Looking for Alibrandi: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Debate season starts up in March. The first competition for St. Martha’s is with St. Anthony’s, where the love of Josie’s life, John Barton, is school captain. He unfortunately doesn’t return her feelings. But on Friday night, after St. Anthony’s wins the debate, John comes up behind Josie at the picked-over refreshment table and offers her one of the good cookies he took earlier. They discuss what sweets they hoarded at parties as kids as Mama kisses Josie and then goes to speak to Sister Louise. John compliments Josie on her speech at Martin Place.

John explains that Josie didn’t see him at Martin Place because he was with Poison Ivy, talking to the Premier. Josie thinks how alike Poison Ivy and John’s families are. Josie knows she can’t compete: John and Ivy’s parents would talk about politics over dinner together, but John’s parents and Josie’s family would have nothing to talk about. John grabs more cookies, says Jacob Coote was a surprise at Martin Place, and leads Josie outside. Suddenly, Josie is extremely “aware of the social and cultural differences around [her]”—she can’t picture Jacob talking to the Premier.

On the veranda, John and Josie discuss the upcoming regional dance (Josie would love to go to with John; the “snobs” at St. Martha’s would be jealous). After a comfortable silence, they discuss what they’ll do after they graduate. Josie shares she wants to be a barrister and asks John what he wants to do. He says he has no choice but to go into law and then politics, like his father. His family believes that John could be the prime minister someday; there’s no escaping tradition. Josie says it’s not hard—her family has worked its way up from humble beginnings, and Josie is going to continue to do so.

John insists that Josie doesn’t experience the same kind of pressure he does. He reveals he’s only school captain because of his family in a bitter voice that shocks Josie. John goes on to say that “this life is shit.” Josie has never seen him in this kind of a mood. She says she thinks life is awful when Mama won’t let her go out or because her family isn’t higher class, but John insists he has a bigger problem: he doesn’t know what he wants out of his life, but he knows he doesn’t want a life in politics. But because John’s father is a minister in Parliament, he has no choice.

Ivy comes up behind John and Josie, insults Josie, and insists it’s time for John to go with her to a party. She says she has to go; her father’s best friend is the birthday girl’s father. John agrees to go, and Ivy walks away. John explains to Josie that he truly has to go, though he’s not looking forward to seeing what fancy car the birthday girl will get from her dad. He explains that in his circle, dads try to outdo each other on birthday gifts. It worked out when he was a kid, because if he wanted something he could tell Ivy, her dad would buy whatever it was for her, and then John’s dad would get him a better version. As John and Josie head back inside, John invites Josie to go see a film adaptation of Macbeth with him.

All weekend, Josie spends a lot of time thinking about John’s mood swings. She finds them upsetting, since this depressed version of John isn’t the version she knows. Also over the weekend, Josie and Anna get jobs at McDonald’s. They’ll finally be able to afford designer clothes.