Connor Haggerty AP Literature and Composition 12/11/11 Mrs. Lehman, per.5 Jane and the Supernatural The common belief of living is growing and finding who “I” am. Each experience is a brick to add to your path because it will only help you move forward. This is how Jane lived. She was able to focus on the road ahead of her and live to her own beat; however, she didn’t live without doubts, or suffering. Throughout Bronte’s “Jane Eyre,” the superstitious presence surrounding Jane represents her transformation from an insecure young girl to a strong, independent woman.
Plot summary Josephine Alibrandi is a third generation Italian Australian completing her last year of high school. She is the School Vice-Captain of St Martha's in Sydney. Josie learns to overcome the narrow minded social and racial bigotry of people like Ivy Lloyd (Poison Ivy) and Carly Bishop. Josie reacts angrily to derogatory terms like wog and ethnic. She ultimately learns to have pride in her heritage and by the end of the novel is proud to say I'm Australian with Italian blood flowing rapidly through my veins.
Like David, she understands that the community they live in, Waknuk, is not safe for them and realizes early that they need to escape. Also, she is able to think quickly on her feet in times of danger and extreme pressure, for example when Petra’s horse was attacked. Along with this intelligence, she also demonstrates patience. Like when Petra has difficulty controlling her telepathy powers and it is very overwhelming, Rosalind acts very motherly and patient and tries to help her understand her gifts. Also, when the search for their kind began, she was very patient with David and Petra because they were very unprepared.
The book explores themes and issues raised as a part of growing up in a multicultural socitey in australia. Its also deals with changes and experience of the main character Josephine Alibrandi. A change in perspective often means a new way of looking at life. “Looking for Alibrandi” is a novel that mostly deals with this nature of change and its effects on each individual. It recounts a teenage girl, Josephine Alibrandi’s last year of high school where she discovers who she is through both positive and negative circumstances.
Alibrandi Looking for Alibrandi has been made with many characters and themes; these themes include teenage sexuality, multiculturalism, Relationships and love. These themes have been supported with a number of techniques that help to portray the themes across to the audience which can relate to the user through issues in society. Dialogue and contrast has been used to capture the characters and the way they change throughout the novel. The main character is a teenage girl named Josephine Alibrandi. Josephine is an "Australian with Italian blood flowing rapidly through her veins" as she comes to realise.
This theme is exposed by the use of dialogue/voice-over and special effects. The use of sepia tones showed us that Josie felt as though she was stuck in Sicily 50 years ago. She wanted to escape her embarrassing old fashioned family and become somebody. The voice of dialogue/voice-over narration helped the view hear directly Josie's innermost personal attitudes. She told the audience how she felt like she didn't fit in at the beginning and that she wanted to escape her Australian-Italian background.
Looking for Alibrandi Looking for Alibrandi explores the issues of family, culture and identity including change and loss of herself, physically and emotionally. This book is about a 17 year old Australian girl called Josie Alibrandi of Italian decent. She sends us on a journey of discovering her own identity including uncovering secrets and discovering the true identity of her father. Josephine has to deal with illegitimacy, racism and class differences at school. Josephine: Is the narrator of the story.
English Essay – How does Melina Marchetta use the structure, language features and the social context to discuss the central themes in looking for Alibrandi? The novel, Looking for Alibrandi, is a narrative based in North Sydney about a 17-year-old girl, Josephine Alibrandi who has an Australian Italian background, look for her identity and seek emancipation by unravelling the truth on the way. Melina Marchetta demonstrates the structure, language features and the social context to discuss the central themes in themes in this novel. Looking for Alibrandi is written in first person which makes the novel feel personal and is easy to empathise to the characters and emotions that Josephine is feeling. It helps share the perspective of Josephine’s
Melina Marchetta’s purpose is to educate the readers on the discrimination of today’s society of a cultures morals, values, beliefs and traditions, and that crossing boundaries brings greater self knowledge leading to growth and emancipation. The reader is encouraged to fell satisfaction as Josie Alibrandi discovers her true identity and breaks free of her mothers and grandmother’s cultural boundaries,
After the incident at the walk-a-thon, sister Louise tells Josie she is not an outcast and is a trend setter, saying “The girls copy what you do. They look up to you.” Josie sees her culture differently after this event in the novel, and by discarding the problems associated with the misconception of Josie’s culture, the idea of multiculturalism is shown to be important through the events that make her see her culture differently. As well as the walk-a-thon, John Barton’s death was a significant event that changed the way Josie feels about her culture. John Barton taught Josie through his death that you have to accept your hang-ups to be emancipated, as John had to die to achieve his emancipation. Rather than turning her back to her Italian culture, Josie sees this can’t be changed and accepts it, saying, “You can’t change what you’re a part of.