as “a place that has everything” whereas India has “nothing”. All these assumptions proved otherwise as the texts progress, like in Educating Rita, Rita realizes the middle class do not “sing a better song, only a different song” and in her hunger for an education and a better life, she ended up with “a load of quotes an’ empty phrases”. Frank from Educating Rita seconds the awry assumption by quoting “everything I know… is that I know absolutely nothing”. These class inequalities is clearly portrayed by the characters of each texts as they belong to a certain class but as time passes, they learnt that their own classes are not much different to other classes and in quest for a belonging they feel right, they began to alienate their own class and bit by bit finding a position in another class.

The final sense of belonging which the composers inserted in their respective texts is the personalized bonds between characters. These bonds are the major stepping stone in helping the characters to gain true belonging they feel right in life. As seen in the text Educating Rita, the prime character, Rita, constitute a bond with Frank, her teacher who plays a big part in helping her gaining the right education and ultimately gives her “choice in life”. At first, Rita obsession to be educated has lead her in the verge of losing her natural wit, bubbly, cheerful demeanour, forces Frank to stop her from changing to a “Dalek”. This causes a rift in their relationship and Rita sees him as her obstacle to achieve her dreams. True bonding will at long last prevail as in her wake of maturity, she realizes Frank is “a good teacher” and Frank is the only one who really appreciates who she really is. In return, Rita gives Frank a new meaning to live as Rita is the “first breath of fresh air”. In Titanic, the unconditional love between Jack and Rose is the largely the theme of the whole movie. Jack is willing to sacrifice himself to save Rose and he wants Rose to die old instead of dying with him despite their mutual promise of being together live or dead. Besides, Rose is willing to sacrifice her relationship with her family and also the upper class to be with Jack. All these show two individuals who are willing to carry out the ultimate sacrifices for love nor bond between them as they feel the most belong to each other. Likewise, in The Sister’s Keeper, the bond between Anna and Kate is as genuine as Jack and Rose. Every time Kate, the sick sister was in the hospital, Anna will be by her side as she is her allogeneic donor as quoted “When Kate needs leukocytes or stem cells or bone marrow to fool her body into thinking it's healthy, I'm the one who provides them. Nearly every time Kate's hospitalized, I wind up there too." In Heat and Dust however, the intimate bond is not so constructive as Olivia who is isolated in the whole new world of India, pursues an attachment with the Nawab to escape loneliness. We can conclude the bond between Olivia and the Nawab is not as genuine as the bond Jack and Rose posses. Albeit, the Nawab is a bad influence and “the worst kind of Indian”, Olivia is ignorant to the matter as she is desperately to get out of her “extremely bored” life and hold on to the affiliation. This bond as expected, doesn’t last long as the Nawab was just using her to make the British “look silly” and because of this, she has lose out the one that truly loves her in which was Douglas, her husband.

To sum everything up, the composers of the four texts channels the theme of belonging in ostensibly fashion. However in its core structures, the concept of belonging is very similar in terms of alienation, class differentiation and personal bonds. We watched how each character grows from being unsatisfied to their own social class and experiencing roadblocks in lives to their quest to find a rightful place to feel belong. The bonds between characters is the focal point of bringing everything in mend, and help each character to learn and develop in life, changing them and making them a better person.