Looking_for_Alibrandi

ENGLISH ESSAY By studying Melina MArchetta's novel, "looking for Alibrandi" and the poem "The Road not Taken" by Robert Frost, new insights have been gained as to what an inner journey is. In the novel, Josephine Alibrandi undertakes an inner journey where she goes through a transformation of herself. she grows and matures in the light of experiences which challenges and inpires her. Josie also becomes more aware of her cultural identity, her thoughts and her feelings towards her family. At the beginning of the novel, Josie's sense of identity is very weak. She attends St Martha's with a scholarship, securing her place in a very wealthy school event though Josie is not as well off as the wealthy Anglo Celtic girls. At her school Josie's Italian background has been the reason for much persecution towards her in her life. Her background among the upper class origins of her peers also creates a sense of unease. Because of her troubles, Josie desperately wants to be free from everyone. Marchetta's novel is written in the first person narrative voice of the protagonisst, Josephine Alibrandi. This writing style gives us as readers, Josie's personal persective of events and insights into her thoughts and feelings about her experiences on the inner journey, "My emancipation didn't happen like i expexted it would". Because Josie is telling us the sotry, her language and style are part of what contributes to our understanding of her inner journey. Josie tells her story with a mixture of sophisticated, emotive and colloquial language. This conveys both Josie's intelligent perception of the world as well as the realistic voice of an Australian teenager. It helps the reader to identify her progess on her inner journey and emphasises her experiences as she matures, struggles, changes and learn about herself and the world, "Ill say that with pride because it's pride that i feel". The Metaphor of 'running' is expressed throughout the whole book and it shows the audience how much Josie does not want to be part of an Italian background. She quotes, "To be free and think for myself... Ill run to be emancipated. If society will let me". As the story goes on Josie begins to realise more and more about her identity and her attachment to her culture, "Culture is nailed into you so deep that you can't escape it. No matter how far you run." When josephine accepted this value, it was a real step forward in her inner journey for cultural identity. At the end of the novel, Josie says, '"One day" came. Because finally i understood'. "One day" is a reference to the statement "ill run one day". Josie implies that the day of running free has come but i has come through understanding. Society cannot hold her back anymore. Josie sees new light and is proud of her culture and thoroughly enjoys being around her family. In the related text, 'The Road not Taken' by Robert Frost, another inner journey is depicted. The character must decide on an important decision where after this decision he will discover something. The text illustrates the life choices and decisions that the character in the poem has made. It highlights that the choices you make have the potential to reveal the most fruitful path in life. Through these decisions, the person may undertake an inner journey discovering something totally different about themselves. BY comparing Looking for Alibrandi and The Road not Taken, they both had different pathways and both the characters took the paths in which seemed more beneficial. They experience unique inner journeys where they mature and understand more about themselves and the world. These two texts revealed that courage and a spirit of adventure in decision making has a potential to have a positive impact on life by brining more unique and varied experiences. Looking at Melina Marchetta's novel and Robert Frost's poem, we have gained new insights as to what an inner journey is. It is a term that implies travel and can offer up new opportunities or experiences and can end in negative or positive results with a tendancy of having obstacles in the way. These obstacles could be the main reasons for maturity, growth and a stronger sense of identity.