Francesca Spinelli is
in the first Year Eleven intake of girls at an all-boys Catholic School. She has been sent there by her fiercely
passionate and well educated mother, to graduate “without limitations”. Forced
out of her complacent social niche at St Stella’s, Francesca finds herself in a
position to start over at St Sebastian’s (Cox 2003), to find her identity and subsequently form new
relationships which nourish as opposed to constrict her.
Foster, Finnis and
Nimon (2005 p.75) refer to the “social world outside of the family” as a
potential area for “trauma” that must be considered in adolescent literature.
The themes of social-development and family-breakdown of which Francesca is
confronted with, are two seemingly disparate but actually related foci. Each
impacts on the other.
When Francesca’s mother
falls into a severe depression, the support network that is her family seems to
be crumbling around her. Marchetta quickly establishes Francesca’s dry,
understated, and, ironic tone and uses it to skilfully narrate the many issues
which Francesca is faced with and the ways in which her domestic upheaval
impacts upon her social life. Marchetta’s give insight into the manipulative
nature of girls which often flourishes in the high school environment, her
sense of the characters and how they interact is testament to her many years as
a teacher.
Many adolescent readers
may relate to Francesca’s struggle with identity. It is clear through the novel
that she depends on others to help shape her identity (Ridge,
J 2003), tending to reflect
her immediate environment and those within it so as to “remain invisible”.
“I miss the Stella girls telling me what I am. That I’m sweet and placid
and accommodating and loyal and non-threatening and good to have around. And Mia. I want her to say, “Frankie, you’re
silly, you’re lazy, you’re talented, you’re passionate, you’re restrained,
you’re blossoming, you’re contrary.” I
want to be an adjective again. But
I’m noun. nothing. A nobody. A no one.” (Marchetta 2003 P.44)
Without her mother and
old school friends telling her who she is, she becomes “nothing”. The theme of identity is also closely tied
into the novels’ exploration of friendship. The relationships which Francesca
forms at St Sebastian’s and shift in her family’s dynamics, are central to
answering her question of identity. It is only once Francesca is separated from
the influences of her St Stella friends and of her mother that she is able to
find her own identity – and to find out who is more right about whom she really
is.
Saving Francesca
explores the nature of adolescent friendships, in a way that encourages the
reader to question how relationships can challenge change and define, largely
by the comparison of Francesca’s St Stella’s friends with those at St
Sebastian’s (Cox 2003).
The novel also suggests the benefits of getting to know people beyond their
typecast or stereotyped labels. At St Sebastian’s, Francesca finds true
friendship with three ex-Stella girls, Justine, Tara and Siobhan; “I have
barely exchanged a word with over the last four years”, however it becomes
evident that the friendship they forge
is far stronger than the superficial ones Francesca left behind at St Stella’s
(Marchetta 2003 pp. 121-122). Francesca also finds, to her astonishment, that
she forms some powerful friendships with some of the St Sebastian boys she has
initially dismissed as merely crude and un-socialised (Marchetta 2003 p.10).
As
Francesca gradually accepts the superficial nature of her St Stella
friendships, the inhibitions which had once controlled her actions, could be
shed. “My ex-Stella friends would think I was a dickhead. A show-off. A loser. I can just imagine them, exchanging
looks that say more than enough” (Marchetta 2003 p.113). The relationship
Francesca had with these girls “sucked the life out of her”, they didn’t
appreciate her, constantly ignoring, pressuring and using her when it suited
them. Now she is free to be the
“show-off loser” that she so desperately longed to be and her new friends love
her for it. Francesca, with the support of her new friends, has the confidence
to dance in drama (p.113) and sing in the school musical (p.223) proclaiming
that she now “loves this school” (Marchetta 2003 p.239).
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