The Shadow Girl Analysis

Belonging is to be and feel included within a certain group, whether it’s social, political, economic, religious or cultural. Individual’s perceptions of belonging can be affected by numerous different factors, but these factors differ from person to person. John Larkin’s The Shadow Girl and Andrew Stanton’s Finding Dory are two texts that provide a different and interesting insight into how relationships and experiences shape an individual’s sense of self and where they feel they belong within themselves and the outside world.

There are certain societal beliefs and expectations that people need to meet in order to ‘fit in’ or belong. When someone doesn’t meet these needs they feel as though they belong outside of the barrier and cannot

The absence of the parental figures of both main characters in The Shadow Girl and Finding Dory affects both characters deeply. When the Shadow Girl is contemplating the death of her parents, John Larkin’s choice to use repetition highlights the emotional impact of the situation. When Shadow Girl states, “My parents are dead, my parents are dead,” it is clear that, although she has never had a strong connection with them, the irreversible departure of them in her life, affects her very strongly. The repetition encourages the passage to be read with increasing speed, mimicking the heightened emotions of the Shadow Girl as she considers her place in the world without her parents. Likewise, when Dory has flashbacks of her parents from childhood, director Andrew Stanton’s decision to incorporate apostrophe into her line, “My family! I remember my family! They’re out there somewhere, I have to find them!” indicates the abrupt tension that Dory is feeling within herself, because, for one of the first times in her life she truly realises the absence of her parents and acknowledges the importance of needing them back in her life, almost with a complete disregard for her current situation, as she believes that to fill the sense of emptiness she feels, she needs to be with her biological family. This undeniably expresses that fundamental relationships- such as those with an individual and their parents- are essential in helping an individual feel as though they belong, and in the case of the Shadow Girl and Dory it is the tipping point for both women to start their journey of self