Family’s culture &traditions can be both a blessing and a curse

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Family’s culture &traditions can be both a blessing and a curse
Adolescence is a period of self-exploration and acceptance. At this stage, teenagers begin to examine their identities and their relationship with their families and peers. The decisions made during this stage are shaped and influenced by the realization of their identity. The young adult novel Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta unfolds the transformational journey of Josephine Alibrandi who is an adolescent whose origin and illegitimacy makes her overreact about every situation around her. Even though she struggles in the search for her identity, she achieves emancipation in the end which results in a positive outlook for her life. However, the better part of her life is highly influenced by her origin and culture. Her family’s culture and tradition is both a blessing and a curse in her life. As such, this paper seeks to analyze how Josephine’s family culture and traditions are a blessing and curse in shaping her life.
In the novel, Marchetta provides us with an insight into the life of Josephine’s family. Her family is disjointed, and there are several misunderstandings with regards to the beliefs and lifestyles of each and every member of her family. First, she despises her grandmother because of how she treats her mother. However, in the quest for her identity, she comes to learn more about her family and the cultures that shaped the attitude and beliefs of her mother and grandmother.

Based on her origin and culture, she struggles with these complex relationships and cultural diversity. She struggles to find her identity in these situations as evidenced when she says “may be for acceptance because I think that if you’re an outcast with your own kind you’ll never be accepted by anyone” (Marchetta 20). However, after understanding the culture and traditions that shaped her grandmother’s attitude and behavior, she starts to appreciate her culture and origin. In essence, her family’s culture and traditions are a curse in her life considering the way her family is divided. The beliefs and traditions make her grandmother treat her mother like an outcast and a deserter of their culture since her mother got pregnant before getting married. Based on her grandmother’s beliefs and the way she treats her mother, Josephine finds herself in a dysfunctional family which sums up the curse in her life.
On the other hand, the family’s culture and traditions are a blessing to Josephine. By learning and understanding the family’s culture and traditions, Josephine is able to accommodate and appreciate the different beliefs held both by her mother and grandmother. In this regard, she finally understands her role in the family. She understands that she is the one that should be the person to unite her family. This is evident when she remarks, “…will sit between them and be a link and I’ll fight with all my might to see that nothing tears my family unit apart” (Marchetta 260). With the understanding of her culture and traditions, she successfully undergoes her self-discovery and transforms into an understanding person. She also comes to understand that she can never run from her culture and that it is part of her life, “A tradition that we’ll never let go. A tradition that I probably will never let go of either, simply because like religion, culture is nailed into you so deep you can’t escape it” (Marchetta 175).
Finally, Josephine’s transformation and change in attitude are greatly influenced by the understanding of her family’s culture and tradition. Even though her family’s culture and beliefs bring the bad blood in her family, the understanding of her culture and traditions makes her appreciate the cause of all the misunderstandings. As such, she becomes more understanding and finally discovers herself. In essence, her family’s culture and traditions are both a blessing and a curse in the road her self-discovery.