Examples Of Belonging In Looking For Alibrandi

Belonging is described as being a member of a particular group or organisation. The feeling of belonging to a country, nation and a community can influences a person’s sense of identity and how they participate in society, especially for people such as migrants. This issue is highlighted in the novel looking for Alibrandi.
The novel was written at a time where Australia was embracing different cultures and the Australian government were recognizing migrants for their contribution to society.
Looking for Alibrandi is a novel later made into a film in 2000 about a young adolescent called Josephine Alibrandi who we see experiencing her final year at a strict all girls’ catholic school called St. Martha’s in Sydney. Josephine overcomes racial exclusion, family structure and complicated relationships. Change Slide
She believes that no one understands her and that she has had it worse in her family. Her personality could be described as melodramatic, witty, and self-centred. Josephine comes from an Italian background and is raised in a single parent home by her mother Christina Alibrandi. Although Josie’s grandmother Katia Alibrandi lives close by, she is reluctant to visit everyday after school as her grandmother’s nagging, meddling and Italian traditions stifle her.
They stifle me with ridiculous rules and regulations they have brought with them from Europe… There’s always something that shouldn’t be said or done. There are always jobs I have to learn because all good Italian girls know how to do them, and one-day ill need them to look after my chauvinistic husband. There’s always someone I have to respect. (Pg. 38)
Josie finds it hard to adapt as she is caught between two cultural voices, Italian and Anglo-Saxon. She is caught b...

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...which were to be opened at the end. She had been tempted to open it many times, but kept their promise. It wasn’t until after John’s death she remembered the note he had given her and when she opened it, his note read:
“If I could be anything but what I am, I would be tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I could stay for that, too. If I could be what you want me to be, I’d want to stay. But I am what I am, and all I want is freedom.”
Josie feels extreme guilt after reading the note knowing that she could have potentially prevented his death. But, his death also makes her hit a realization that she is not the only one with problems and this is an important lesson in her journey of growing up. The way things progress, how relationships develop and the steps that she takes to grow up all happen through the things that Josephine encounters.