Preview

Looking For Alibrandi Identity

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1507 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Looking For Alibrandi Identity
Looking for Alibrandi is a novel written by Melina Marchetta. It is about a young female named Josephine Alibrandi. This book is about Josephine’s journey in search of her identity, and her relationships around her. It shows how her views are depicted and how her views change throughout the course of the novel. This novel portrays the use and abuse of power and its effects on individuals in society. These powers include the powers of freedom, education, legal, psychological, cultural, pressure, parental, empowerment, personal choice and relationships. All these powers make a huge impact throughout the course of the novel, whether they or negative or positive powers.

The power of freedom, with the theme of destiny is a power present throughout
…show more content…
The power of culture intertwines with the themes of racism and multiculturalism. Josie’s culture, being of Italian descent, holds her back in the course of the novel. As Josephine is an ‘ethnic girl’, it holds her back from being the person she wants to be, and the things she wants to achieve. Her culture is a wall seperating her from who she is right now, and she wants to be. As an ethnic, she is looked down in society, and it makes her life more difficult. In the novel, Josie states “… no matter how smart I am or how much I achieve, I am always going to be a little ethnic from Glebe, as far as these people are concerned.” This statement clarifies her struggle of being an ethnic in the Australian …show more content…
It is one of the only powers present throughout the entire novel. There are many relationships in the novel, one being with the women of the Alibrandi family. All three, Josie, Christina and Katia share a love hate relationship with each other. Since Josie and her mother Christina live together and Christina is a single parent, they support each other and talk like best friends. On the other hand, with Katia, she is very distant with Christina because of the secret behind Christina’s true identity. At the start of the book, Katia & Josie practically hate each other, but as the story progresses, they bond and grow a stronger relationship. With this relationship, Josie uncovers the truth of why Francesco could never act as a ‘real father’ to Christina and why Francesco had so much hatred and kicked her out at sixteen. Towards the end of the book, the three find out how common alike they are with each other, they gain a mutual bond and there relationship grows stronger as they grow fonder of each

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Melina Marchetta’s 1993 novel, Looking for Alibrandi, is based on the story of an Italian teenage girl living in Australia during the early 1990’s in Sydney. Kate Woods’ motion picture interpretation of the book creates similarities and differences between the two texts. By comparing the characters of Josephine Alibrandi, Katia Alibrandi and Poison Ivy/ Carly in both texts, the audience are able to identify the likeness and contrasts among the film and novel.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A fundamental event in the novel is the meeting of Josephine and her father Michael Andretti; this is the start of the discovery Josephine makes about who her father is. All through her life Josephine has been faced with many hardships due to her being illegitimate, because her mother was pregnant out of wedlock. Josephine resents the fact that she is illegitimate, and also resents her father who she believes had abandoned her mother who suffered immensely, and was thrown out of her own home. Josie first meets Michael in her grandmother Katia’s house, when she comes to understand the he is her father, she realizes that he is nothing like imagined also later stating that the meeting was also nothing like she had expected. An essential event that leads to the bonding of father and daughter is when Josephine calls Michael to help her on the case of breaking Carly Bishop’s nose. Josephine calls to Michael out of…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The novel Looking for Alibrandi effectively explores the theme of change, it is seen through the novel that Josephine Alibrandi, the main character and narrator, significantly changes as an individual, friend and family member as her perspective on life changes throughout the year. First person narration gives the responders an insight into Josie’s mind and reveals how her feelings change towards Jacob Coote and the changes that occur in her life. As she is “beginning to realize that things don’t turn out the way you want them to” the readers feel empathy and suspense as she narrates her inspirational story. Another technique Marchetta uses to create suspense and also add tension to the storyline is by adding ellipsis which leads up to what Josie reveals to the readers. As Josephine is almost peer pressured into becoming intimate with her short term boyfriend, she stops and says “until … maybe until I’m engaged”. The use of ellipsis illustrates the tension between Jacob and Josie, but reveals that Josie does not change even though Jacob is pressuring her, this adds to the character of Josie and proves to the audience that she is strong and will stand up for herself. Therefore Marchetta portrays that change may be hard to avoid, although the right change is needed to become the person we desire to be. Josephine is strong enough to…

    • 1012 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A key event in the film that changes Josies perspective is the meeting of her father, Michael Andretti. Initially, Josie is hostile to her father and unsympathetic to his explanations. However, as certain events unfold, Josie begins to admire him and sentimental piano music is plays to convey the positive attitude she had towards the idea of having a father figure.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Quote page 8 “it makes me feel like I will never be part of there society and I hate that because im just as smart as they are” all josie wants to fit in and be liked by her pears and even thought she was originally voted school captain but instead given the post as vie captain she ignores the fact that she was voted by her fellow students and is actually in fact quite popular and is a trend setter within the school. Sister Louise tells josie on page 184 that she has to” learn that sometimes you have to keep your mouth shut, because what you do reflects on this school and on me and others” this was a shock to josie because she didn’t believe she had a impact on…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking for Alibrandi is a film that conveys the meaning of identity through the use of a variety of film techniques illustrated by the composers. The Outsiders, a novel by S.E. Hinton also has the meaning of identity hidden away somewhere between its pages, as does the poem The Road Not Taken but between its four stanzas. Poetic and language techniques give us a better idea of the meaning of identity.…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Oh Josie is a wonderful and social friend to talk and fun to play with. She talks open-mindedly and truthfully, listens to what other people says and replies back with respect” says Sera, one of Josie’s best friends. Sera is the only person from school that has the same nationality as Josie. “Because we have the same ancestry we have a thin bond, we always have most of situations and attitudes in common like when we greet each other how we talk to each other and hate each other”, she laughs.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Among the many relationships Josephine develops throughout the novel, the relationship she establishes with Michael Andretti her father is by far the most important. The bond between Michael and Jose doesn’t really exist until Josie hits carly in the face with her science book, breaking her nose and most likely her modeling career, although carly provoked the attack her father is determined to sue Jose. As Michael comes to redeem her, Josie feels proud to have a…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was about one in the morning, Josie was on watch when the figures in the dark began to take shape around them.…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking for Alibrandi

    • 3765 Words
    • 16 Pages

    “My mother was born here so as far as the Italians were concerned we weren’t completely one of them. Yet because my grandparents were born in Italy we weren’t completely Australian.” (p. 7) “It makes me feel I will never be a part of their society and I hate that because I’m just as smart as they are.” (p. 8) “The room isn’t like the living rooms of my parents… but I like it. Because my mother and I are stamped all over it.” (p. 10) “Telecom would go broke if it weren’t for the Italians.” (p. 11) “We tune into each other very well. Maybe because it’s always just been the two of us.” (p. 14) “Sometimes I think he is a myth. As far as the world is concerned, Michael Andretti was just the guy next door. But for him to be a myth means that I’m a figment of the imagination.” (p. 15) “Her [Sera’s] father, like most Italian fathers, thinks she’s the Virgin Mary and like most Italian fathers he is dead wrong.” (p. 19) “We grew up in the midst of the snobs of St. Martha’s and discovered that somehow brains didn’t count for much. Money, prestige and what your father did for a living counted. If your hair wasn’t in a bob or if your mother didn’t drive a Volvo you were a nobody.” (p. 21) “Purgatory. I hate it so much that when I die, and if God sends me there, I’ll beg him to send me to hell instead.” (p. 22) “We think we’re better than them [Cook High]. They think we’re the biggest dags in the world.” (p. 26) “I would have never thought that Jacob Coote would be passionate like that.” (p. 30) “But like always, with come-back links, it’s too late.” (p. 31) “…I want to belong to her world. The world of sleek haircuts and upper-class privileges. People who know famous people and lead educated lives. A world where I can be accepted. Please, God, let me be accepted by someone other than the underdog.” (p. 32) “I swear to got that if there is one thing I am going to escape in this life of…

    • 3765 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racism In The Sapphires

    • 310 Words
    • 1 Page

    The strong presence of racism among Australian communities as depicted in the film caused such events, namely the Stolen Generation, to occur. This significant event was a period in late 1800s-1960s where children from both Indigenous, and non-Indigenous (i.e. ‘white’) origins were forcefully taken away from their families as a result of official Australian Government policy. In relation to the film, Gail’s recall of a bitter memory associated with Kay particularly sheds light upon this key historical event.…

    • 310 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking for Alibrandi

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Josephine Alibrandi’s relationship with her family has its highs and lows. Josie’s family impacts her as an individual in different ways and makes Josie feel suffocated by her family and religion. Josie and Jacob are in a strong relationship and Josie’s family culture as a 'wog' controls her love life and friendship life, and restricts her from going to places. “I'll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself...I'll run to be emancipated.” .The relationship between Josie and John changes in various ways at different stages. Through this relationship Josie discovers more about what is important in life and learns to accept herself for who she is. As years pass, she and Nonna develop a connection the leads to Nonna Katia revealing a big family secret that has a huge impact on the Alibrandi family’s name.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Looking For Alibrandi

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Josephine Alibrandi is built and supported from her relationships which continually questions her identity. In particular, the repetitive first person narrative by Josie about her two love interests helps her recognise her…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout the book, Josie's way of thinking changes immensely, from negativity towards her family and culture, to a new understanding and perspective towards life. This is the effect from family, personal experiences, and sharing truths and feelings. Which teaches Josie how she feels about her culture, family and find the part of herself which is embedded in her family. Showing that her family influences and changes the way she feels about life and gives her a new perspective towards it. As the book progresses, Josephine learns to appreciate family - the sacrifices they make her, her Italian heritage and the community of family. Josie became respectful and thankful towards her family as apposed to resentful, because they loved her and her individuality. This has influenced Josie to learn her own truths, make her own rules and way of life, but most importantly, to figure out where her place in life is, 'I know where my place…

    • 1128 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Looking for Alibrandi

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Our destiny is not entirely in our own hands. Other people can completely change our lives. Nobody can say that our destiny is entirely in our own hands. Sometimes decisions that effect our lives are completely out of our hands.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays