Good morning/afternoon. Looking for Alibrandi is a connecting, intriguing novel written by Melina Marchetta. This story portrays a seventeen year old girl, Josephine Alibrandi, illegitimate and in her final year at a wealthy Catholic School. This is the year her father comes back into her life, it is the year she falls in love, the year she develops her identity, the year she discovers her family’s past and the year she sets herself free. Throughout the novel, Melina Marchetta portrays many characters that are faced with forces or boundaries that are within and beyond their control. These character’s such as Josephine Alibrandi, Nonna Katia and Michael Andretti, all have varying and occasionally similar forces within and beyond their control. …show more content…
One of the forces within Josie’s control are the decisions that she makes. For example during the walk-a-thon, an annual event at her school, Josie’s friends Sera, Anna and Lee decide to bail on the event. Even though Josie, a college prefect, is aware of the severe consequences that will blow her way, she still makes the decision to abandon her leadership role for the day to go on an adventure with her classmates. On page 179 Josie contemplates, “The feeling of dread didn’t leave me. No matter how much I told myself that there was no problem with what I had done and that nobody would find out, I couldn’t enjoy myself.” This quote elaborates that Josie was in control of her situation, even though she regretted it, she made the decision to leave the event and later faced the consequences. In addition, on page 82 it states “God knows what possessed me, but having that science book in my hand propelled me to immediate action. So I hit her with it.” This quote further explains that Josie made the choice to take action and hit the offensive girl with her book, even though she was aware of the consequences. This event significantly effected Josie’s outcome throughout the book, as this brought upon her father Michael finally entering and taking action in Josie’s life. Therefore, it is evident that there were a number of forces within Josephine’s control that significantly affected her outcome in the
“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.
As the book progresses she tends to get along with her father more and then eventually over time they have a close bond. At the start of the book he is first mentioned on page 15 when a particular Michael Andretti is standing in the room next to them. Josephine bases the relationship with her dad upon what her mum feels about him, she eavesdropped on a conversation where he was explaining how he didn’t want to be apart of her life anymore and that if money was a problem that her mother be reimbursed for his absence. She on page 70, she calls him by his public title not as father or dad but clearly because he is a stranger in her life and she does not want him to be apart of her. The authors intentions were to use language to describe the relationship between her father and herself, showing that Things soon change as the book progresses and Josie is forced to call in her father to help her with a situation where she smacked a girl in the face with a textbook because the victim’s father was attempting to sue Josie. After that incident the relationship quickly starts to grow between Josie and
Finding Zoe, written by Brandi Rarus, can be understandable when it comes to the theme when it talked about a story of identity, love and adoption and have a point of purpose to write. It is like Rarus 's unique to attempt to shed new light on the theme where she tried to explain about her experiences between her life and adoption. How she portrayed the theme is absolutely utter and it have all the different perspectives that help to build the strong theme. She has the two themes that built a suitable book, acceptance and compassion are her passionate themes of this book and they are applying to her life. Rarus’s though process was very interesting to use different proses, however it is easy to follow it throughout the writing. It is achieved
Looking for Alibrandi is a novel in which reflects and comments to a majority of the social issues occurring in most communities around the world. The novel introduces the main character, Josephine Alibrandi as an intelligent and capable woman who is an Australian of Italian descent. Due to her background, she undergoes social issues such as experiencing stereotypes and social statuses.
Before this scene, John and Josie had written letters to each other of their thoughts, with John’s turning out to be a suicide note: “If I could be anything other than what I am, I'd want it tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I'd sty for that too. But if I could be what you want me to be, i would stay. But I am what I am and all I want is freedom.” This clearly shows the theme of belonging and the extreme consequences of youth not feeling like they belong.
During the Renaissance, many writers were authoring "how-to" books. At the same time, mail correspondence was the main form of communication. This gives readers and historians the golden opportunity to perform some comparisons, and to paint a picture of what life was like in the renaissance. In The Book of the Family Leon Battista Alberti illustrates to his readers through dialogue, his vision of the perfect family. Alberti wrote his book in dialogue form, featuring the elder Giannozzo conversing with the young Leonardo. They discuss important family topics such as thrift, friendship, work, health, housing, economics, children and how and whom to choose as a wife. Alberti stresses thrift with family resources and money, hard work in the right field for the family, and a wife that conforms to his ideas of virtue and duty. In the letters of Alessandra Strozzi, readers chronicle her communication with her family and draws a vivid picture of their lives as they actually happened during this fascinating time period. Alessandra Strozzi wrote letters to her family while here sons were in exile, which added to her precarious position in society as a widow. The Strozzi family was one of the most powerful families during the Renaissance, but with that power came vulnerability, and possibility of exile. The selected letters date from 1447 to 1470. She writes, mainly to her sons, to advise them on issues of money, politics and marriage. Alessandra is generally unhappy with her situation throughout her letters, but valiantly attempts to fulfill the needs of her family.. What readers have before them is the guidebook to the family, and the actual accounts of a family, fantasy and reality. In Alessandra Strozzi's letters, Alberti's...
There is no single criterion that provides a necessary basis for identity, and neither is there a threshold, a critical mass of sufficient conditions. It is possible to assume that because “a” happened to a person, and “b” happened to the same person that he or she is a “c”-type person; however, it’s impossible to make up a definition which covers all that there is about identity. In the novel I am a Martinican Woman by Mayotte Capecia, the reader sees the main character, Mayotte, hopelessly striving to find a static definition of her identity. Mayotte has a need to feel anchored in something that she can define herself as, yet at the very same time, she feels torn between who she is and what she needs in life. These contrasting feelings only lead to the exaggeration of Mayotte’s emotions through her thoughts and actions, and her lack of identity becomes magnified to the reader. By analyzing the theme of racial identity and the strong presence of patriarchal structures within the Martinican society, one is able to see the difficulty in Mayotte finding a separate identity for herself.
From what I read on pages 77 to 99, McCandless and the other three individuals have some themes that connects them. The first theme that I noticed was the most relevant to the four of them was the theme of ultimate freedom. Although, the theme of the allure of the wilderness also connects them, I feel that the ultimate freedom links them further. “ I have been thinking more and more that I shall always be a lone wanderer of the wilderness… I have always been unsatisfied with the life as most people live it. Always I want to live more intensely and richly ” (91). In this excerpt from one of Ruess’s letters, Ruess described how being there gives him a freedom which he did not find in the way everyone else lives. That was his ultimate freedom,
"I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away
Arifa, the Garment Worker (Kelsey Timmerman 55). This woman Arifa is one of the toughest females I ever read about. Where Am I Wearing? has educated me about things I never knew of, besides the high school I graduated from would never give young people knowledge of these things. As a young teenager I always seem to take life granted, and never appreciated how good of a life I had. As a result, I read the book only one main story caught my eye, and that was Arifa’s, Arifa helped me learn her intelligence and understanding how she handles her life, this plant a huge impact on like giving me more things to think about like responsibility.
Josies aspirations reach much farther than that of her families ambitions for her life. It is at this point in time where a classic example of culture clash begins. Josie feels the need to rebel against the stero-typical female in an Italian culture. This determination stems from her education and desire to step away from her Italian life and responsibilities, breaking away not only from her family and their narrow mindedness but also the entire Italian culture. This is a major leap for Josie who aspires to be the first Alibrandi female to take control of her life. This motivation of freedom is strong in Josie and her rebellious ways demonstrate this.
Nina is one of the main characters in this movie and Josie is her best friend. A scene where their friendship is characterized is one where Josie and Nina are riding in a cab. Josie gets upset with Nina (briefly) when she finds out that Nina has had sex with Darius (the other main character) on the first night they went out. The haste in which they have had sex does not bother her as much as the fact that Nina does not tell her. This example is a direct correlation to one of the themes of women?s friendship that intimacy is cultivated through dialogue. This suggest that women build closeness in their friendships dialogue and by Nina not telling, it breaks the code of intimacy in a way. The establishment of a new relationship something like this that is an important part of Nina?s life, and excluding Josie from that is what is troubling her. Even though I do not believe that to be true in this example, that can be argued as a reason Nina doesn?t share.
Family is extremely important throughout the novel, as it is a big part of Josie’s culture, and is focussed on during the book. Josie’s family also influences her greatly, especially in her traditions, culture and identity. This is evident in the relationship between Katia and Josie, as it shows both the good and bad aspects of family. “I realised that maybe I loved her as much as I disliked her” (page 38) This shows that although she fights with her grandmother, she loves her a lot because she is her grandmother. This is especially prominent towards the end of the book, as the relationship between Katia and Josie, grows and becomes stronger. Their bond is stronger because of Katia’s stories, and as Josie finally understands her actions, and accepts her. Marchetta used this relationship to relate to readers, as most families fight, but ultimately love each other very much. Christina’s actions show how much she loves Josie, and her family. Christina has sacrificed a lot for Josie, because she loves her and she is her mother. Furthermore, through Christina’s actions, the readers see how her parents (Francesco and Katia) react to family. Francesco resents Christina because she isn’t his daughter, but Katia loves her and wants to keep her family together. Josie reacts to her illegitimacy badly; she absolutely hates that she is illegitimate. Additionally, when she meets her father, she reacts angrily and passionately. Josie also thought she was fine without a father, however once Michael comes back and they start building a relationship, she realises that she needed a father. Josie also finally understands “how it felt walking alongside one’s father” (page 96) Josie’s relationship with Michael shows the bond that families have and also how families can change each other. Josie changes throughout the book, in large because of her different experiences and
The novel beings with Hana, the nurse, who is outside the villa gardening in Italy in year 1945. There was a European war and the Germans retreated but they left many hidden bombs all around. All the nurses left the villa to live at a safer place, but Hana feels a connection to the English patient, who was first explained to be a man found burned from an airplane crash. As she took care of him, he begun telling her about the Bedouin tribe, which were the people who first found him and took care of him. One day, a man by the name of Caravaggio, an old family friend to Hana’s father, Pa...
... search for is identity, the main character of Fiela’s Child, had in discovering his own identity. Dalene Matthee uses the tone of white supremacy to exemplify the way in which the colored population of South Africa had been treated by the white population. This causes Benjamin to question his identity at the young age of twelve years old because he was told by the magistrate that he may no longer use the term master when referring to authoritarian figures. The use of theme throughout the novel typifies Benjamin Komoetie’s struggle to discover his true identity, allowing the reader to able to sympathize with him. The use of symbolism throughout the novel allows the reader to truly understand the internal struggle Benjamin Komoetie had endured. Benjamin is, without a doubt, Fiela’s Child.