Adolescence is a development stage where a person experiences significant physical, psychological and social transformations. The two dominant themes that play a major factor through adolescent development are social acceptance and family relationships. James Maloney’s’ novel Lost Property and Kate Woods’s film Looking for Alibrandi clearly shows the two prominent themes. Two main characters, Josh Tambling and Josie Alibrandi strongly represents how the need to finding social acceptance and family relationship are two prominent factors that affect an adolescent’s life. Josh has just experienced the realisation that he has been acting to please others to his sense of belonging. He has realised for the first time that he is not being real and …show more content…
Previously she felt no pride and also felt “excluded” from her family/home. She has been brought up by a single mother, belongs to middle class background and attends a prestigious private school where she is mocked for her Italian heritage. She has grown up knowing that her father has deserted her mother, they were never married. Because of this her mother had to raise her alone and was humiliated in the Italian community. After the reappearance of her father, Josie’s sense of belonging has completely changed as she feels complete by knowing who she really. Even though Josie rebels against her father initially, she eventually begins to grow closer to him. She feels her family has reunited and feels good. "I remembered the same time, last year, when Michael wasn't in my life. It was the scariest feeling in the world." Josie says this about her father and shows that she has forgiven him. She has forgotten the past incidents and now cares for him. She feels a sense of fulfilment that her father is now a vital part of her life. With the appearance of her father, this has completely changed Josie, as she feels like she is accepted and connected with her family. Her family is has reunited which means she is more noticeable and doesn’t feel left out Josie says, “Am I this? Be angry or rude, but don’t pretend I’m not her”. This suggests that Josie feels unnoticeable, …show more content…
The two family expectations that dictate Josh’s identity are how he must follow his family’s religious beliefs and his father’s expectations in relations to rugby. In the novel Lost Property, it clearly explains his expectations with religion as it says “So I keep going to church along with the rest of the family. It’s not very honest and I hate that, hate myself, hate the whole situation, but I just can’t do it. I can’t disappoint dad like Michael did, can’t tell him I don’t believe any more.” This suggests that Josh is forcefully pushing himself to attend church with his family just to please his father. His brother Michael was a rebel and argued when dad called out to everyone to get ready for church. Michael was adamant saying that “Not me. I’m staying in bed. It’s all a load of boring bullshit anyway and I’m sick of it” and refused to go to church. Dad was very disappointed and Josh could never forget the look on his face. He knows that religion means a lot to his Dad and does not want to see that disappointment on his face again. Another part of Josh’s family expectations is dictated when he plays footy and remains to keep playing just for his dad. Josh comes from a sporting family but he is very academic scoring high grades in studies and likes music. Josh’s dad Phil Tambling was a famous football player recognised and respected by people. He was very proud of Michael as he was
Josie feels as if her traditions will only give her more problems. “She wants to know why other Italian girls have Italian boyfriends and I don’t. If I want to go out with Australians, she objects. ‘What do they know about culture?’ she asks. ‘Do they understand the way we live?’”Nonna wants Josie to marry an Italian man in the future, but she herself had an affair with an Australian when she was young. She decides to hide the guilt and take the frustrations out on Christina and Josie by saying that “a daughter’s behaviour always reflects on how a good mother is.”. Josie’s relationship with Jacob lets her understand how relaxed the Australian culture is. Josie doesn’t want Jacob to meet her parents as she knows that they won’t accept him as he lives “without religion and culture.”, but it has let Josie understand that Australia is a multicultural country and that living there with another background does not make you
Through the protagonist, Josie the audiences learn that being an illegitimate and meeting one’s parent is hard to tackle but that feeling will eventually change once the individual has known their parent. “How dare you think that I want to be in your life! I don’t want you anywhere near us, especially my mother.” is the dialogue that Josie has told Michael when they had their first conversation.
As the book progresses she tends to get along with her father more and then eventually over time they have a close bond. At the start of the book he is first mentioned on page 15 when a particular Michael Andretti is standing in the room next to them. Josephine bases the relationship with her dad upon what her mum feels about him, she eavesdropped on a conversation where he was explaining how he didn’t want to be apart of her life anymore and that if money was a problem that her mother be reimbursed for his absence. She on page 70, she calls him by his public title not as father or dad but clearly because he is a stranger in her life and she does not want him to be apart of her. The authors intentions were to use language to describe the relationship between her father and herself, showing that Things soon change as the book progresses and Josie is forced to call in her father to help her with a situation where she smacked a girl in the face with a textbook because the victim’s father was attempting to sue Josie. After that incident the relationship quickly starts to grow between Josie and
The writer incorporates a lot of repeated names for the characters which made it difficult to distinguish the certain characters a different given times and their connection to Josie in the script. For example, in the beginning, the writer shows Josie in a soon to be ended relationship with
We are introduced to adolescence in the 5th stage of development. Adolescence begins for boys around the age of 14 and continues up until the age of 21 years of age. At this stage of development, there are many changes that occur emotionally, physically, sexually and spiritually (McGoldrick, Carter, & Garcia Preto, 2011). At this time, adolescent kids are going through changes in their body. They are dealing with coming into their own sexuality. Skills pertaining to social skills and social relationships are being developed through experience. Adolescents are also increasing their skills of physical and mental coordination, such as learning about the world and working on their own coordination. Adolescence is also characterized by learning their own identity and where they fit in the world, as well as learning their relationship with peers and those around them. Spiritual identity is also developed along with a deeper understanding of life. Independence is something that is also weighing on the mind of an adolescent. Overall changes in the family structure can also occur when a child of this age reaches this
Before this scene, John and Josie had written letters to each other of their thoughts, with John’s turning out to be a suicide note: “If I could be anything other than what I am, I'd want it tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I'd sty for that too. But if I could be what you want me to be, i would stay. But I am what I am and all I want is freedom.” This clearly shows the theme of belonging and the extreme consequences of youth not feeling like they belong.
Although Josie is struggling so hard to learn who she is, the first time she encounters her father, Michael Andretti, she forces him to make a promise that they will stay out of each others lives (Marchetta, 1992, p69). However, through circumstance and need, the latter mainly on Josie’s part, they are forced back into each other’s lives and eventually end up having a pretty good relationship.
After reading the directions and topic for this paper, I was extremely eager to get started. Adolescence is a stage of life that is very critical for a person. Speaking from my own experience, I know that the teenage years are a difficult part of life and during these years, one experiences a rollercoaster of different emotions, obstacles, and decision-making. Aside from the topic of Adolescence, I was glad that I could choose which movie I wanted to watch, and that was an easy decision. I decided to watch Sixteen Candles. The last time I watched this movie was when I received the DVD as a gift, which was when I turned sixteen. Watching the movie then, I obviously did not realize that most of the problems and events that occurred in the movie
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.
Although she was related to him she was still considered a loser because she was smart, did not dress the right way, and was just not accepted. Josie knew what it was like to be an outcast. At her own prom, the popular guy at her school asked her to the prom as a joke, when he arrived at her house in a nice tuxedo pulling up to her house in a limo. Instead of stopping he slowly drove by standing out of the sunroof with another girl and threw eggs at her ruining her dress and her prom. Josie’s background of being the center of the joke gave her credibility in the speech. After stopping the popular kids from throwing dog food at her nerdy friend at the new high school she asks them, “Why her? Let me tell you something about this girl she is unbelievable. I was new here and she befriended me no questions asked” (Line 5). It still traumatizes Josie that those who are the kindest and most innocent are the ones who are bullied for being kind hearted and genuine. Due to Josie’s experience in the popular group and the nerdy group she has the perspective of both sides and still finds trouble understanding the issue the popular kids have with the nerdy kids. As an adult, Josie knows from real experience whether a person’s reputation remains after high school and if it follows them to the real world. The movie displays her brother, Rob, who was popular in high school working at a post
Josie's father has had very little immediate impact on her life thus far. When her father did arrive in back in Sydney Josie is naturally angry at him. This is a totally acceptable form of behaviour considering the circumstance, but her anger not only stems from her own personal experience. Josie had to grow up knowing that her father had abandoed her and her mother, pushing her Christina into being a single parent bringing up her child alone.
The novel “Looking for Alibrandi” is a realistic portrayal of teenagers’ lives in the contemporary Australia. The author Melina Marchetta has portrayed her teenager characters in ways, which engage with the contemporary Australian teenagers. In this critical response, it will examine different kinds of relationships of the teenagers in this novel, the friendship, love relationship, and expectations from the family.
Adolescence is the stage in life when you are no longer a child, but not yet an adult. There are many things that still need to be explored, learned and conquered. In the film Thirteen, the main character, Tracy Freeland, is just entering adolescence. While trying to conquer Erikson’s theory of Identity vs. Role confusion, Tracy is affected by many influences, including family and friends that hinder her development. Many concepts from what we have learned in class can be applied to this character from identity development, to depression, to adolescent sexuality and more. In this film Tracy is a prime example of an adolescent and much of what I have learned this year can be applied to her character.
Family is extremely important throughout the novel, as it is a big part of Josie’s culture, and is focussed on during the book. Josie’s family also influences her greatly, especially in her traditions, culture and identity. This is evident in the relationship between Katia and Josie, as it shows both the good and bad aspects of family. “I realised that maybe I loved her as much as I disliked her” (page 38) This shows that although she fights with her grandmother, she loves her a lot because she is her grandmother. This is especially prominent towards the end of the book, as the relationship between Katia and Josie, grows and becomes stronger. Their bond is stronger because of Katia’s stories, and as Josie finally understands her actions, and accepts her. Marchetta used this relationship to relate to readers, as most families fight, but ultimately love each other very much. Christina’s actions show how much she loves Josie, and her family. Christina has sacrificed a lot for Josie, because she loves her and she is her mother. Furthermore, through Christina’s actions, the readers see how her parents (Francesco and Katia) react to family. Francesco resents Christina because she isn’t his daughter, but Katia loves her and wants to keep her family together. Josie reacts to her illegitimacy badly; she absolutely hates that she is illegitimate. Additionally, when she meets her father, she reacts angrily and passionately. Josie also thought she was fine without a father, however once Michael comes back and they start building a relationship, she realises that she needed a father. Josie also finally understands “how it felt walking alongside one’s father” (page 96) Josie’s relationship with Michael shows the bond that families have and also how families can change each other. Josie changes throughout the book, in large because of her different experiences and
Adolescence refers to the transition period experienced by children that occur between childhood and adulthood (Shefer, 2011). Identity is first confronted in adolescence between the ages 12 – 19 years old, because of physical and hormonal changes in the body. It is also due to the introduction of formal operations in cognitive development and societal expectation that this contributes to an individual’s identity to be explored and established (McAdams, 2009). The forces within and outside (family, community) the individual that promote identity development usually create a sense of tension. The basic task is, in Erikson’s terms, “fidelity or truthfulness and consistency to one’s core self or faith in one’s ideology” (Fleming, 2004: 9), in a nutshell: "Who am I and where am I