To belong is to be, or have the feeling of being accepted or included by a certain group, person, place or community. While initially an individual may belong to a community or group, speaking their opinion can seclude them, and cause them to become an outsider. Belonging to a community or group can be very beneficial, and not belonging can cause an individual to face consequences. Hysteria and fear can be caused throughout a community by outsiders who don’t belong. We are able to view these experiences of belonging and not belonging through the use of characters and events throughout a variety of texts. Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” and Armin Geder’s picture book “The Island” display how an individual can belong and not belong at
Being part of the community, rather than the outsider, the people are able to feel safe and in control of the outsider’s actions, “They made him understand that he was to stay there and showed him where he would sleep on some straw.” The absence of clothing on the outsider shows his vulnerability and lack of security compared with the group who are fully clothed. The juxtaposition of the physical size of the tall and wide community compared with the outsider who is significantly smaller and very thin suggests the strength and force of the community, enabling them to feel safe and supported.
Individuals who do not belong to the community, either by choice or force, may face consequences. Throughout ‘The Crucible’, the protagonist John Proctor chooses not to conform, not to attend church, and disobeys the values and rules of Salem theocracy. These actions chosen by Proctor become consequential when Reverend Parris, the minister of Salem’s church, uses this against him in court, as Parris repeatedly states to Danforth, “He’s come to overthrow this court!” Proctor’s decisions to exclude himself from the community and theocracy have caused the court to accuse him of lying and following witchcraft and the devil.
This is also evident in ‘The Island’, although while it was a choice of proctor’s to not belong, it was not a choice for the outsider in this text, instead it was forced upon him. The outsider faces the