Josephine Alibrandi’s Maturity as the Result of Conflicts in Melina Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi

The abstrac of my thesis - written it for my Bachelor's degree

Josephine Alibrandi’s Maturity as the Result of Conflicts in Melina Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi

Looking for Alibrandi is the debut novel of Melina Marchetta and one of her best selling novels. This study is concerned about the maturity reached by Josephine Alibrandi, a seventeen-year-old girl of Italian descent but lives and grows up in Australia. The novel tells about the life of Josephine that is full of conflicts. Josephine changes because of the conflicts and finally develops different attitude of seeing things in her life. It shows that she is able to reach maturity.

There are three problems presented in this thesis. The first is to explain the description of Josephine. The second is to explain the conflicts experienced by Josephine that lead her to maturity. The third is to explain that Josephine’s maturity results from the conflicts. In order to complete the study, the thesis writer conducts library research. Since the study focuses on maturity gained by Josephine as the result of conflicts, psychological approach is applied in the analysis.

From the analysis, the thesis writer finds that Josephine tries to connect with reality, truth and people. Born illegitimately, born in the middle of two different societies, Josephine’s belief that she feels inferior at school and Josephine’s revelation about her grandmother’s past affair are some problems that Josephine has. Besides, being a troublemaker leads Josephine to have conflict with her school teacher, Sister Louise.  The finding about her grandmother’s past affair also leads her to have conflicts. John Barton from a wealthy and well-known family, whom Josephine attracts to in the beginning of the story, represents all things that Josephine wants in her life. Josephine experiences conflict when John commits suicide. The conflicts experienced by Josephine opens her mind and changes the way she views wealth and social status. After encounters conflict with Sister Louise and evaluates herself, Josephine sees actually she is not inferior at school. The conflict Josephine has with her grandmother’s past affair leads her to have different view toward her grandmother. The conflict that Josephine experiences because of John’s suicide makes Josephine realizes that wealth and social status do not make someone happy. Her ability to learn from the conflicts helps her to reach maturity. Josephine’s application of knowledge and experience, dealing constructively with frustration, differential responsiveness, and emotional self-efficacy give an affirmation that Josephine has reached maturity.