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Chapter 19
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 July 29, St. Martha’s celebrates their namesake saint with a walkathon. Josie hates the event. But regardless, she spends the weekend before collecting donations for Amnesty International and then on Monday, she joins everyone in the gym. Before Josie can follow the rest of the school out the doors, Sera comes up behind her and says that the pop star Trey Hancock is staying in a nearby hotel. Lee says that she’s going with Sera to see him. Josie tries to say that she has a responsibility to stay behind the younger kids to protect them. But before Josie can really protest, her friends shove her onto a bus.
Josie shows in this passage that she knows she has responsibilities—but she’s also willing to skip out on them if there’s something more fun to do instead. And in particular, she’s not willing to stand up to Sera. This may explain why Mama brought up Sera while saying that Josie might not have the best taste in boys; Sera seems to make poor, rash decisions and have the ability to pressure her friends into going along with her.
Themes
Josie starts to enjoy herself on the bus. When they get to the hotel, the girls rush into an elevator so nobody sees them. They wander the halls for a little bit and then take the elevator back down. Sera teaches Anna to vogue on the way down, but Josie feels uneasy. What if Mama finds out, or if a nun takes roll at a stop? But Sera suggests they try to get into the bar—and Anna notes that this is better than a walkathon. When the elevator gets to the ground floor, though, the lobby is filled with people and cameras. Josie hisses that the Premier is here for a press conference. Anna and Sera are excited to be on TV, but Josie is annoyed.
Sera clearly doesn’t have a well thought out plan; the purpose of this expedition is to get out of the walkathon, not necessarily to see Trey Hancock. This may make skipping the walkathon seem even less worth it to Josie, since it doesn’t seem like she’s even going to get to see the popstar she came to see. And throughout, Josie also can’t escape the fact that she knows what she’s supposed to be doing. She knows how to make people proud of her—and she knows she’s behaving in the exact opposite way.
Themes
The girls go back to Lee’s house to watch a Trey Hancock concert video, but Josie can’t relax. Later that night, she finally finds out what she looks like on TV. As the Premier shakes hands with someone from China, Josie and her friends are in the background, waving and voguing. Josie prays that nobody will see them but, on Tuesday morning, Sister Louise calls Josie, Lee, Sera, and Anna to her office. She tells the girls to give back their collected donations and to tell each donor what they did. Sister Louise says she trusted the girls—and now they’re on TV making fools of themselves. Josie feels ready to die.
Though Josie implied that she’d like to see herself on TV earlier in the novel (when Ivy speaking to the Premier made it on the evening news), she learns here that being on TV for making bad decisions is a lot less satisfying. It's also a major blow for Josie to have Sister Louise scold her. (Recall that Josie admires Sister Louise and thinks of her as “liberated,” which is what Josie wants to be when she grows up.)
Themes
Sister Louise sends Anna, Lee, and Sera back to class, but she asks Josie to stay. Josie apologizes and says she knew it was wrong. Sister Louise accuses Josie of being a “sheep,” says that Josie won’t become anything if she’s so easily influenced, and asks if skipping the walkathon was Sera’s idea. Josie’s blood is boiling, especially when Sister Louise says that Ivy is responsible all the time. Then, Sister Louise reveals that last year, Josie was voted school captain—but she gave Ivy the job, since she knew Ivy would be better at it. What happened yesterday is proof that Sister Louise made the right decision.
Josie doesn’t think she’s popular—she thinks that everyone at school hates her and talks about her because she’s Italian, illegitimate, and attends on a scholarship. Learning that she was actually voted school captain calls this into question—Josie might be more popular than she thought. And though Josie might resent being called a “sheep,” she also knows full well that she gave into Sera’s peer pressure. In this sense, Josie is a follower, even if that’s uncomfortable for her to accept.
Themes
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Josie is enraged, but Sister Louise insists that Josie would’ve behaved the same way even if she’d been school captain. Her friends are “trendsetters,” and Josie will be congratulated by her classmates for skipping. Josie insists that everyone looks down on them as Sister Louise threatens to choose another vice captain. She says she’s seen Josie walk like an Egyptian to communion (a dare from Sera) and reminds Josie how, in front of the bishop, Josie said that the Catholic church’s rules on IVF “sucked.” Sister Louise says that being a leader isn’t about doing the right thing because you have a title. It’s about doing the right thing anyway.
Sister Louise essentially accuses Josie of caring more about what her friends think of her than about being a leader. Sister Louise seems aware that Josie dreams of prestige and wealth, so she tries to make the case here that acting out for attention isn’t going to get Josie the kind of prestige she wants. Not all attention is good attention, in other words, and Sister Louise tries to impress upon Josie that it's important to cultivate the right kind of attention—whether anyone recognizes her for her good behavior or not.
Themes
Sobbing, Josie walks out. But she stops at the end of the hallway and realizes that Sister Louise is right. Everyone loves Anna and Lee, and Sera is wildly popular. Josie was voted school captain. Josie walks back to Sister Louise’s office and tells her that she’s sorry. Sister Louise notes that nuns don’t have the authority to forgive like priests do, so Josie will have to live with her guilt until she means it. Josie has potential, but Josie also has to use it. As Josie walks to class, people praise her for skipping the walkathon. Josie quietly tells them skipping was wrong. In retrospect, Josie believes that her “emancipation” begins in this moment.
Josie makes it seem like she only returns to apologize to Sister Louise because she realizes she doesn’t need to be as worried about her social standing as she initially thought, not because she means it. This shows again how important social standing is to Josie. But it’s also telling that Josie insists her “emancipation” begins in this passage. Becoming free, she suggests, entails learning to make her own decisions and not give in to peer pressure.
Themes
