Looking_for_Alibrandi

Analysis of looking for Alibrandi The novel, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta is packed with various emotional control and remarks about the dilemmas of being caught up between two civilizations and not having that sensation of fitting into either one. The novel is basically written about a social and cultural analysis of a young teenage girl’s life where it all revolves around her as she moves more into the semester through her HSC year at the prosperous school, St. Martha’s Catholic College in Glebe. The protagonist, Josephine Alibrandi, is presented as a third generation Italian-Australian girl caught up in a pertaining, old generation family which she has a necessity to escape from the traditional life in order to become a typical normal living girl in the Anglo-Saxon society in which she lives in. In the novel the use of character and setting, helps withdraw attention to the main emphasises of prominent theme of being an outsider because one is a minority in a multicultural society. Lacking exceptional accomplishments, the novel demonstrates that average members in the society cannot justly sense they belong in their own individual life which causes the members of our society to endeavour and change their personality, genuine uniqueness all aligned just to fit into the mainstream of their environment. Josephine Alibrandi was created to be an authentic human realistic character having to possess identifiable character traits that express her not fitting into her traditional and cultural environment and to also grab the reader’s attention to draw them in. The general significant character traits that Mrs. Marchetta presents about Josephine in the novel, Looking for Alibrandi are her Mediterranean appearance and her living conditions. Mrs. Marchetta describes Josephine as having “dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin” (Page 7) as to being opposed to her friends who are presented as “One of those girls who have perfect white skin and not one split in her strawberry-blond hair.” (Page 21). These two quotations are two superior quotes that demonstrate to us that Josephine believes she does not fit into her society reason being because of her culture, Mediterranean appearance and that she is not as posh and snobby as her fellow pupils. Mrs. Marchetta has purposely set Josephine physically different from her school friends to obviously point out that they all come from different cultures. Josephine is also presented as a middle class and lower class young teenager girl, who has that sense she does not fit in because all her school friends are wealthy and live in higher class conditions. This is presented to the reader when the author writes, “So not being able to go out a lot is one of my many problems.” Also when Mrs. Marchetta writes “I come under the ‘scholarship’ category, and when I say that, I would be the daughter of a laborer”. These two quotations explain that Josephine does not have that many opportunities to spend time with her friends as opposed to her friends who live in great wealthy conditions and are allowed to go out to spend time with their friends and enjoy their social life. This helps the reader to interactively sense Josephine’s feelings. Mrs. Marchetta continuously presents Josephine as being caught up between the Australian white society and her Italian society; therefore it has been proven that Mrs. Marchetta has efficiently presented the theme of culture and being different and having a different life from everyone because of a strict traditional life. The author Melina Marchetta sets out the settings so that we can relate to be familiar with Josephine’s school and her suburb in which she lives in. The people Josephine socially communicate with at school are wealthy and intellectuals. Josephine does not feel that sense she fits specifically in that category, reason being as to she was put on a scholarship by St Martha’s when she explains “I come under the ‘scholarship’ category. I felt disadvantaged from the beginning”( Page6-7) This quote makes obvious that Josephine knows she does not fit in at all and as to her being on a scholarship she has a disadvantage of fitting in with her fellow pupils. The suburb Glebe where Josephine live in is mainly where the wealthy Australian-Anglo Saxon people live and also rich customary Italians but all live in similar homes such as Josephine. This is all made clear when Josephine explains, “My biggest, though, is being stuck in a school dominated by rich people. Rich parents, rich grandparents. Mostly Anglo-Saxon Australians, who I cant see having a problem in the world” (Page 6) this quotation states that her area is full of different people and describes how different she is compared to all the wealthy people in Glebe. In conclusion, I believe the novel Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, has used character and setting in such a way for us to relate and have a general understanding of the protagonist Josephine Alibrandi, by having her to go through realistic problematic situations. It’s all a wild rollercoaster for her, not fitting at school, having a culturally different appearance, not meeting her father and the posh and snobby society she lives within through her society.