Skryznecki Essay
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All types of journeys expand ones understanding of themselves, of the individual and of the world. Our identities are constructed by and through the journeys we undertake. Physical journeys involve different types of obstacles and movement to new places. The traveller extends themselves physically, intellectually and emotionally. It isn’t just about the journey from A to B, but about what occurs on this journey.
Physical journeys is about growth, change, learning, overcoming obstacles and about an individual developing and finding his place in the world, and this can be clearly seen in the texts I have chosen to analyse. They are: the two poems from the set text, immigrant Chronicle by Peter Skrzynecki, “Crossing the Red Sea” and “Immigrants at Central Station” and “the Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost, from the stimulus booklet. In a variety of ways composers represent journeys as being multifaceted in nature. There are many aspects of journeys and the composers represent them in many different ways. They can all change the person in different ways, the person can experience them in different ways, there are different types of journeys and the problems, causes and solutions can be different of similar according to how the persona decides to represent them.
Physical journeys have many different facets. There are many arguments which support the idea that in a variety of ways composers represent journeys as being multifaceted in nature. Firstly, they can be positive or negative. Secondly, physical journeys can help you discover the potential for human endurance. Also there are many obstacles in life, there are also many paths of which we must take only one. Finally physical journeys results in the person learning about themselves and the world. Through “Crossing the Red Sea”, “Immigrants at Central Station” and “the Road Not Taken” physical journeys are represented in various ways.
Composers represent journeys as being multifaceted in nature. The journey can be positive or negative. We see this through the poem “Migrant Hostel”. “Migrant Hostel” describes the Skrzynecki family’s two-year stay at a migrant hostel in Parkes. They immigrants that arrive in Australia stay in migrant hostels, until they can find themselves a permanent home. There is a sense of unpleasantness “all the comings and goings…sudden departures”. There is an uncertainty about “who would be coming next” added to the uncertainty about what will happen to their lives in the future. The immigrants seek out people from their own countries, with a persisting hatred of others from former enemy countries. They are secluded form the rest of the Australian society “barrier at the main gate” and endured the patronising attitude from society “rose and fell like a finger pointed in reprimand or shame”. Those who could not cope “were dying”.
The composer has used many techniques to explain that physical journeys can be emotional, intellectual and physical. Through the use of powerful and exertive language this poem illustrates the crisis of emotion experienced by many migrants. This is demonstrated when Skrzynecki uses the metaphor of the road barrier, “a barrier at the main gate sealed off the highway from the front doorstep”, to emphasise the pain of being excluded of partitioned off from mainstream society. The finger-like barrier is a metaphor, which represents the migrants; sense that they will be pointed at or scorned by the outside society, which is represented by the highway outside the hostel. The simultaneous use of the simile “like a homing pigeon” draws on the imagery of cultural/racial instinct. The immigrants are finding comfort and try to gain a sense of belonging; a home. Another simile is “we lived like birds of passage” meaning that they moved from one place to another. Therefore they are unsettled. Another technique is the structure, in which the poem is set. The length of the stanzas is inconsistent which matches the lack of stability in the lives of the immigrants. Their lives are in transition. Free verse and the half-formed sentences also support the idea that their lives were unstable and trapped by uncertainty. There is imagery in the unpleasant image Skrzynecki creates of the migrant hostels. They were seen as blocks of segregation “adjoining blocks”, “station” and “partitioned off at night”. he also uses imagery of migratory birds. Survival requires that they journey from one side of the world to another.
“Migrant Hostels” describes being on a physical journey in particular immigration. They are caught in a place for some time while still continually sensing change and a strong degree of uncertainty. Even though the immigrants have left the war behind them, they have come to these migrant hostels, which they are locked in. we can see that there is a sense of search for identity in this poem, the immigrants have come from another country to have a better life, yet they are locked in the migrant hostel.
Composers represent journeys as being multifaceted in nature. Physical journeys can help you discover the potential for human endurance. We see this through the poem “Crossing the Read Sea”. This poem describes the voyage of immigrants to Australia. The persona describes in detail the physical experience of migrating by ship, which is the physical aspect of the journey, whilst also describing the hardship the Skrzynecki family had to experience within themselves emotionally and mentally. The poem describes the crowded conditions, “a landscape of milk-whit flesh”; the discomfort they had to experience whilst embarking on their journey, and the pain of feeling homesick and not wanting to leave fond memories of home behind.
This poem reflects the actual physical journey across the Red Sea and incorporates reasons behind the journey, “sorrows…of northern wars” . The persona uses personification in “Time waited anxiously with us” in order to give the time human characteristics. Personification is used to increase the force and power of nature and life itself. Another technique used is imagery, “Red banners/ that Time was hoisting in mock salute” . Here “red banners” is a reminder of the totalitarian regimes they are