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questions
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1. Josephine feels overwhelmed by the wealth and prestige of the people around her at school. She believes that they consider her inferior because of her attendance at the school through a scholarship. While she understands that she is just as smart as the richer people in her school she comments that ‘She will never be a part of their society’. Josephine has to watch all the wealthy people in the school go about their seemingly perfect ‘Anglo-Saxon’ way of life while she has to put up with racism, prejudice and a middle-class lifestyle. This complicates her self-image because she thinks that if she belonged she wouldn’t struggle with the problems she has and is therefore is forever in conflict with herself. 2. Josephine wishes to break away from the restrictions of society because she feels that she is trapped by other people’s views of what is ‘right and wrong’ and what is ‘good and bad’. She wants to think for herself rather than follow all the cultural and social ways of doing things. Josephine makes it understood that ‘ If there is one thing in life she wishes to escape in this life of rules and regulations it would be her dreaded rituals.’ Although she fantasizes about rebelling and escaping, conformity is so ingrained into her way of thinking that she anticipates needing sanction from society in order to fulfill her dream. 3. While Josephine may feel that she is missing out on the lifestyle that John Barton leads she does not understand the expectations that he has to live with. Although she is expected to do well and try hard, Josephine has experienced unconditional love from her mother whether she succeeds or fails. John Barton is made to feel that his failure to meet expectations in any aspect of life is an embarrassment for his father to bear. As an outcome of Josephine’s upbringing she knows she will be supported in any life or career choices she makes. John Barton on the other hand feels that he has no choices and that his life belongs to his father. While being a friendly and outgoing person most of the time John Barton has an inner sense of being trapped in his father’s footsteps. 4. The message that a person cannot run away from their problems runs strongly through many of the characters in this story. Nonna Katia’s pretence that Christina was a ‘legitimate’ child is a profound example. She kept it a secret from Christina and therefore led a hypocritical life where she could never be close to the people that she loved the most. John Barton’s suicide is another powerful example. By running away from his father’s oppression he ended up dead. Michael Andretti tries to pretend that by ‘running away’ from his fatherhood he leads a better life, however once he gets to know Josie they develop a loving and valuable relationship. Jacob Coote’s statement is very true to the characters of the book as it reflects profoundly on them. People’s lives are shaped by their decisions and so are the lives of those around them. 5. The four words I chose to describe Nonna Katia are sentimental, persistent, vain and strong. She is sentimental because she values the past and enjoys reflecting on the days when she was young. This can be seen through the way she is so eager to share her photo album with Josephine and is so involved in telling her story.
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