Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta is about a seventeen year old girl called Josie Alibrandi. She was born in Australia, and has an Italian background. She is in her last year of high school at St Martha’s High School, where she has a scholarship. Throughout the novel, she learns about her family’s history, relationships, the importance of hard work and emancipation. Some of the key themes of the novel are family and relationships, Italian/Australian culture and secrets and lies. The techniques used by Melina Marchetta to convey these themes are dialogue and characterization.
Josie’s family and relationships is a key theme in the novel. The literary techniques of characterization and dialogue are used to explore this. Josie’s family is almost completely of Italian background. Her mother, Christina, was born in Australia while her grandmother Katia is from Italy. Josie never knew her grandfather Francesco, as he died before Josie was born. Josie’s father is Michael Andretti, he did not marry Christina and therefore Josie is illegitimate. Josie is also in love with a full Australian boy called Jacob Coote, whose mother had died from cancer. In the novel, Josie did not actually know who her father is, apart from his name. Later in the novel, she meets …show more content…
In the novel, the author conveys detail of cultural activities Josie’s family has, one of which being Tomato Day. Tomato Day is a day held once every year where, as the name suggests, tomato sauce is produced by the Alibrandi family, using family-grown tomatoes. There is also lots of Italian food and music being played, with some traditional family games being played too. Tomato Day is also effectively a family reunion, as Josie’s uncle Ricardo and aunty Patrizia bring their extended family. The significance of culture in this novel is shown primarily by Tomato Day and