Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Looking for Alibrandi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family
Identity, Freedom, and Coming of Age
The Immigrant Experience
Gossip and Appearances
Social Status and Wealth
Love and Relationships
Summary
Analysis
Josie admires her reflection in the mirror in preparation for her date with Jacob. But then she puts on her glasses and “reality set[s] in.” As she comes out of the bathroom, she tells Mama again about Jacob’s speech, that he’s school captain of Cook, and that he’s “meaningful.” Mama raises her eyebrow when the doorbell rings and assures Josie that she’s always nice to Josie’s friends. Josie is shocked and disappointed when she sees that Jacob is wearing old jeans and a sweater with holes. He hasn’t shaved, either. Mama looks shocked—and then perplexed that Jacob grunts his hello to her.
Josie seems to hope that Jacob is going to show up on her doorstep acting like Zio Ricardo: kind, generous, and put together. This is in part because Josie expects this—but more importantly, she also knows that Mama expects this. So when Jacob shows up in ratty clothes and doesn’t greet Mama politely, Josie has to accept that Jacob isn’t going to meet her expectations every time, if at all.
Themes
Embarrassed, Josie runs to her room for her coat. Mama follows and hisses that Jacob looks like someone who rides a motorcycle. Josie assures Mama that Jacob just resents having to meet Mama and is doing this on purpose, but Mama says that Nonna would be aghast. Mama wants to keep Josie home, but relents and says she wants Josie home as soon as the movie is over. Josie assures Mama that she’s not sure she wants to go out with Jacob again after this.
Nonna might be aghast to see Jacob dressed like this and behaving so rudely, but Josie has also implied that Nonna would be upset no matter how Jacob acted because Jacob is Australian. This is another indicator that times are changing and, for each generation, certain things are going to become less important.
Themes
Josie leads Jacob outside and ignores him until he grabs for her hand. Then, she yells at him for dressing so poorly, speaking poorly, and grunting. They continue to shout at each other as they get on Jacob’s motorcycle and ride downtown. When they get to the theater, Josie suggests they see Pride and Prejudice, but Jacob says he’s not seeing “a pansy movie.” He wants to see a “normal movie” and grouses that he gave up his Saturday for this. Josie accuses him of acting like a jerk because she made him meet Mama, but Jacob says that this is who he is—and he’s never “had to go out with an ethnic girl” before.
Josie waits to shout at Jacob until she’s away from Mama because she’s embarrassed to let Mama know how upset she is about it. It was hard enough to get Mama to agree to the date in the first place, and Josie isn’t willing to admit that she may have made a mistake. When Jacob is upset with Josie, he tends to fall back on racist language—like “having to go out with an ethnic girl.” He makes it Josie’s fault that things aren’t going well, and blames it on her being Italian, thus absolving himself of any responsibility.
Themes
Josie shouts that she’s not “an ethnic,” and Jacob retorts that she called him an Australian like it was an insult the other day. He tells Josie to “go back to [her] own country” and they stare at each other in silence. Then, Josie storms outside and walks toward home, thinking that Mama will kill her. She becomes aware that there’s a car trailing her and screeches that her father’s a cop—but from the car, Michael says that Josie’s father is a barrister. Josie gets in, says she doesn’t want to talk about why she’s out on her own, and asks what Michael is doing. He says he’d like to get to know Josie, since she’s clearly not going away.
Because Jacob is white and part of the more powerful and populous social group in Australia, calling him “Australian” as though it’s an insult doesn’t land the same way that calling Josie “an ethnic” does. Josie’s choice to end the date with Jacob because of his racism suggests that she’s not willing to put up with this kind of abuse from a romantic partner, no matter how badly she’d like to date.
Themes
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Josie agrees to get pizza with Michael. They go to a warm pizza place and Josie can’t help it—she loves sitting across from her father, and she also can’t stop looking outside for Jacob. After a few minutes, Josie tells Michael everything about Jacob. She realizes that when they’re not both being hostile, talking to him is fun, and conversation flows easily. When they’re finished with their meal, Josie offers to pay since she just got a job. Michael frowns when he hears Josie works at McDonald’s at night; he insists it’s not safe. He offers Josie a job working for him in the afternoons. Josie is excited—she can tell people she’s doing legal work, even though she’ll just be photocopying. She can one-up Poison Ivy with this job.
As Josie realizes how much fun it is to talk to Michael, she starts to see that it might not be such a bad thing to let him into her life. Their shared penchant for sarcasm makes it so they’re not willing to say anything outright, but they both seem to be enjoying their meal and the other’s company. Josie’s reaction to being offered a job at is law firm reminds readers that Josie still cares deeply about impressing her classmates. She wants to control how they talk about her, and this job offers her a fantastic opportunity in that regard.
Themes
Michael drives Josie home and suggests she date John instead of Jacob. When they get to Josie’s house, Josie shyly asks if Michael ever wondered if Mama went through with her pregnancy. Michael says he wants to be honest: he’s not sure he can love Josie, but he does want to get to know her. When pressed to answer Josie’s question, he admits that he and Mama discussed abortion. Michael didn’t think Mama would stand up to Nonno, who was a “bastard.” He adds that he can’t promise Josie he would’ve come back if he’d known Mama had continued her pregnancy. Josie says he would have and walks away.
This discussion about Mama and Michael’s decision-making process gives Josie important insight into the kind of person her mother was at 17. Mama has already made it clear that she loved Michael, but Michael suggests here that Mama was terrified of Nonno and how he might treat her. This starts to show how Mama, like Nonna, struggled as a young person because of how controlling and cruel Nonno was.
Themes
When Josie gets inside, she nervously tells Mama about her night. Rather than being angry, though, Mama hugs Josie. Later, Josie asks Mama about her relationship with Michael. Mama says she loved Michael as much as she could at age 16. After a minute, Josie says that Mama looked nice the day she went out with Paul—and Mama is more beautiful than other women. Mama sends Josie to bed and, before Josie goes, notes that anything could’ve happened to Josie out on the streets. Josie says she understands. As she lies in bed later, she wishes Jacob would call and apologize and even checks the phone three times. He doesn’t call.
Josie expects Mama to be angry that she spent time with Michael, seemingly assuming that Mama doesn’t want Josie to have anything to do with her father. But Mama, to her credit, treats Josie like a young adult capable of making her own decisions. And as Mama tells Josie about her teenage relationship with Michael, she also makes the choice to trust Josie with the truth. This is one way that Mama begins to treat Josie more like an adult—and it happens as Josie shows more empathy for Mama.
Themes
