Identity In Looking For Alibrandi By Melina Marchetta

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“Looking for Alibrandi” is a novel written by Melina Marchetta. The novel is written in the first person, through Josephine Alibrandi’s perspective. Josephine Alibrandi is the main protagonist in the story, she is seventeen and is experiencing her final year at St. Martha’s. Throughout the novel, Josephine is trying to discover her true self and identity as she is stuck between her Italian and Australian culture. She believes that her Australian culture is her sole identity, but at the end, she realises that it is not only one culture but both of them that form her identity. The Australian lifestyle that Josephine is currently experiencing causes her to reject her Italian heritage. She finds it difficult to adapt to her heritage as it is different to the one she is currently living in. She doesn’t want the Italian to clash with the Australian culture as she reckons she won’t …show more content…

Josie feels as if her traditions will only give her more problems. “She wants to know why other Italian girls have Italian boyfriends and I don’t. If I want to go out with Australians, she objects. ‘What do they know about culture?’ she asks. ‘Do they understand the way we live?’”Nonna wants Josie to marry an Italian man in the future, but she herself had an affair with an Australian when she was young. She decides to hide the guilt and take the frustrations out on Christina and Josie by saying that “a daughter’s behaviour always reflects on how a good mother is.”. Josie’s relationship with Jacob lets her understand how relaxed the Australian culture is. Josie doesn’t want Jacob to meet her parents as she knows that they won’t accept him as he lives “without religion and culture.”, but it has let Josie understand that Australia is a multicultural country and that living there with another background does not make you

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