How Does Josie Able To Reconcile Her Italian Heritage

In what ways is Josie able to reconcile her Italian heritage with the overtly Australian society she finds herself growing up in? Salomon Sverdlov- 365075R Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marachetta Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta tells the story of Josie Alibrandi, a young Catholic woman, who is Australian of Italian descant and the protagonist of the novel, she narrates the reader through the final year of high school at St Martha’s, a wealthy catholic school situated in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Her academic scholarship grants her placement at the school, where she endures prosecution for being financially less off and for being of Italian heritage in a largely wealthy Anglo-Celtic populous. Growing up in a single parent …show more content…
The role of Family

The role of family in Josie’s life is a complicated journey of heritage and multiculturalism that is manifested throughout Josie’s character. Being raised by her mother Christiana and her grandmother Nonna she comes across as a strong female figure a possible compensation for the lack of male interaction in her life. Her grandmother, father and mother have a great amount to teach her about herself throughout the novel each through their own influence. She comes to realize that these realizations can bring much anguish upon her.

The introduction to Michael Andretti in chapter 6, reveals the a number of self-esteem issues that manifest themself throughout Josie’s character, she come to confront Michael for disserting her mother when she was still pregnant at the age of 16, Michael finds this as another complication in his life of which he does not want to be a part of. However in chapter 8 Josie sees another side to Michael as he comes to her aid in a complicated situation, Josie has long craved a father figure that comes to her …show more content…
She often criticizes Josie about anything; this is seen as a confrontation to Josie and hence argues with her to defend one’s honor “It’s not the youth of today, its you and people like you, always worrying what other people think.” As the novel develops Josie see’s Nonna opening up to her past as a young women, she was married off by her family to an older man and moved to Australia, where she found herself confined to the outside world. Living alone in a hut while her husband Francesco was working away, Nonna begins a relationship with an Australian man and becomes pregnant with his child, yet decides to stay with Francesco for the sake of the child. From this Josie manifests an understanding that Nonna sacrificed her own life for her child Christiana and a strong mutual relationship is fund between