I just sat there thinking back on the year and I realized that I was emancipated long ago. It wasn’t at one particular point either, it was at several. The hang-
ups I once had were superseded, but not with other hang-ups as much as with a few sorrow 2006: 309.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of the story, Josephine seems not realize herself as being such a selfish person but later she eventually realizes it after facing conflict
about her grandmother’s affair. At the beginning, she is angry with her grandmother but later she wants to compromise by listening to her grandmother’s explanation
about the affair. Through this, she realizes that her grandfather treated her grandmother very badly. Josephine also starts to listen to her mother’s story about the
way Francesco also treated her mother badly after he knew Christina was pregnant. It can be seen through the following conversation between Josephine and her mother.
“He couldn’t take me in when I was pregnant with you.” She looked pensive. “My father practically spat at me. Called me every name under the sun. A
tramp, a slut. He hit me across the face and even hit my mother. Worse still, he never saw you, Josie.”
“You went through so much for me, Mama, and I never seem to appreciate it, but I promise that I’m changing 2006: 271.
In this point, she realizes that her mother, Christina, also had suffered and had gone through many unpleasant things because of Francesco’s rejection. Thus, it makes
Josephine’s way of responding her problem of not having a father changes. In this point, she starts to accept her life which is raised only by her mother. She also
realizes that all this time she has acted selfishly. It can be seen through her own speech.
“Mama, you sound as if one of us is dying, for God’s sake. I grumble about my life because I’m selfish, not because you couldn’t provide. For a one-
parent family we are pretty perfect” 2006: 271.
4. Josephine’s Emotional Self-Efficacy
In addition to the criteria of maturity, Bukatko in Child and Adolescent: A Chronological Approach states that a mature person is a person who has developed
emotional self-efficacy 2008: 532. Josephine’s emotional self-efficacy is shown after she encounters conflict with her grandmother’s affair. The conflict between her
and her grandmother ends after she realizes the sacrifice that her grandmother, Katia, had done for Christina, her mother.
At the beginning, Josephine believes that Katia feels distress when it comes to people’s opinion. Josephine dislikes her grandmother for being such a person because
it makes Katia do not able to accept Christina and Josephine as they are. Josephine shows a different attitude toward her grandmother when she is aware of the sacrifice
that her grandmother had done. She also realizes that her grandmother shows no worry about other people’s opinion toward her life. It can be seen from Josephine’s
speech. “She hadn’t stuck to rules and regulations. Hadn’t worried about what other
people thought every second of her life. She had taken chances. Broken rules” 2006: 270.
Josephine’s encounter with her grandmother’s affair and her ability to forgive her grandmother also change Josephine’s perspective of being an illegitimate child.
At the beginning, Josephine shows her worry toward other’s people opinion about her status as illegitimate child but in the end she shows changing perspective. It can be
shown through her thought.
I’m not saying that my life will be easier now because I finally feel free. I’m no saying that people will stop whispering about me behind my back. Because
I think that if I lived life like a saint and walked with two feet in one shoes; if I wore the clothes of St. Francis of Assisi and suffered like martyr; if I lived
by rules and never committed a sin, people would still talk. Because human nature is like that. They’ll always, like me, find someone to talk about. 2006
:312
From above quotation, it can be concluded that she shows emotional self- efficacy. She is no longer worries toward other’s people opinion over her illegitimacy. At this
point, she considers it as a common thing when people tend to talk about someone’s life. It also shows her ability to manage her feeling toward other’s people opinion.
She also shows appropriate emotional tone when comes to other’s people opinion. Bukatko states that a mature person who has developed emotional self-efficacy is
able to handle challenging emotional encounters with an appropriate emotional tone. They accept their emotional experiences, both good and bad, and feel they are able to
manage them. Here, Josephine successfully manages the bad emotional experiences that she encounters when people talk behind her back and this mark indicates her
emotional self-efficacy. Based from the above explanations of the result of conflicts experience by
Josephine, it can be concluded that after experiencing conflicts, Josephine changes. The changes can be seen in Josephine’s application of knowledge and experience,
dealing constructively with frustration, differential responsiveness, and emotional self-efficacy. Those changes belong to the criteria of maturity and since Josephine has
shown those criteria, it can be said that Josephine has reached maturity.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION
After analyzing the novel and referring to the topic of this thesis which is a study of Josephine Alibrandi’s maturity as the result of conflict that she experiences in
Melina Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi, the thesis writer concludes that Josephine Alibrandi reaches maturity through the conflicts that she encounters with some other
characters. The character, Josephine Alibrandi, belongs to major character since she plays
an important role in the development of the story and round character since she undergoes some changes throughout the story in the novel. The character Josephine
Alibrandi is also considered as dynamic character since she changes her view of seeing things.
From the first part of the analysis, it can be concluded that Josephine Alibrandi is described as a person who believes that her life is full of problems than other people.
She feels inferior at school and believes that people who have wealth and social status will never have a problem in their life, Josephine’s social status as an illegitimate child,
since her parents were not married to each other at the time of her birth also becomes her complaint. Josephine does not have a good relationship with her grandmother
because they have some different views. Josephine hates the way Katia treats Christina badly since Christina disgraced the family by falling pregnant out of wedlock.
Josephine sees Katia as someone who always worries about other people’s opinion.
Josephine Alibrandi is also described as a person who is still confused about her identity.
The analysis of the second problem formulated shows that Josephine experiences conflict with other characters and also within herself that lead her to
maturity. Here, the conflicts that lead her to maturity are represented by her actions toward Katia Alibrandi, Sister Louise, and the death of John Barton.
First, since Josephine encounters conflict with Katia, Josephine no longer feels and sees her own problems as the worst problem if it is compared to her grandmother’s
affair. Moreover, at the beginning, Josephine hates her grandmother. After she encounters conflict with Katia’s affair, she realizes that her grandmother really loves
her and she starts to show acceptance feeling toward her grandmother. Besides, in the beginning of the story, Josephine seems to be confused over her identity. After she
reconciles her relationships with her grandmother, she eventually realizes exactly who she is, and understands where she fits into the lives around her. Second, Josephine’s
conflict with Sister Louise about the way she acts irresponsibly by leaving walkathon makes Josephine realizes that what she does is wrong and it also changes Josephine’s
perspective about the way she feels inferior at school. Third, Josephine’s interpersonal conflict with John Barton brings her to a realization that someone can feel alone and
feel misunderstood regardless of his or her background and she finally realizes that wealth and social status do not equal happiness.
After facing conflicts with them, Josephine changes and the changes lie in the way she sees some things in her life. Thus, those conflicts lead her to reach maturity.
Josephine’s maturity can be seen in Josephine’s application of knowledge and experience, dealing constructively with frustration, differential responsiveness, and
emotional self-efficacy. Josephine’s application of knowledge and experience is shown after Josephine
experiences conflict with Sister Louise. As Josephine tries to evaluate the experience, she finds that what she did is wrong. Here, her attitude marks the application of
experience and it shows her self-evaluation. The other self-evaluation also comes when John Barton commits suicide. John’s suicide brings an enlightenment to Josephine that
someone can feel alone and feel misunderstood regardless of his or her background. She realizes that wealth and social status do not equal happiness.
The ability to constructively deal with frustration is shown when Josephine reveals Katia’s past affair. It makes her realize that her own problems are not that
biggest and worst in the worlds if it is compared to Katia’s affair. Josephine’s understanding brings a positive reaction toward the conflict with Katia. At first after
she finds out about Katia’s affair, she is very disappointed and feels frustrated toward her grandmother. Her awareness helps her in dealing with the frustration by willingly
listening to Katia’s explanation about the affair. Josephine’s differential responsiveness is shown after she is enlightened by the
fact that her own problems are not that biggest compare to her grandmother’s affair. It leads her to a realization that everyone is not perfect especially her grandmother who
committed the affair when she was young. Therefore, she goes back to her grandmother and tries to figure out the whole story. After she listens to the full story of
