The statement 'A sense of identity, more than anything else, depends on relationships between oneself, others and 'environment' consistently defines the concept of belonging and identifies that for someone to know who they are and their purpose they must relate to internal and external relationships as well as the environment in which they reside. Belonging can be defined as the value, security and acceptance that a person feels in their environment and the poet Peter Skrzynecki demonstrates the idea of ​​identity and belonging and, most importantly, non-belonging, in two poems; 'Migrant Hostel' and 'Ancestors', while author and illustrator Maurice Sendak also explores the concepts in his picture book 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Where Skrzynecki exclusively uses linguistic techniques in the form of rhetorical questions and thought, similes, tone, and visual imagery, Sendak incorporates both language and visual techniques such as color and light, framing, and character body language. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The relationship characters have with themselves is allied to their awareness of where they belong and where they don't belong. Max, the main character of “Where the Wild Things Are,” conspicuously challenges those around him with arrogance and as a result leads to ostracism by his mother and the expectations that society has for children to obey. In Peter Skrzynecki's poems he sees himself as excluded and rejected from both the new country and his parents' homeland due to differences in culture and heritage as he emigrates from a Poland he has never known to an unfamiliar Australia and, after settling down, continues to be pushed by his connection to a different past. “Migrant Hostel” communicates Skrzynecki's personal experience of displacement and migration. It sets a negative tone in the opening line of the first verse “No one kept count.” The tone reflects the alienation Skrzynecki felt as a migrant, with foreign authorities systematically treating the migrant camp population without affection for the masses, uncertain in seeking their place and left with the feeling of corporeality, as a figure to be counted rather than a unique individual which is also demonstrated by Skrzynecki's lack of personal pronouns rather using "we" and "us" to describe himself as part of a larger commodity. At the same time, the simile “like a homing pigeon circling to orient itself” expresses the transitory nature of migration and the unstable and stressful experience of seeking, embracing, and belonging to a new home in a foreign land. Like an ownerless carrier pigeon, migrants are in a state of dislocation, unaware of which direction to turn and suggesting that belonging is not simply about position, but about possessing a sense of value and connection to a place. In this period of confusion, "nationalities were instinctively sought" by developing the idea that, despite being dislocated and isolated by familiarity, people of a common culture "recognized by accents" receive comfort from the "memories" of their recognized heritage and share the same difficulties suffered. from "hunger and hate" that brought them where they belong, to a safer country and where they will share the experience of finding a new home to establish a broader sense of belonging to the country and to an exotic culture. Similarly, the main character of "Where the Wild Things Are", Max, struggles with a state of dislocation, but between his reality and his own imagination intertwined with the desire topower, where it belongs to both, but not at the same time. Max is required to find a balance between his parents' expectations and the lack of power he can only achieve in an imaginary world. After being sent to bed without dinner. Max's anger drags him into a personal realm where he ultimately faces himself. The large white borders at the beginning of the picture book symbolize Max's inner emotions, feeling trapped by the limits of reality, an environment in which he cannot express himself. As the story progresses, the boundaries become smaller as Max's expression simultaneously shows his satisfaction with his restrictions disappearing into the forest of his extraordinary imagination where he can freely articulate a power that would not be accepted at home and hold on to I curb the leader of his world. Max's forest beings "made him the king of all wild things." The "wild things", with their intimidating size and bold, ready claws, can be seen as metaphorical manifestations of the power, anger and arrogance that Max possesses within him: a beast that needs to be tamed. However there is also the need to belong to the 'Wild Things' group, but above all the need to express oneself as a child and to belong to one's imaginative childhood. In Max's wild world the illustrations are more vivid and colorful than those in his home and depict a lighter, happier mood. However in his forest Max is able to freely control what he wants but actually can't. It is here that he realizes that "he was alone and wanted to be where someone loved him the most" and that he could not live alone in the forest with the "wild things", rather he had to sacrifice his power to return home to which belongs with his family. Upon returning to his real world, the illustration is full-page and even more vivid in tone than the forest, presenting Max's expanded and enlightened perception of home and where he truly belongs. Despite the disagreement with his mother, Max found "his dinner waiting for him." Max achieves a clearer sense of identity after realizing the importance of having someone who loves and cares for him, which is worth much more than a superficial lust for power. Like the wild beings of Max's fantasy, Peter Skrzynecki faces his demons; ghosts of his ancestors from a past he has been removed from, dictating the disconnection between a previous culture but still having the inability to fully adhere to a new one as the past flows behind. In the dream state of 'Ancestors' the poem possesses a wavering tone as Skrzynecki reflects on his identity and the chains that bind him to his past. He does not coherently understand the significance of this visit, and the poem emphasizes the composer's isolation from these ancestral beings as they remain intimidating and out of reach as they "loom over you" and stand "shoulder to shoulder." Skrzynecki uses abstract visual imagery of "whispers" and "eyes that never close" to portray that these ancestors are unfamiliar, haunting and emphatically taunting him with stories and pasts that may never be known, thus excluding him from knowledge that would include him in a past legacy. The composer refers to himself in the second person to allow the reader to personally experience this otherworldly event and influences him to feel his own confusion, increasing the effect of disturbing images in "why do you wake up as their faces become clearer - the your tongue dry as cakes' mud?' The fact that these ancestors evoke Skrzynecki to compose the rhetorical question describes his bewilderment induced by the uncertainty about his belonging, by the fear of getting too close to these ancestors.