Looking for Alibrandi is about a teenage girl Josephine Alibrandi experiencing what it’s like to be an Italian- Australian. A significant event in the novel that shows the experience of being an Australian is the Italian Tomato day. It is the tradition for Italian families to have tomato day this event demonstrates the experience of being Australian because it shows the reader what it’s like to have two cultures. It also shows how Italian people adapt to their culture.
Looking for Alibrandi introduces Josephine Alibrandi and her Italian family celebrating a special occasion of called Tomato Day. This novel gives an understanding of the relationships between Josie and her family. Tomato day is a significant event because this is an Italian tradition when everyone comes together as a family and makes their special pasta and sauce. In chapter 19 in looking for Alibrandi Josie and her family hand pick the tomatoes to make the pasta sauce. The technique, tone shows us that Josie is embarrassed to be a part of Tomato Day. Josie always dreaded the family gatherings and couldn’t wait to go to Bondi with her friends and ditch Tomato day. Her friends always gave Josie a hard time about having to stay. Tomato day is a massive event which is spent with your family outside. Imagery is used in this chapter as Josie calls tomato day “national wog day”. This is a special Italian tradition when you sit outside crushing tomatoes and listening to the same 1950’s Italian music playing over
In My Antonia, Willa Cather pens a nostalgic story focused on a two people with a unique connection. Jim Burden narrates the story of Antonia Shimerda, the girl next door who happens to be a Bohemian emigrant. Jim moves to his grandparents’ house after his parents die; Antonia arrives in the United States with her family and little else. The two are vastly different, but bond quickly on the Nebraska prairie. Most people who study the novel acknowledge the obvious impact that Antonia has on Jim and see Antonia as “in one way or another, the center of the novel” (Lucenti).
One generally invites one’s friends to dinner, unless one is trying to get on the good side of enemies or employers. We’re quite particular about those with whom we break bread.” (Foster, 9) Through the breaking of bread, or in this case the laborious cleaning, cooking, and finally the eating of chitlins is representative of a communion, between the almost sacred bonds between a mother and her daughter. Throughout the exposition of the short story, we constantly see that the other members of her family reject the chitlins for being “country” or smelling strange.
Italians worked in gruesome “sweat shops” that were detrimental towards the workers. The immigrants were supplied with horrendous materials that would lead to people loosing their arms and legs. Tuberculosis was passed around the factory and killed an abundance of workers. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is a prime example of how the workshop setting is very discriminatory towards Italian immigrants. When World War I broke out, Italians faced the harsh suspicions of being spies for Italy in the war.
Journeys can be driven by the desire to escape to a better place, but the process itself is just as significant as it discovers and transforms an individual’s perspective and identity. In Crossing the Red Sea, the migrants’ journey from war-torn Europe is ironically at a standstill, forcing them to contemplate their past and present circumstances. The voyage is a source of alleviation from emotional seclusion demonstrated through the personification “Voices left their caves / Silence fell from its shackles”, creating a mood of hope. Negatively, however, the migrants’ “limbo-like” status is highlighted by the metaphor of “patches and shreds / of dialogue”, creating a pessimistic tone increasing the sense of lost identity. The metaphor of “a
Mrs. Moreno and her daughter have a strong, loving relationship, however they have an altercation when Yollie wants a new dress for the school dance, but her mother cannot afford to do anything but dye one she already has. The dyed dress looks beautiful and new until it gets rained on, then it begins to drip dye, embarrassing Yollie in front of her classmates. This story shows a great
Lola takes advantage of her deteriorating mother whose illness represents the declining hold of the norms over Lola. Since her mom “will have trouble lifting her arms over her head for the rest of her life,” Lola is no longer afraid of the “hitting” and grabbing “by the throat” (415,419). As a child of a “Old World Dominican Mother” Lola must be surrounded by traditional values and beliefs that she does not want to claim, so “as soon as she became sick” Lola says, “I saw my chance and I’m not going to pretend or apologize; I saw my chance and I eventually took it” (416). When taking the opportunity to distinguish herself from the typical “Dominican daughter” or ‘Dominican slave,” she takes a cultural norm like long hair and decides to impulsively change it (416). Lola enjoyed the “feeling in [her] blood, the rattle” that she got when she told Karen to “cut my hair” (418).
Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is not mainly about the father cooking food and his treatment towards his son, instead, the author uses food to symbolize the struggles her immigrated family experienced in Canada. While it is possible to only look at the narratives that food symbolizes, the idea is fully expressed when the father is compared with the food. The theme of food and the recipes are able to convey the overall troubles the narrator’s family encountered. Although, food is usually a fulfilling necessity in life, however, Thien uses food to illustrate the struggle, tensions, and downfall of the family. Yet, each food does represent different themes, but the food, fish, is the most intriguing because of the different environment
In the poem “Just as the Calendar Began to Say Summer”, Mary Oliver analogizes two distinct tones. The first tone of voice Oliver uses reflects her negative ideas about the regimented school system. At the beginning of the poem there is a strong sense of what the speaker is going through. Oliver states, “I went out of the school house fast and through the gardens and to the woods,” (ln 1-2).
Similarly to Avalon, Josie experiences issues with possessing a sense of belonging as well as accepting herself. She competes with herself to accept not only her ethnic background, but also her social status within society. The conflicts transformed Josie’s attitude and personality, from Josie wanting to completely block out her culture to learning that she should be more self-acceptant as well as working on her relationships with her family and friends by the end of the film. Looking For Alibrandi introduces the protagonist through Tomato Day, an annual celebration in which Josie’s Italian family takes part in. Josie is utterly embarrassed that her family participate in this annually and consequently describes it as “national wog day”.
The fact that perhaps both he and his father regard this job like serving time in a prison is evident in the phrase “his 20 year stint”. To add to this, the juxtaposition of the images of the “north end of the city” and “warehouse” with the temporary beauty of the “field that for a few weeks every summer is full of daisies” reflects the idea of the temporary freedom from work that having lunch outside provided, as well as the contrast between the freedom from commitment the son desires, and his father’s
This story, said to be Alcott’s first novel written before she was twenty, is about an Italian orphan who works for a rich family, but soon finds out she is the true heir to the family’s
Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade sit upon a restaurant terrace having lunch and conversing as most friends do. Mrs. Slade remarks that “ After all it’s [Rome] still the most beautiful view in the world.” To which Mrs. Ansley replies “It always will be, to me.” Foreshadowing that something about Rome to Grace Ansley is much more significant to her than to Alida Slade. The interesting
As the camera zooms out slowly and we hear crickets chirping, we are introduced to the charming world of “What’s eating Gilbert Grape”. The film that many have come to love, along with its extremely famous actors, was released in 1993 in the United States and directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Endora, Iowa is the home of the Grape family, it’s a small, unchanging town where the main character Gilbert (Johnny Depp) feels trapped and death seems to be the only way out. Gilbert provides for his mother, sisters, and his autistic brother, Arnie (Leonardo Di Caprio). “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” is in many ways an unrealistic and demeaning view of autism.
The novel, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepety has becomes one of the best book I have ever read. In know that can be a cliché statement to make but the novel is truly exquisite. The author put the reader on a page-turning journey through her juicy plot, her unique writing style, and the historical event added to the book. The novel Between Shades of Gray will soon be a classic all will get to know.
The novel ‘Nada’ written by Carmen Laforet is a twisted heart-breaking tale about a year in the life of the 18-year-old female protagonist Andrea. Throughout this year, Andrea spends in Barcelona with her relatives, she developed various relationships, both homosexual and heterosexual. For the purpose of this essay I will discuss Andrea’s highly affective homosexual relationships with her best friend Ena and her aunt Gloria and how she views and describes both woman differently. I will also briefly contrast her homosexual relationships with that of her heterosexual relationships with Pons and her uncle Román. I will begin with discussing Adrea’s relationship with Gloria, as this relationship began before her relationship with Ena did.