Method of the Study

For the last five years we have been geared for this year. The year of HSC, where one’s whole future can skyrocket or go down the toilet, or so they tell us 2006: 6. Unfortunately, HSC is not the only problem that Josephine complains. Josephine thinks that she has many problems than her other friends and one of them is John Barton whom she believes does not have anything to worry about since John comes from wealthy family whom are of Anglo Saxons Australian. Moreover, John’s family is a well-known family in Australia since they are involved in politics. Josephine and John have close relationship since early years of high school as they are used to see each other through debating events. Since their early meeting, Josephine has a huge admiration toward John and it can be seen from Josephine’s thought. Have I ever told you about John “love of my life” Barton? School captain of St.Anthony’s. Son of a Member of Parliament. Greatest debater who ever lived. Good-looking. Popular 2006: 49. At the beginning, it is apparent that Josephine is attracted to John Barton but then Josephine meets Jacob Coote. As Jacob Coote comes into Josephine’s life, Josephine’s feeling towards John alters. When Josephine and Jacob first meet, she does not like him but then they start to like each other. Jacob Coote is a school captain of Cook High, a public school in the city area. Jacob is a boy with a working class background that is much the same with Josephine’s background. Jacob also states it to Josephine and it can be seen from the following quotation. “We’re the same, you know. You’re middle class and I’m middle class, except you’re a middle class snob who goes to an upper-class school” 2006: 74. Different from Jacob, Josephine attends St. Martha’s, a wealthy catholic school in Sydneys eastern suburbs. Her academic scholarship ensures her place at the school as she is not as well off as the wealthy Anglo-Saxon students who dominantly attend the school. She dislikes her condition of being stuck at a school dominated by rich people whom most of them are Anglo-Saxon Australians and it can be seen through her own thought. So not being able to go out a lot is one of my many problems. My biggest, though, is being stuck at a school dominated by rich people. Rich parents, rich grandparents. Mostly Anglo-Saxon Australians, who I can’t see having a problem in the world 2006: 7. Anglo-Saxons Australian is a term that refers to the majority of Australians who are of from English, Welsh or Irish descent, meanwhile Josephine is of Italian descent therefore she does not belong to the Anglo-Saxons Australians. Josephine believes that she is stuck at school because the dominant students who attend the school are nothing in common with her. Josephine is of Italian descent whereas they are of Anglo-Saxons Australians. Josephine comes from middle class family whereas they are upper class family. Josephine’s belief that people who have wealth and social status will never have a problem in their life also can be seen from the above quotation of Josephine’s thought. Josephine also believes that “they think they’re superior to us” 2006: 218. According to Josephine, those Anglo-Saxons Australians feel superior to her and to her friends since Josephine and her friends do not come from the Anglo-Saxons Australians. It makes Josephine feels inferior at school where she can not be fully accepted because of her social background. She also adds the things that make someone accepted at her school are wealth and social status instead of brain. It implies that how smart you are does not really matter, but it is your family’s assets instead. It can be seen from the following quotation of Josephine’s thought. We grew up in the midst of the snobs of St.Martha’s and discovered that somehow brains didn’t count that much. Money, prestige, and what your father did for living counted. If your hair wasn’t a bob or if your mother didn’t drive a Volvo, you were a nobody 2006: 24. Josephine Alibrandi lives with her mother, Christina Alibrandi. Her mother disgraced the family by getting pregnant to the boy next door, Michael Andretti, out of wedlock. Christina and Michael are also not married since then. Josephine knows little about the identity of her father because Michael had left Christina even before she gave birth to their daughter, Josephine. Her mother also very rarely talks about Michael in front of Josephine. We do know that he’s alive and is a barrister in Adelaide, but that’s about it 2006: 9. My mother had told me about him once and once only. I’d never heard his name mentioned since. Just “your father” or “he” 2006: 18. Josephine dislikes the way people talk about her status as an illegitimate child since she was born out of wedlock and her parents are not married since then. Josephine is tired of facing the way Italian mothers react to her mother who has a child out of the wedlock and stills unmarried and it can be seen from her thought. The reaction of the Italian mothers to my mother being unmarried drove me crazy at times…She slept with the boy next door when they were sixteen 2006: 9.