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Here’s something to think about: how does a character’s relationships with their family affect the way they act and feel? Those relationships are as important to people in stories as they are to us in real life. And how a character feels included, understood, or valued within their family is called ‘familial belonging’. It’s a feeling which often changes as the story develops.

Let’s look at two books. You don’t have to be studying these – they’ll still help you understand this theme in other stories.

In the novel ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ by Malorie Blackman, a teenager named Dante finds out he is the father of a child by his ex-girlfriend. Early on, Dante says: “My name’s not even on the birth certificate. How can you be sure it’s mine?” Notice, that he uses the pronoun ‘it’ when talking about the baby. A pronoun is a short word used in place of a name. Here, the word ‘it’ makes the baby seem more like a thing than a person. He could have said ‘she’, couldn’t he?

Later in the story, he has developed a familial bond with the baby. He says to a social worker, “Emma is my daughter and my responsibility.” This is a declarative sentence. Dante is proudly saying that baby Emma is his daughter. The pronoun Dante uses to refer to Emma has changed from ‘it’ to ‘my’. His sense of familial belonging has brought him closer to her.

In ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens, when the main character, Scrooge is visited by three spirits, he changes from being a cold-hearted and selfish old man to a caring and thoughtful person who helps other people, especially the Cratchit family.

When Scrooge meets the second Spirit – the Ghost of Christmas Present – he steps into the Cratchit home for the very first time and meets Tiny Tim, who is frail and ill. Scrooge asks: “Spirit, tell me Tiny Tim will live.” He is beginning to understand relationships and how to care for others close to him.

Later, having been completely transformed by the warnings from the Ghost of Christmas Future, Scrooge is enjoying a new life as a good and kind-hearted man. Dickens writes of his generosity: “He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did NOT die, he was a second father”. Tiny Tim is not only alive, but he is being cared for by Scrooge.

The fact that Dickens writes of Scrooge as being a “second father” shows that Scrooge now understands the value of being part of a family. He wants to belong. Scrooge’s journey to familial belonging is complete.

Both Dante and Scrooge’s character development and sense of growing familial belonging bring a lot of emotion to their stories. Dante has learned to love and take responsibility for baby Emma. Tiny Tim has lived, and Scrooge has become like a second father to the little boy.

This theme of familial belonging may feature in the text you’re studying. Look out for the way characters relate to their families, perhaps overcoming difficulties in their relationships or having bonds which grow as the story develops.