Alibrandis

the romantic dilemmas between two

very different young men.

Fingerprint
By Kumaresh Muthubalasuriyar
Identity is like a fingerprint; a unique
identifier of who you are. In the book,
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina
Marchetta, Josephine Alibrandi is
experiencing an identity crisis. The
author takes the reader on a journey
through the life of this central
character, a teenage
Italian/Australian girl who deals with
the traumas of growing up.
Throughout this journey, the author
skilfully casts her in a number of
relationships which challenge her
identity from the conflicts of cultural
heritage with her single mother and
her Italian grandmother to the
unexpected return of her long lost
father. She also has to deal with the
acceptance of her school mates and

On the journey of finding oneself and

belonging, relationships can create,
support or hinder. The authors
message is that people must create
their own identities and do so
through the decisions they make.
When people allow themselves to be
influenced by others, their sense of
identity is compromised. People must
be true to themselves in order to

develop and maintain a strong sense

one of many situations where

of self.

Marchetta uses her skilful

Marchetta skilfully entwines Josies

feelings, beliefs and values into

manipulation of key characters to

develop Josies familys identity.

relationships of clash, support, love

Her relationships with her boyfriend,

and loss which enhance character

Jacob Coote, allows for her deep

building and eventually leads to

inner thoughts to be expressed, and

acceptance of oneself.

provides an insight into her heart

The relationships Josie experiences

with her mother, Christina and
grandmother, Katia or Nonna, are
pivotal pieces of evidence to overtly
demonstrate strength of Italian
women. They believe that their
strong personalities are part of their
genes and the author develops their

and mind, [Josie] Id like to be a

rebel Italian But I cant. [Jacob]
Why not? Because I have no
father. Because if I did all those
things hypocrites would shake their
heads smugly and say, See, I told
you she couldnt amount to
anything.

persona throughout the novel very

Marchetta also uses events such as

obviously through their interactions

the slapping of Poison Ivy to impact

as mother and daughter just like

upon Josies life as whole, where the

when Christina stands up to her

rivalry of those two characters are

mother, portraying her strength as

used to consistently draw out Josies

an individual being, People? What

inner thought about present events

people? Italians? Mama, I have

in her time such as her stubbornness

already disgraced myself in their

and where she stands on the theme

eyes and there will never be

of racism when she is confronted by

anything to change that, so who

the nuns for hitting Ivy because she

cares if they talk about me? This is

was called a wog or ethnic, [Josie

to Ivy] Im not an ethnic, I spat

be, then maybe I could stay for that,

out furiously. Im an Australian and

too. If I could be what you want me

my grandparents were Italian.

to be, I'd want to stay. But I am what

Theyre called Europeans, not

I am, and all I want is freedom. The

ethnics. Ethnic is a word that you

author uses these situations to turn

people use to put us all in a

Josies outward strong personality

category. (p. 166).

into that of a frail emotional girl, who

All though Marchetta uses characters

cannot control all aspects of her life.

to impact upon Josies identity

Marchetta creates a depressing,

throughout the book, she also uses

solemn reality when John Barton

climaxes such as John Bartons death

dies, and uses the situation to

and Michaels return as a father into

deepen the relationship between

her life to portray a softer, weaker

Michael and Josie. The depressing

and more honest side of Josie.

mood is continued by the breaking

Marchetta makes Josies soul hearted

thoughts be conveyed when she is
crying in pain to her father about the
death of John Barton but then
Michael says to Josie, Youre going
to go on living. Because living is the
challenge Josie. Not dying. Dying is

up of Jacob and Josies relationship

which symbolised Josie hitting rock
bottom because she states to her
mum, I feel so terrible Mama. Im
more upset now that Ive split with
Jacob that I was when John died.
What kind of person am I?

so easy, (236), for consolation.

Marchetta uses skilful manipulation

When she talks about her dreams

of key characters throughout the

with the recently deceased John

novel to place Josie in a cultural

Barton, If I could be anything but

identity crisis.

what I am, I would be tomorrow. If I

could be what my father wants me to

The author positions Josie on this

probably never let go either, simply

journey of discovery as a descendant

because like religion, culture is

of Italian migrants in a power

nailed into you so deep you can't

struggle of multicultural Australia,

escape it. No matter how far you

where she has to find her place in

run. (p. 174).

society and define her identity. Josie

expressed her realization of cultural
unacceptance when she stated, My
Mother was born here as far as the
Italians were concerned, we werent
completely one of them. Yet because
my grandparents were born in Italy
we werent completely Australian,
(p.7). The Italian community
continue their gossiping about
Italians who dont follow traditional,
cultural expectations of values such
as divorce. Hence Josie, even within

Josie is a working class student

among many wealthy ones and the
author orchestrates her clash with
Ivy Lloyd to show how strongly she
wishes to be accepted, I want to
belong to her world. The world of
sleek haircuts and upper-class
privileges. People who know famous
people and lead educated lives. A
world where I can be accepted.
Please, God, let me be accepted by
someone other than the underdog,
(p. 32).

her own culture, is met with critical

eyes because of her single mother
parentage. Josie expresses the deep
seated cultural expectation of the
Italian heritage when she states,
Like all tomato days we had
spaghetti that night. Made by our
own hands. A tradition that well
never let go. A tradition that I will

Melina Marchetta ended the book by

revealing Josies true identity,
exposing her true grown up self as
the resolution. Marchetta portrays
Josie as a whole by the end of the
book because she finally realized
that she should just be herself and
not try to be someone other people
want her to be, One day came.

Because finally I understood. With

Josie having found herself, her
problems have been resolved and
her hope and faith in life has been
restored. Therefore throughout the
novel, the author, Melina Marchetta,
resolves all themes of identity,
racism and societal class
differentiation.