Looking For Alibrandi- culture essay

Describe at east one idea that was important in the written text

For the people living in today’s society, culture is an extremely important of life, especially for individuals who are growing into teenagers and finding out for themselves who they really are. People who are growing up in society today will almost always find that their cultural background affects their view on life and their lifestyle. It can affect even the smallest parts of a person’s life, whether it is the people they hang around with or the kind of music they listen to. Culture also has impact on families, ether bringing people closer together or separating them. In the novel “Looking for Alibrandi” by Melina Marchetta there are several examples of how culture can impact different individual’s lives.

“Looking for Alibrandi” is a novel about an Italian girl called Josie who is growing up in Australia. Josie has an Italian Grandmother, an Italian Mother, and an Italian Father. All of them have different views about their culture, both good and bad. But according to Josie, growing up in the middle of Australia as an Italian isn’t a very good experience at all.

Because of the fact that Josie is an illegitimate Italian, with no father and who was brought up in Australia, she often gets teased at school, being called a “Wog”. Because of this, Josie feels as though she will never be able to feel like a normal girl who fits in and gets along with everyone her age. Josie often gets annoyed at the fact that she is Italian, because it has a huge affect on her social life. This makes her feel like she should rebel against it, and not embrace it like her Grandmother (Nonna) does. This ends up causing a lot of tension between the two of them. “When an Italian or another person of European descent calls me a wog it’s done in good warm humor. When the word “wog” comes out of the mouth of an Australian it’s not done in good humor unless they’re a good friend.” In this quote Josie shows that the way the Australian people at her school call her a wog offends her and how annoyed she gets from it.

Because of the fact that Nonna tries to make herself and the rest of her family so involved in the Italian culture when they don’t always want to be, Josie seems to think that her grandmother is also partly to blame for the way she feels towards the Italians and the Australians. Josie doesn’t feel as though she will ever be able to fit in with either of the 2 cultures she belongs to, the Italians or the Australians, because she has been brought up in the middle of the two, instead of being brought up to feel like she fully belongs in one place. “It makes me feel I will never be a part of their society and I hate that because I’m just as smart as they are.” This quote is showing how Josie feels as though she doesn’t fit in with the Australian’s because they don’t allow her to feel welcome, especially because she is illegitimate and extremely looked down on. Also because she doesn’t know which culture she really should think of herself belonging to.
Instead of making Josie feel better about herself and helping her realize that it is a good thing to be a part of two completely different cultures, Nonna only puts her effort into making herself look good in front of the rest of the Italian community, because apparently all they know how to do is ‘talk’ and find out about everyone’s private life. “Telecom would go broke if it weren’t for the Italians” in this quote Josie is trying to show how much the Italians talk, by saying that they basically fund the phone company. So instead of focusing on the real relationships inside her family, Nonna only cares about what the relationships inside her family

Show More

Looking for Alibrandi - Culture Essay

Alibrandi Gender Roles

Looking For Alibrandi Identity Analysis

Looking For Alibrandi Essay

Essay Change Summary

The Importance Of Belonging