An important relationship between two characters in the extended text Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta is the relationship between the main character Josie and her father Michael Andretti. This relationship is important because it helped me to understand how the characters coped with change. As the relationship between father and daughter develops I could understand both of these characters better. This relationship is important because it helps Josie to grow up and cope with change.
An example of where I see this importance is when Josie has her second encounter with Michael Andretti “I never thought meeting you would be this boring. I thought we’d put our Italian emotion into gear and scream the place down. I never expected indifference. ” This shows at the beginning of their relationship that Josie is hurt and confused about their reaction to each other, she doesn’t want indifference, she wants to ‘put her Italian emotion into gear and scream the place down’ she is asking for dialogue, she wants to talk.
The author shows us this when Josie starts yelling at him about Christina. This helped me to see that Josie was hurt by her father’s indifference and had strong feelings about being ‘Illegitimate” all her life. It also helped me see that Michael was also struggling with this new relationship. Another example of where I see the importance of Josie and Michael’s relationship is when she breaks Carly’s nose with a science book at St Martha’s “God knows what possessed me, but having that book in my hand propelled me to immediate action. So I hit her with it. Carly’s father demands that Josie get a lawyer so she rings her father. “Andretti walked in… he was also glaring at me so sharply that I felt no need for celebration. ” Here Josie is fed up with Carly’s racist comments so she hits her. She is sent to the principal’s office to await her punishment. Josie takes the risk of calling her father to get her out of the mess she’s created. This example is important because it helped me understand them both better and like them both a bit more because Michael does come and he is constructive as he resolves the conflict.
She “liked the feeling of having her father beside her when she walked out of school”. Josie relies on her father for the first time. This helped me to understand her ‘hang ups’ as most teenage girls have a cool dad to help them out, should they ask. In my opinion this shows that Josie is starting to develop feelings towards Michael as she has depended on him. Also Michael had to leave work to help her. He’s not used to being a dad but came anyway. This shows that he too, is starting to warm to the idea of a new family member. Their relationship takes off from here.
A third example of where I see the importance of Josie and Michael’s relationship is when John Barton commits suicide. “You want to talk about it… I want to try. ” Michael tries to help Josie with overcoming the grief of her best friend’s death. This is when Michael opens up to Josie and they have a father- daughter chat. “Living is the challenge, Josie, not dying. Dying is so easy. ” He gives her some inspirational advice to carry on living her life to the fullest through all the obstacles thrown her way and to enjoy the small wonderful things we take for granted.
We can see he is a good dad as he moves to Sydney to be closer to Josie and he gives her a job. This example is important because Josie and Michael really connect and understand each other. In my opinion this shows that their relationship is quite developed and strong. In conclusion the relationship between Josie Alibrandi and Michael Andretti is important because the development of their relationship assisted me in understanding how they helped each other to cope with change.
