Looking for Alibrandi + Crucible Belonging

Individual Text Record Sheet for AOS: Belonging
Title: Looking for Alibrandi
Composer: Melina Marchetta
Form and text type: Novel
Publication date: 1992
Context: Set in 1992, Sydney, Australia, surrounding the secluded Italian community.
Audience: Young adults
Purpose: To educate young adults on the stresses and losses of life and how, through reflection, they can set you free.
Brief synopsis of text: Looking for Alibrandi focuses on one girl and the shame her family’s indiscretions have brought on them. Throughout h HSC year, her father returns, she falls in love, loses a friend and discovers the truth of her identity.

List four textual features that convey the concept of Belonging (techniques):
1. Humour: Humour is used in Looking for Alibrandi to convey Josie’s cultural connections to food such as pizza and pasta, as shown when Josie is having a conversation with her father who asks if she likes pizza to which she replies, “What a ridiculous question. I suppose you’re going to ask me if I like pasta next.” The use of sarcasm by Josie, clearly demonstrates the humour in the novel by dismissing her father’s question as the answer should be obvious. This sets the foundation for the father-daughter relationship to develop.
2. Characterisation: In the novel the characters personalities are reflected through the use of stereotypes. This is best shown through Nonna and Jacob. Nonna is a stereotypical Italian grandmother, who strongly clings to her cultural heritage to the extent where all her furniture is Italian. Jacob, on the other hand, is the typical rebel. He is part of a gang, gets into trouble often and rides a motorcycle. The stereotyping of Nonna shows her strong connection to her Italian heritage whereas the characterisation of Jacob demonstrates his lack of connection to his Australian background.
3. Imagery: Imagery is used in Looking for Alibrandi after Josie’s friend John Barton commits suicide, where she starts to have hallucinations of seeing him, particularly at Central Station which was their meeting place. John’s death has had a huge impact on Josie as she begins to feel like she has no friends and thus isolated from people. She also experiences anger that he would kill himself instead of going to her for help. The imagery creates the connection that Josie feels to other people besides John Barton and begins to create relationships with other people.
4. Irony: In the novel, Nonna has a disapproving attitude towards her daughter due to Josie being born out of wedlock. This sets up the irony in the novel as Nonna cheated on her husband resulting in the birth of Josie’s mother making her very hypocritical. This is evident when Josie finds out “You’re a liar… You slept with him. You slept with Marcus Sandford.” The use of irony causes the strain in Nonna and Christina’s mother-daughter relationship and sees Nonna taking special interest in Josie, forming a strong relationship between them as Nonna believes Josie will break the ‘curse’.

Links to prescribed text in terms of ideas and techniques (synthesis):
Humour is used in The Crucible to relieve the tension and convey the ridiculous situation at hand. The characters have a conversation with Parris, where he mentions the faction against him to which Proctor retorts, “Why, then I must find it and join it.” This is similar to Looking for Alibrandi where the main character, Josie, hides behind humorous sarcastic remarks to deal with troublesome situation. Through the use of humour, both John Proctor and Josie Alibrandi are singled out and looked up to.
The stereotypical characterisation of a theocratic society has been infracted by greed and dishonesty. This is unveiled in the scene where Putnam gets his daughter to accuse their neighbour of witchcraft so he can buy the land. However, the stereotypical characterisation in Looking for Alibrandi remains intact. This shows the conflicting of interests in religious communities and, how one mistake will have an impact on the entirety of the community.
The use of imagery is accentuated in The Crucible through the only evidence received in the trials which is the girls’ word that the Devil has sent someone’s ‘spirit’ to harm them. When accusing Mary Warren, they shout, “Mary, please, don’t hurt me!” The use of imagery in The Crucible and Looking for Alibrandi, singles out certain characters as they feel weak and helpless, disconnecting them from their stronger friends and family.
The irony in The Crucible demonstrates just how little the authoritative figures see as they allow good Christians to be hung on the words of manipulative children. This is indicted in Act One where Reverend Hale states that Rebecca Nurse looks, “as such a good soul should”, however, in Act Four, hangs her for the crime of witchcraft. Similarly, the situation with Nonna and Christina, Josie’s mother, is also ironic. This suggest a desire for the characters to believe in what they say and forget about how they act, wanting to be accepted for who they’ve become.

Links: to prescribed text in terms of ideas and techniques (synthesis): Humour is used in The Crucible to relieve the tension and convey the ridiculous situation at hand. The characters have a conversation with Parris, where he mentions the faction against him to which Proctor retorts, “Why, then I must find it and join it.” This is similar to Looking for Alibrandi where the main character, Josie, hides behind humorous sarcastic remarks to deal with troublesome situation. Through the use of humour, both John Proctor and Josie Alibrandi are singled out and looked up to. The stereotypical characterisation of a theocratic society has been infracted by greed and dishonesty. This is unveiled in the scene where Putnam gets his daughter to accuse their neighbour of witchcraft so he can buy the land. However, the stereotypical characterisation in Looking for Alibrandi remains intact. This shows the conflicting of interests in religious communities and, how one mistake will have an impact on the entirety of the community. The use of imagery is accentuated in The Crucible through the only evidence received in the trials which is the girls’ word that the Devil has sent someone’s ‘spirit’ to harm them. When accusing Mary Warren, they shout, “Mary, please, don’t hurt me!” The use of imagery in The Crucible and Looking for Alibrandi, singles out certain characters as they feel weak and helpless, disconnecting them from their stronger friends and family. The irony in The Crucible demonstrates just how little the authoritative figures see as they allow good Christians to be hung on the words of manipulative children. This is indicted in Act One where Reverend Hale states that Rebecca Nurse looks, “as such a good soul should”, however, in Act Four, hangs her for the crime of witchcraft. Similarly, the situation with Nonna and Christina, Josie’s mother, is also ironic. This suggest a desire for the characters to believe in what they say and forget about how they act, wanting to be accepted for who they’ve become.