Analysis Of Raimond Gaita's Romulus My Father

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The notion of belonging is often divided into distinct facets including belonging to culture, place, relationships and self. The human desideratum for belonging is what defines an individual 's sense of self. Maslow 's hierarchy of needs epitomises that the quest for association and affinity is at the forefront of any persons aspirations. This sentiment of belonging is clearly evident within Romulus My Father composed by Raimond Gaita (1998), Tim Burtons short story 'Neighbours ' (2003) and the feature article 'Manus Island asylum seeker voluntarily returning home ' (SMH) (2014) RMF is a memoir that encompasses the journey of hardship for European migrants in 1950 's Victoria. Throughout RMF it is evident that the ideal journey to Australia was not what Romulus expected as he quickly became a part of the marginalised and rejected within the new country. Romulus states that ' 'I longed for the soft Euro foliage, but the surrounding of Baringhup seemed symbols of deprivation and bareness" following him starting a difficult labour intensive job in Baringhup. This quote is metaphorically symbolic of the detachment Romulus has to his new founded home in comparison to his former home land. The admiration for his former home is evident as his difficulty to belong to place is observable. It is stated from the perspective of Raimond that his father 'Looked forward to a rewarding future in Australia ' in a retrospective manner which further extrapolates the failure of