English(Belonging) Essay
ENGLISH PAPER 1
2011 CSSA TRIAL
Section III
The challenge to belong may be resisted or embraced. How is this explored in your
prescribed text and one other related text of your own choosing?
Belonging to others is a challenge which all people face. However, it is a challenge which
can be accepted or rejected. Orlando in Shakespeare's As You Like It embraces the
challenge of belonging to his brother Oliver, doing his utmost to foster a sense of filial
love. Conversely, Jacques resists all forms of belonging and instead makes the decision
to be by himself, a decision, however, which could be viewed in a positive light.
"Mending Wall" by Robert Frost depicts how the speaker's neighbour is adamant
about separating himself, for no good reason. In this way, the challenge to belong is
explored in both these texts, with decisions not to belong being placed in very
different lights.
Orlando's expectations of familial belonging are not fulfilled, as is evident in the opening
scene of As You Like It. He complains that he is kept "rustically" at home, and compares
his plight as "no different than a stalling of an ox". This animal imagery and comparison
depicts the challenge Orlando faces with trying to have a bond with his brother Oliver.
However, despite Orlando's acceptance of the challenge, Oliver does not wish to connect
and instead reinforces his power with the rhetorical question: "know who you are, sir?"
Oliver's rejection of the challenge to belong negates Orlando's attempts and thus no
bond is formed between the two. Oliver's motivations for rejecting Orlando's pleas for
filial belonging are cloudy, there is no positive explanation for his treatment of his
younger brother. Hence Oliver's refusal to belong with Orlando is depicted as a negative
decision. In this way it is demonstrated in As You Like It that the challenge to belong can
be resisted or embraced; however if it is resisted for no valid reason then it is most likely
the wrong decision: later in the play, Orlando and Oliver form a bond due to Oliver's
epiphany in the Forest of Arden. However, is the challenge is not embraced by both
parties, belonging is impossible.
Another character in As You Like It who rejects belonging is the character of Jacques.
Despite living in the Forest of Arden, which in keeping with the pastoral romance
tradition is a glorious place likened to the Biblical Garden of Eden, Jacques steadfastly
chooses not to belong to anyone but himself. This is primarily explained through his
cynicism of mankind, which is explored in his satirical Seven Ages of Man speech. The
metaphor of "all the world's a stage, and the men and women merely players"
demonstrates his view that everyone is merely playing a part, and thus true belonging is
both impossible and irrelevant. This is further expressed as he presents caricatures of
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the rest of the stages of life, ending in the anaphora of "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans
everything". The reinforcement of the idea of having absolutely nothing when we die
explains Jacques' choice to resist belonging, as it is not lasting anyway. The completeness
of change in life and how nothing lasts is demonstrated in the structure of his speech:
each age ends mid line, therefore enjambment is utilised to highlight the flow of the
ages and the uselessness of attempting to slow down the process by forging connections.
While Jacques' decision may seem foolish due to the beauty and acceptance in the Forest
of Arden, making a conscious decision not to belong has a place in life also. Belonging to
a specific group or place is not always beneficial for one's self. An example of this is
highlighted in the court life of the play; belonging to the "painted pomp" is beneficial for
none. Thus the character of Jacques, who has made an informed decision not to belong,
is used by Shakespeare to demonstrate how an individual may resist the challenge to
belong and the varying reasons behind this choice.
The persona's neighbour in "Mending Wall" also decides that it is beneficial not to
belong. Unlike Jacques, however, who has carefully considered his actions, the neighbour
simply creates a barrier between him and the persona because "good fences make good
neighbours". The mostly monosyllabic words used in this clichéd maxim creates emphasis
on this reasoning, or lack thereof, and betrays its origins in simplistic ideas. This
neighbour's choice to reject belonging which his neighbour is thus represented as a poor
decision, and reinforced by the irony of the statement itself: connotations of the world
"neighbour" usually involve some sort of connection, yet this man is actively creating
barriers instead. This notion is also emphasised by the speaker's explanation of their
situation. The speaker understands that "walls", which are metaphors for all barriers to
belonging, are necessary at time: "isn't it where there are cows? But here there are no
cows". There "cows" may be irreconcilable differences that must be kept to oneself, but
the persona points out that in this case, there is none. The wall building is simply a ritual,
as exemplified in the diction of "spell" and "elves" to evoke a sense of magic associated
with "spring mending-time". Hence it is demonstrated in Frost's poem, "Mending Wall",
that the choice to belong can be accepted or rejected.
The rejection of the challenge to belong without a valid reason is displayed as a negative
choice in Frost's "Mending Wall". As can be seen from the narrator's mocking tone when
describing his neighbour through simile as an "old-stone savage", his neighbour clearly
does not grasp the importance of belonging in daily life. The speaker recognises that this
rejection should have reason: "I'd like to know what I was walling in or walling out". For
the neighbour, walls and thus separation may signify safety, but the forces of nature
disagree. The inversion of syntax in "something there is that doesn't love a wall" and the
vagueness of the word "something" assist in the idea that the natural state is belonging
with others. This can be linked to the Forest of Arden in As You Like It, where the mystical
nature of the Forest assists belonging within the characters. Hence, it is evident that
belonging is significant and natural, and that despite this fact, belonging is still a choice
for individuals.
In conclusion, it is evident that both As You Like It and "Mending Wall" explore the
challenge to belong, and how one may either resist or embrace it. Orlando embraces this
challenge fully, despite being unsuccessful. Jacques and the persona's neighbour in the
poem, alternatively, reject this challenge to belong. While one has done so with full
knowledge of the consequences and reasons behind their own decision, the other has
not. Hence the decision to reject belonging can have both positive and negative results.
In this way, Shakespeare's As You Like It and Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" both
effectively explore the idea that belonging is indeed a challenge which people face, and
it is up to the individual to decide their response.
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