Looking for Alibrandi

Good Morning Good Afternoon Miss McCarthy and class. I will be discussing the novel Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. The novel, Looking for Alibrandi is charged with emotional energy. Throughout the novel it shows cultural differences and a lack of communication and understanding between the family. This book is written as both a social and cultural analysis of Josephine Alibrandi’s life,, Josephine Alibrandi is 17 years old and comes from third generation Italian Australian. She feels caught in a claustrophobic trap between family lives obsessed with tradition, a strict disciplined Catholic school and trying to find herself and her position as a teenage girl. Throughout the novel Josie is constantly changing her views on people, and experiences her share of emotional upheaveful as she comes to realize that a perfect world consists of more than just gorgeous hairstyles, rich boyfriends and social privileges. It is a common representation throughout the novel that Josie Alibrandi is a selfish and egotistical girl whose internal angst and whose conflict with others all stemmed from her expectations that others should conform to meet her needs. This can be seen in her interactions with her close family members Christina, Nonna and Michael. She also selfish towards her friends John and Jacob.

Josie and her mothers relationship is rocky, this is shown when Josie attacks her mothers desires to go out on a date. Josie was constantly reminded of her mother’s failures and sacrifices she made while raising Josie as a single mother. She felt suffocated by this love and rebelled against it believing if she was not allowed happiness and freedom, no one else should find that happiness either. A prime example of Josie’s selfishness towards her mother’s want and needs can be seen in chapter nine. Josie’s volatile relationship and lack of understanding towards her personal mother and any possible chance of her finding a new partner, is evident when Christina is invited