Looking For Alibrandi Culture Analysis

What role does culture play in your story? What messages or ideas do you think the author is presenting about culture? Discuss the literary devices used by the author to describe and explore culture and the impact they have on the reader.

The novel Looking for Alibrandi written by Melina Marchetta, focuses on the life of a 17 year old girl named Josephine Alibrandi who has an Italian background. Throughout the novel Josephine changes her perspectives on many issues in her life including her relationships with different characters in the novel, and her values and beliefs in herself as a person. She begins to change her attitude to life and the world around her, taking into consideration different cultures and beliefs of other people. There are multiple literary devices used throughout the novel to explore culture and stimulate certain feelings upon the reader.

Italian Culture is present in the novel Looking for Alibrandi as Josephine’s family migrated from Italy to Glebe, a small town in Sydney Australia. Josephine (the protagonist) is a confused girl searching to find where she belongs in the two different cultures represented in the story. These cultures, being Australian and Italian, are very demanding on her. At the beginning of the story Josephine has difficulty accepting her family culture as a part of Australian multiculturalism. She becomes

rebellious and wishes to find her own identity. Belonging is a recurring theme that has been conveyed throughout the novel as the protagonist strives to find where she belongs in society. Josephine has been brought up as an Italian and has often been labelled as a ‘wog’ which is a racist term used against Italians, meaning a foreigner or immigrant. She finds it hard to fit in at school and meets friends that are also labelled the same as her. The Italian Culture brings out Josie’s true self and helps her realise that being Italian is a part of her. Even though Australia is a multicultural society, a few students continue to pick out racial differences leading onto appearance differences and financial differences. By the end of the story she realises that she can have friends who accept her for who she is and she becomes proud of being a part of both cultures.

The author presents these cultures in a number of ways, firstly by introducing Josephine and her thoughts. The title suggests that she is looking for her identity, and in the process she reacts to family tradition and her sense of destiny. These elements of the novel help to convey the different cultures set throughout the story. Tradition is a key theme in the novel as the author incorporates cultural events related to the protagonist of the story, such as Tomato Day. This is a common family tradition celebrated by many Italians around the world. This event is incorporated into the novel Looking For Alibrandi and helps Josephine realise that being Italian is a part of her no matter how many times she dreads the family gatherings ‘A tradition that I probably will never let go of either, simply because like religion, culture is nailed into you so deep you can’t escape it. No matter how far you run from it’ (p.175). This is a key message in the story and is used to reinforce the importance of family traditions and culture in society.
The author uses a range of literary devices throughout the novel to explore culture, such as first-person narration, characterisation and imagery. The novel is written in first-person with perspective of the protagonist Josephine Alibrandi. This helps to engage the reader into the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist and can help the reader visualize the way she sees the world around her. By writing in the protagonist’s point of view the audience can care and relate to the character and make their own opinions about what is happening. Emotive language is also fluent throughout the novel this is evident when Josephine states “It makes me feel I will never be a part of their society and I hate it” (p.8) which uses emotive language to form an understanding that Josie feels insecure and as if she is an outcast amongst her peers. This is then reinforced by the statement that “caught up in the middle of two societies,” (p.7) due to her illegitimacy. There are many aspects of life that the main character, Josie, has to face (which brings out the emotion in the story). These literary techniques are incorporated into the novel and suit the purpose of the story which is to educate the readers on the discrimination of today’s society of a culture’s morals, values, and beliefs about traditions.

In conclusion, the novel Looking for Alibrandi, conveys many important messages relating to culture.

The main themes in the novel include family, tradition, and social belonging. The story is about the search for Josephine’s own unique identity while also accepting and appreciating her family’s culture and its strengths. The protagonist of the story comes to a realisation that being Italian is a part of her and by the end of the story she becomes proud to be a part of both cultures. This is a key message to readers and is conveyed through the protagonist about the importance of tradition and culture in

society.

References:
Marchetta, M 1992, Looking For Alibrandi, Penguin, Australia.