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Chapter 17
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 now knows that she and Poison Ivy are never going to be friends. On Friday, they both read the same newspaper while they wait for their meeting with Sister Louise. Seeing a story about a murdered Italian businessman, Poison Ivy remarks that “new Australians” sure wear a lot of black. Josie is offended to have been called a “new Australian” and points out that since she’s older than Ivy, Ivy is actually the newer Australian. Ivy insists that regardless, Josie is “an ethnic.” Furious, Josie snaps that the correct term is “European” and her ancestors came to Australia free, while Ivy’s came in chains. Ivy retorts that Josie’s ancestors fought with the Germans in World War II and probably killed her and John’s grandfathers. The girls insult each other’s grandparents until Sister Louise interrupts.
Josie has felt somewhat out of place at St. Martha’s from the beginning, mostly because of her Italian heritage. Ivy shows how the way she talks about Josie and Italian immigrants more broadly contributes to this: referring to Josie as a “new Australian” makes it seem as though Josie isn’t as integral to Australian culture, as she’s new. But Josie tries to get Ivy to see that immigrants aren’t people to be feared. Indeed, they’re no different in many ways than Ivy and her family—the story of how they came to Australia is just a bit different.
Themes
Josie realizes that no matter how much she achieves, she’s always going to be “a little ethnic from Glebe” to some Australians. It’s so frustrating. Josie feels at home in Australia, even though she both loves and hates her country. It’s a relief, then, when Jacob picks Josie up after work that evening and kisses her in the elevator. When they get outside, he tells Josie he has a surprise and shows her an old Holden car. Josie screams with glee and a moment later, Michael comes down concerned that something happened to her. When he realizes what’s going on, he says Josie was conceived in a Holden and walks away.
Ivy’s racism makes it clear to Josie that she’ll always be Italian, and people like Ivy will always resent her and treat her differently for this. This is especially difficult for Josie, given how much she wants to be a part of Ivy’s world. So it’s comforting when Jacob doesn’t treat Josie differently because she’s Italian. She now knows that she has someplace to go where her ethnicity doesn’t matter.
Themes
Josie is embarrassed, but Jacob thinks it’s erotic. Josie wonders if her life would’ve been different if she’d been conceived in a Mercedes. Jacob helps her into the car and Josie calls him a genius for fixing up the car. She says they could go into a partnership, since he's good with his hands and she’s smart. They could start a company. Jacob starts to talk about them as husband and wife but embarrassed, he stops. Josie says Jacob would make a great husband, and Jacob says Josie would be great with kids. Josie scoots closer to Jacob and imagines herself marrying him.
This is another major turning point for Josie. While prior to meeting Jacob, Josie looked down on working-class people like him, she now sees that he’s just as driven and competent as she is—his goals are just different. As they talk about what life might be like if they got married, Josie also starts to feel more secure in her future. Knowing she’ll have Jacob there with her makes the future much easier to face.
Themes
