Belonging Essay

Oh, wow. That took a while. Next time I write a full essay, I’ll need to make sure I’m almost a whole week ahead. Maybe more, depending on the texts.

If you appreciate the fact that I stayed up to finish this, please let me know in the comments.

Anyway. One of the texts was one I wanted to use in Year 12 for my belonging essay assessment, but as it was part of a series, the teacher was worried I wouldn’t be able to separate it from the other books. Hollyleaf’s Story has a lot of information from the rest of the series in flashbacks, but I’m not looking at more than what is mentioned in those flashbacks and in the present.

So, below is my first draft of my thesis essay on belonging.

Having a sense of belonging is important for many reasons, including mental health and self-image. There are many things that can impact one’s sense of belonging, however. If a person cannot find a sense of belonging in their day-to-day or current environment, they may seek it elsewhere. They will often be drawn back to places where they have experienced belonging.

Other people and their actions, as well as one’s own, can have a strong impact on someone’s sense of belonging. In Hollyleaf’s Story, as Hollyleaf learns more about her origins, she feels there would be no place for her in the Clan if others found out. She kills Ashfur to keep the secret, but later reveals it herself. She feels like her Clan would have been better off not knowing, and therefore is better off without her now.

The main singer in the music video, Walk Without the Stars, has her sense of belonging destroyed both directly and indirectly by her sister. Her sister is shown to often ignore her. Other people overlook the main singer a lot in favour of her sister. This leads the characters to look for somewhere else to belong.

The desire to belong is strong, so people seek out places, or look to create it for themselves, whenever they can. Hollyleaf meets a cat called Fallen Leaves in the tunnels and chooses to stay there with him. Hollyleaf starts to think of the tunnels as her home, and convinces herself that ThunderClan doesn’t need her.

The main singer in the music video chooses to seek belonging by joining cats who walk without the stars. This allows her to find a new destiny and stand out from her sister. Afterwards, she feels her time and actions with these other cats have marked her as one of them. The male singer tells the main singer that this is the right thing to do.

Despite what a person may try to convince themselves of or say, they are eventually drawn back to places where they belong. From the moment Hollyleaf’s Story begins, she is thinking about ThunderClan. This is something that recurs throughout the novel. She keeps feeling the tug of home until she finally accepts that she must go back, and does so when her Clan needs her.

At the time Walk Without the Stars is sung, the main singer is starting to feel she shouldn’t be with those who walk without the stars. She feels pulled towards her kin. This struggle is further emphasised by the text at 1:30 being divided into half black and half white. The main singer does feel that joining with her bloodline is right.

These two texts show the importance their main characters place on their sense of belonging. It demonstrates some things that can cause it to falter, and the strategies some might employ to find a stronger sense of belonging when this happens. In both cases, the characters were drawn to where they had once felt belonging, with their families.

Although I like the amount of work I get to do when I do stay up, I hope I won’t need to do it again for a few weeks. What are your thoughts?

Keep on Reading.

Alice B Hutley