Writing Looking for Alibrandi [E]

[Lady Asphyxia]

[color=black][font=Century][color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]I highly reccomend that you read the novel before trying to decifer what the heck I'm talking about, heh.[/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]As some of you might know, I've recently hit Year 11, which brings me into my final two years at school. I've just done one of my first English assessment pieces -- write a 600-800 word essay on one of 5 topics.[/size][/font][/color][color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]All the topics had to do with the novel [u]Looking for Alibrandi[/u], which is by Melina Marchetta, and is one of the most well known Australian novels. The topic [we weren't given questions, just topic areas] I chose was the following:[/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1][i]The relationship between Josie and one other character in the novel.[/i][/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]The character was free-choice, and I chose Michael Andretti, Josie's father.[/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]The essay was an exam, so I had to prepare the essay and learn it -- we weren't allowed to take any notes [or our novels] into the exam. This was the prepared copy -- I haven't yet gotten the exam back, so I don't know how I went. [/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]Anway, I figured that I'd kill two birds with one stone [anyone noticed how I like doing that? Poor birds. :p] and also start a discussion on the book. What did you think of the novel? Who was your favorite character? Did you blame Nonna for her actions? What did you think of the ending compared to the movie's ending? How did you feel about Nonno Francesco? Which of Josie's friends did you like most? [And, of course, feel free to discuss the technical merits of the book.][/size][/font][/color]
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[center][color=black][font=Verdana][size=1][b]LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI[/b][/size][/font][/color][/center]
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[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]Relationships between Josie and other characters in Marchetta?s [u]Looking for Alibrandi[/u] are critical of our understanding of her search for meaning. A significant relationship is that between Josephine Alibrandi and her estranged father, Michael Andretti.[/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][/color][font=Verdana][size=1]At the novel?s beginning, Josie sees her father as more of a ?myth? (15) than reality. She finds the idea of actually meeting him ?mindboggling?. This idea is partly due to her mother?s attitude; Christina does not refer to Michael Andretti by name, instead preferring to call him ??[her] father? or ?he??. Josie has ?spent all of [her] life slotting [him] into the furthest part of [her] mind?.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Josie?s ?We don?t need him? (16) attitude towards her father is greatly influence by her readings of the representations of other fathers. The representation of fathers that she has experienced has been those of her friends and family, and she finds the relationship between father and daughter to be lacking. Sera?s father ?thinks she?s the Virgin Mary,? when Sera is the only girl in Josie?s group who had slept with a guy. Lee?s father is an alcoholic. Christina Alibrandi?s father wouldn?t acknowledge her presence. Michael himself is shown as abandoning his pregnant girlfriend. [/size][/font]

[size=1][font=Verdana]At the beginning of [u]Looking for Alibrandi,[/u] Marchetta positions the reader to see fathers negatively. However, [/font][font=Verdana]as Josie?s relationship with Michael develops, the reader is repositioned to see fathers in a more positive light.[/font][/size]
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[size=1][/size][font=Verdana][size=1]When Josie first meets Michael Andretti, she finds that ?every image [she] had of [her] father flew out of the window.? (38) He wasn?t tall, good-looking, or a weakling. Her image of Michael Andretti as a ?myth? who she will never meet is destroyed when she sees ?an obvious resemblance.? (39) Their second meeting at a family barbecue is initially less pleasant, however, it serves to leave Josie with the realisation the he is not just a villain who left Josie and her mother to fend for themselves, but a human who has human weaknesses and emotions. Her father becomes very real to her, even if he is still not present in her life. Michael himself thinks that even if he wanted to be a father to Josie, it was too late for him to do so. He retains the opinion that Josie is too old to need a father. [/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]The main turning point for Josie and Michael occurs when Josie hits Carly in the nose with her textbook. Carly?s father threatens to sue, and Josie panics, calling her father and leaving a message for him. ?Nobody [is] more surprised than? (85) Josie when he walks in. [color=black]Carly?s father is a representation of a privileged discourse and yet he does not intimidate Michael Andretti, which allows Josie to draw strength from him and become more confident. [/color]Josephine?s father handles the situation with ease, while Josie is still surprised that, despite saying he didn?t owe her, Michael Andretti had ?come through?. Josie?s changing of opinion towards her father is evident in the pride she feels when they walk through the school together:[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?I walked past my class-mates with Michael Andretti beside me and for a few minutes I knew how it felt to walk alongside one?s father."[/size][/font][font=Verdana][size=1] (90)[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Their next encounter occurs after Josie and Jacob?s 10 minute date. Josie finds the situation ?weird? (126). On the one hand, she?s finally met her father, and she is getting along very well with him. On the other hand, she hasn?t yet forgiven him for not being there during her childhood. Still, Josie ?quite [enjoys] talking to Michael Andretti.? She finds him to be ?a great listener?, and the two have ?plenty to say.? When they ?[forget] ?that biologically he [is her] father,? they can be friends. This scene is crucial to the formation of a friendship between Josie and Michael. Josie likes that she ?[can] make him laugh? (127). She finds him to be ?honest and not a hypocrite? (153), and realises it?s ?stupid to hate someone for something they did eighteen years ago?.[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]Josie?s holiday in Adelaide with Michael further allows their relationship to develop and Josie ?[falls] in love with the idea of [Michael] being [her] father.? [/size][/font]

[color=black][font=Verdana][size=1]When she returns, she realises that she no longer cares about what people think of her. She has learnt to accept her heritage ? both Australian and Italian ? and she no longer worries about the circumstances surrounding her birth. This is partly as a result of her growing relationship with Michael Andretti. Because Michael represents a successful man from an Italian culture who still lives with the traditions associated with it and at the same time demonstrates success in the world of money and prestige, he assists her to accept her traditional roots and believe in herself. [/size][/font][/color]
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[color=black][/color][size=1][color=black][font=Verdana]Jose and Michael?s relationship is strengthened further by the death of John Barton. Until this point, Michael was more a friend than a father. The climax represents Josie as vulnerable and in need of a father figure. Michael is represented as a loving, tender man who gives Josie the strength she needs. She clings to him like a child, and he comforts her with the truth as he sees it, not sugar coating the truth or lying to her.[/font][/color][color=#339966][/color][/size]
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[size=1][color=#339966][/color][/size][font=Verdana][size=1]Michael Alibrandi represents a hero type father figure throughout the novel, and the reader is positioned to see him as a strong, caring, sensitive and clever male role model. Marchetta repositions the reader to believe that fathers like Michael Alibrandi are important to a young person?s development. ?Seventeen year olds don?t need fathers.?[/size][/font]

[font=Verdana][size=1]?For gods? sake, Michael, I?m thirty-four and I still need my father.?[/size][/font][/font][/color][font=Century][font=Verdana][size=1].?[/size][/font][/font]

[Guest Meg]

I'm supposed to do this tutorial thing in front of class about christina alibrandi (in looking for alibrandi) for 10 minutes and dunno where to start any ideas?????? :(