Looking for Alibrandi free essay sample

My mother was born here so as far as the Italians were concerned we weren’t completely one of them. Yet because my grandparents were born in Italy we weren’t completely Australian. † (p. 7) â€Å"It makes me feel I will never be a part of their society and I hate that because I’m just as smart as they are. † (p. 8) â€Å"The room isn’t like the living rooms of my parents†¦ but I like it. Because my mother and I are stamped all over it. † (p. 10) â€Å"Telecom would go broke if it weren’t for the Italians. † (p. 1) â€Å"We tune into each other very well. Maybe because it’s always just been the two of us. † (p. 14) â€Å"Sometimes I think he is a myth. As far as the world is concerned, Michael Andretti was just the guy next door. But for him to be a myth means that I’m a figment of the imagination. We will write a custom essay sample on Looking for Alibrandi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † (p. 15) â€Å"Her [Sera’s] father, like most Italian fathers, thinks she’s the Virgin Mary and like most Italian fathers he is dead wrong. † (p. 19) â€Å"We grew up in the midst of the snobs of St. Martha’s and discovered that somehow brains didn’t count for much. Money, prestige and what your father did for a living counted. If your hair wasn’t in a bob or if your mother didn’t drive a Volvo you were a nobody. † (p. 21) â€Å"Purgatory. I hate it so much that when I die, and if God sends me there, I’ll beg him to send me to hell instead. † (p. 22) â€Å"We think we’re better than them [Cook High]. They think we’re the biggest dags in the world. † (p. 26) â€Å"I would have never thought that Jacob Coote would be passionate like that. † (p. 30) â€Å"But like always, with come-back links, it’s too late. † (p. 31) â€Å"†¦I want to belong to her world. The world of sleek haircuts and upper-class privileges. People who know famous people and lead educated lives. A world where I can be accepted. Please, God, let me be accepted by someone other than the underdog. † (p. 32) â€Å"I swear to got that if there is one thing I am going to escape in this life of rules and regulations it will be my dreaded rituals. † (p. 33) â€Å"Illegitimacy isn’t a big deal anymore. † (p. 35) â€Å"You would think we had a completely different lifestyle like the Amish or something. † (p. 37) â€Å" ‘Its not the youth of today, Nonna,’ I said angrily. ‘It’s you and people like you. Always worrying what other people think. ’ † (p. 7) â€Å"They [Josie’s family] stifle me with ridiculous rules and regulations they have bought with them from Europe, but they haven’t changed with the times like the Europeans have. There’s always something that shouldn’t be said or done. There are always jobs I have to learn becaus e all good Italian girls know how to do them and one day I’ll need them to look after my chauvinistic husband. There’s always someone I have to respect. I have the word ‘respect’. It makes me sick to the stomach. I’ll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself. Not as an Australian and not as an Italian and not as an in-between. Looking for Alibrandi free essay sample ‘Looking for Alibrandi’, by Melina Marchetta is a drama based on a true story. The story is focused on Josephine Alibrandi or Josie, which is what her friends and family call her. Josie is an Italian living in Australia, in her last year of school. Throughout the novel Josie learns to cope with having a different culture to everybody else and the changes that take place in her life. Josie had one ambition: to find her place in society and to break free from her embarrassing Italian family.She also learns to have pride in her heritage â€Å"if someone comes up and asks me what nationality I am, I’ll look at them and say that I am an Australian with Italian blood flowing rapidly throw my veins. I’ll say that with pride, because it’s pride that I feel. † This is written in 1st person, which allows the reader to directly feel what Josie is feeling and sees other characters emotions through Josie’s eyes. We will write a custom essay sample on Looking for Alibrandi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There are many different themes conveyed through different characters throughout the novel, some of these themes are pressure, sense of belonging and multiculturalism.The theme pressure is conveyed through the character John Barton. He is pressured by his parents to become a lawyer just like them and to be as important as they are. â€Å"But I don’t want to be †¦ how can I tell my father I don’t want to study law, if I don’t know what else I want to be. † The language technique used in this quote is a rhetorical question. John is not expecting an answer to how he is going to tell his father that he doesn’t want to study law because he doesn’t believe there is a way to tell his father.The theme pressure is also conveyed through the character Josephine Alibrandi. Josie is pressured to keep all the traditions from the Italian culture by her family but is pressured by her friends to be apart of the Australian culture that has a lot more freedom and is much more relaxed. This is hard for Josie because the two cultures are completely different. â€Å"We live in the same country but we’re different. What’s taboo for Italians isn’t taboo for Australians. † The language technique used in this quote is contrast. Josie is comparing the Australian culture to the Italian culture. Another theme is sense of belonging, which is conveyed through the character John Barton, when he commits suicide. Johns leaves a suicide not for Josie, which says, â€Å"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 stay 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. † The language technique used in this quote is repetition. The phrase â€Å"If I could be† is being repeated. This is making the point that John doesn’t believe that he belongs anywhere because he thinks that if he could be something else then he would belong. While Josie is trying to find her own identity, she is trying not to hurt the people she loves. The Italian culture is tough to follow, but it is a part of Josie. She envies the freedom and relaxed culture of Australians but Jacob Coote thinks differently and envies the love Josie’s family shares. â€Å"A tradition that we’ll never let go.A tradition that I probably will never let go of either, simply because there are some things that could offend people I love. † The language technique used in this quotes is repetition. The phrase â€Å"A tradition that† is repeated, making the point that the tradition is really important to Josie and her family and relatives. The theme multiculturalism is presented through the main character Josie. Josie has to find her spot in society, while under the influence of two cultures that are very different from one another. â€Å"You’re so lucky.You live without culture or religion. You just have to live by the law. † The language technique used in this quote is emotive language. It makes you feel sorry for Josie because she says that Jacob is lucky to be living without culture and religion. She makes his life sound so simple. Looking for Alibrandi is an amazing, dramatic book that explores the difficulties Josie faces with trying to find her place in society, when living under the influence of two completely different cultures. I would recommend this book to children and adults from age 13 and up.