Looking For Alibrandi
One Day Came
Josephine Alibrandi (Josie) starts her last year of school at St Martha’s wanting to separate herself from the Italian culture and racism that she has to deal with every day. She feels as though these things are holding her back in life but throughout the book she realises that her culture is her identity and when she embraces it she experiences true freedom and she feels as though she has broken free. The book ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is about Josie growing up and finding out who she really is and accepting herself.
At home Josie has a strong relationship with her mother (Christina) and this has developed as there is no one else there for her at home. For 17 years Josie has never been with a male influence in her life as she is illegitimate and has no father. Most afternoons Josie has to visit her Nonna (Katia) and they have a strange relationship; Josie says she hates her as she (Katia) is always putting down Christina, ‘I hated her because she never had anything nice to say about mama. I hated her because she never let my mother forget the past’, but when Josie learns about the truth she describes Katia as one of the strongest people she knows. Josie says ‘I am loved by the 2 bravest people in the world’.
At school Josie feels like her and her friends are the outcasts of the school ‘Our group represents all types, yet we hadn’t fitted into any of them in Year 7’. She feels as though she doesn’t fit in to the Italian or the Australian community because of her illegitimacy and the racism shown towards her. Being labelled names such as Wog, New Australian and Ethnic are terms that Josie hates being called and this leads to her hitting Carly Bishop with her science book. The day after the walk-a-thon changes the way Josie sees herself as she learns that she was voted school captain by the students and she wasn’t as ‘hated’ as she thought she was. Sister Louise says to her ‘You and your friends are trendsetters. The girls look up to you. They copy
Josephine Alibrandi (Josie) starts her last year of school at St Martha’s wanting to separate herself from the Italian culture and racism that she has to deal with every day. She feels as though these things are holding her back in life but throughout the book she realises that her culture is her identity and when she embraces it she experiences true freedom and she feels as though she has broken free. The book ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is about Josie growing up and finding out who she really is and accepting herself.
At home Josie has a strong relationship with her mother (Christina) and this has developed as there is no one else there for her at home. For 17 years Josie has never been with a male influence in her life as she is illegitimate and has no father. Most afternoons Josie has to visit her Nonna (Katia) and they have a strange relationship; Josie says she hates her as she (Katia) is always putting down Christina, ‘I hated her because she never had anything nice to say about mama. I hated her because she never let my mother forget the past’, but when Josie learns about the truth she describes Katia as one of the strongest people she knows. Josie says ‘I am loved by the 2 bravest people in the world’.
At school Josie feels like her and her friends are the outcasts of the school ‘Our group represents all types, yet we hadn’t fitted into any of them in Year 7’. She feels as though she doesn’t fit in to the Italian or the Australian community because of her illegitimacy and the racism shown towards her. Being labelled names such as Wog, New Australian and Ethnic are terms that Josie hates being called and this leads to her hitting Carly Bishop with her science book. The day after the walk-a-thon changes the way Josie sees herself as she learns that she was voted school captain by the students and she wasn’t as ‘hated’ as she thought she was. Sister Louise says to her ‘You and your friends are trendsetters. The girls look up to you. They copy