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
On Friday, Josie skips school and takes the ferry with Jacob to Manly. It’s a beautiful day—and “the most beautiful day of [Josie’s] life.” Josie can barely describe Jacob. One minute he sounds unintelligent, seems ready to beat someone, and smokes; the next, he sounds ridiculously intelligent and helps old ladies cross the street. His smile, though, is always sincere.
When Josie describes this day as the most beautiful day of her life, it drives home how interested she is in love and relationships. The time she’s spent with her friends or family doesn’t compare to this time spent with Jacob in a romantic setting.
Themes
Josie and Jacob eat fish and chips on the beach for lunch. Jacob reminisces about coming to the beach with his mother when he was little. Josie laughs that she was always a part of those big Italian families having picnics on the beach. Jacob tells Josie about his family: he has an older sister who’s married with a baby, and Jacob lives with his dad. His dad has a girlfriend, but he’s aghast when Josie asks if they’re engaged. Josie shrugs that it’s a cultural difference; Italians don’t live together before marriage unless they’re “rebel Italians.”
Josie and Jacob may have grown up in very different cultural situations, but they learn here that they both have fond memories of spending time on the beach as kids. They’re not so different, if only because they’ve grown up in the same country with the same outdoor activities on offer. But the cultural differences are still unavoidable, as when Jacob is so surprised that Josie only expects couples to live together if they’re married.
Themes
Josie explains that Mama wasn’t a rebel; she was naïve. Jacob asks if Mama or a woman like her would enter another relationship or get married if her husband died. Josie admits that only older Italian men remarry because “Men can’t do without.” But if a widow tries to date or stops wearing black, people will talk about her and call her a “sex maniac.” Josie says she’d like to be a “rebel Italian” and wear bright colors to funerals. She explains that she can’t act out, though, because she doesn’t have a father. People expect her to mess up because of what Mama did.
This passage reveals a double standard when it comes to older Italians remarrying: it’s normal for the men to remarry, but the women they marry are considered “sex maniacs.” With this, it seems likely that Josie is so concerned about the Italian gossip mill because, as a young woman, she’s more likely to have rumors spread about her. However, things might not be as dire as she expects: she’s clearly an accepted part of the community, even if she was born out of wedlock.
Themes
Jacob doesn’t see a problem since lots of people have babies out of wedlock or live together before marriage these days, but Josie explains it’s different for Italians. Doing something “wrong” is an invitation for gossip, and the gossip is guaranteed to hurt someone you care about. Jacob says he’d hate to be Italian, but Josie says it’s not so bad. She resents her Italian culture sometimes and used to wish her father was Australian—but she’ll always be Italian. She tells Jacob a bit about Michael and says she thinks it’d be stupid to hate him for leaving Mama 18 years ago.
Jacob makes the case that as times change, something like having a baby out of wedlock is going to become less shocking and thus less likely to be gossiped about. But Josie counters that the Italian community moves more slowly than Australian culture at large. This is annoying for her because Josie exists in an in-between state, where she’s very Italian at home and tries hard to be Australian when she’s at school.
Themes
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Jacob kisses Josie, surprising her. He says he loves how passionate she is. Josie says she’s angry a lot, especially because of how much people gossip about her being illegitimate. Jacob admits that he and his friends used to make fun of her, but now he knows better. They playfully insult each other and then kiss passionately—Josie’s first passionate kiss. It’s different from the romance novels and after 15 minutes, Josie feels like a kissing expert. Then Josie realizes she’s on a public beach and feels shy. When they part ways later, Josie knows she’s in love.
Jacob shows here that he understands the importance of apologizing for past slights and showing the person he hurt that he’s changed. Apologizing for insulting Josie for being illegitimate shows that Jacob is growing and changing—and he’s learning that people aren’t better or worse just because of their parents’ marital status. For Josie, this is a transformative moment as kissing Jacob like this makes her feel more like an adult.
Themes
