Personal Review: The Godfather

Personal Review

Mario Puzo’s The Godfather was an engaging novel to read because of its complicated, recurring subplots and complex familial relationships, in the context of an Italian crime family. The fact that the novel took place with the multiple settings of New York, Hollywood, and Italy kept things interesting as I belive that to have the entire novel solely in the crime center of New York would have caused the novel to loose depth, as many of the various subplots, such as that of Johnny Fontaine occurred in these non central locations. I enjoyed the tale of Michaels adventures and love affair, which lead to his marriage, in his home country of Italy. Although,  I thought it was somewhat distasteful of him to marry another women while on exile from America, leaving behind his long term girlfriend, Kay. Kay was never informed of his marriage in Italy, as his Italian wife was killed in a car bombing in the driveway of his residence. Immediately upon his return, Michael married Kay, which I found to be a rather accurate characterization of his slimy character. It was sad to see Michael trasition from the once non criminally involved, politically destined military man, to one of New York’s most ruthless crime bosses, personally commiting the murder of the city’s police commander. I also found it somewhat shocking that the long time Consigliere, Tom Hagen, was replaced upon Michael’s ascention to the position of Don in the Corleone family. Considering that his replacement was Vito himself, this makes some sense, yet I still feel it unecessaray to remove him from the family entirely. Aside from the complex family relationships of the family, one aspect of the book I found particularly deplorable was the scenes of intense violence during the novels many killing scenes. Despite the violence, I found the novel overall pleasant. I enjoyed the complexity of the characters, and their development, as well as the interesting setting in the criminal underworld

Text Connections: The Godfather

Text Connections

The Godfather uses an extremely strong text to world connection in the form of the connection between the book and the real life mafia that it depicts. The Italian mafia of the 1940’s that the novel is based on was portrayed in a highly accurate manner, which facilitates through reader engagement into the text. Similar to why modern society has become enthralled with crime and legal drama’s on television, the vivid scences of the brutal execution style murders of many of the novels central characters provides a somewhat abstract, yet nonetheless real life, connection with the readers because while these things might not be prevalent in their daily life, the reader is consumed with an innate curiosity about such affairs, under the knowledge that these sort of events do take place in real life.

Syntax: The Godfather

Syntax

• “Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family. Never forget that.” (46).

Don “Vito” Corleone uses an anaphora in this example of one of his many verbally expressed life lessons, by repeating the word friendship in the first two sentences. The quote is regarding the role of family and friendship in both his mafia life, as well as his personal life. He shows the monumental importance of this to him by stressing this particular example with an anaphora, as well by orchestrating his thoughts into exceptionally short, telegraphic sentences. The use of such a syntactical device punctuates the unity amongst family that the godfather feels is necessary to lead a successful crime syndicate. The lovingness of such a motto seems oxymoronic in the context of the violent tone that Puzo uses throughout the novel, yet is kept consistent by his inclusion of his sentence regarding the importance of friendship over the government, as the Corleone family is not one to heed much notice of conventional governments.

• “Leave the gun, Take the Cannoli” (325).

Said by Clemenza immediatley after watching one of the family bodyguards being murdered, this incredibly short and clear sentence illustrates the ruthless and violent tone of the novel through its syntax because the short structure of the sentence shows the lack of emotion about murder, along with the strictly business attitude of the Corleone family. Rather than showing any concern about the death of one of his lifelong friends, who, in fairness to Clemenza, had been proven a traitor, he is much more concerned with the immediate procession of the events at hand, which as explicitly stated are to leave the gun in the vehicle, not forgetting to take with them the Cannoli pasta, as requested by his wife.

Diction: The Godfather

Diction

Diction in The Godfather varies greatly, from the loving and warm diction used in regards to family and interpersonal relationships between lovers, friends, and brothers alike; to the harsh, violent, and cruel diction used when Puzo describes the brutals murders, beatings, and strangulations of various characters throughout the book. 

While still a brutally viscious crime family, the Corleones are a particularly loving bunch when it comes to the people the trust most, principally their family. In the scene in which Don takes in Tom Hagen, a stray boy on the street, to be his adopted son, the diction he uses, such as, “embrace, fatherly effection, understanding, loyalty, and divinity,” (53) creates a loving tone. In a smilar instance of heartfelt compassion when dealing with the death of his Genco, Don Corleone uses many words which evoke a compassionate tone. “We will take up the burden. We will comfort him. We will close his eyes. We will bury him and weep at his funeral and afterwards we will watch over his wife and daughters” (45).

Speaking of the “family business” and its adversites, Michael tells Tom Hagen that despite the “strictly business” attitude of much of the Corleone family, “It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell (146). The profanity used by Michael is consistent with many of the verbal exchanges throughout the book. This sort of low level, colloquial diction is used to show the roughness of the life inside of a Sicilian crime syndicate, as it reflects the harsh, often violent tone present throughout the novel. In addition to this, there are many brutal exchanges throughout the novel that depict scenes of immense violence in full detail using a vivid pallate of hate filled diction, that at times is disturbing to the reader. 

Rhetorical Strategies: The Godfather

Rhetorical Strategies

• Repetition: “We are all men who have refused to be fools, who have refused to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by the men on high... We will manage our world for ourselves because it is our world, cosa nostra” (292).

As part of an iconic speach made by Don Corleone to members of the heads of the prominent new york crime families of the time, Puzo uses repetition to emphasize the decision of the crime bosses to reject the laws and rule of the government, instead choosing to live by their own rules in the world of the cosa nostra, which is a synonym for the Italian mafia. Puzo writes with a very tense, and choppy style, paralleling the harsh life of the mafia underworld, as demonstrated by Corleones assertion that the world is theirs for the taking.

• Metaphor: “Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty” (258).

Furthering the themes of family, respect, and honor, Puzo uses this metaphor to emphasize the importance of gratitude and respect in the mob life, and the perceived lack of it in the outside world. 

• Undertone: “There are things that have to be done and you do them and you never talk about them. You don't try to justify them. They can't be justified. You just do them. Then you forget it” (147).

This excerpt characterizes the feeling of lostness and confusion amongst some of the family members. With in the novel-wide tone of violence and aversion, lies an undertone of confusions about the reasons for the actions of the family. This confusion contributes to the terse style of Puzo in that some members such as Vito are clear in their direction and actions, others such as Fredo are not.

• Cause and Effect: “Clemenza was a storyteller; Vito Corleone was a listener to storytellers. They became casual friends” (197).

Puzo’s summary of the relationship between Clemenza and Vito is a further indication of his frank style that while choppy, frequently employing incredibly short sentences, is remarkably straight foreward. This summation of their relations stems from their conversation twards the beginning of the novel in which Clemenza pleads for justice from Vito for the injustices against his daughter.

Personal Review

I found The Great Gatsby to be a throughly engaging novel. I felt I could relate to the the theme of the moral devaluation of the american dream in such a time as when millions of americans over leveraged their homes, and maxed out credit cards just to “keep up with the joneses” and fulfill material wants. Just as Gatsby’s earnings from his illegal liquor business were not legitament, neither were the billons earned in bad faith through the shady dealings of the mortgage industry.

Another piece of the novel that I found particularly interesting is the very nonchalant nature of the cheating and affairs. It seemed that everyone was involved somehow, which was puzzling to me that up untill the end, these actions seemily were without repercussions. I will note though, that when the consequences came, they were severe, as it resulted in the death of most of the main cast.

The vivid imagery was another pull factor for me, I really felt like I was able to visualize Fitzgerald’s accounts of the lavish parties, and oh did they seem truly great. As I read, I loved to bask in the dream of one day becoming as rich as someone like Jay Gatsby, who could throw such great extravagant parties for practically the entire neighborhood. Ironically it could be argued that this is the exact sort of thing that Scott Fitzgerald is trying to prevent, by showing us the destructive nature of such an extravagant and superficial lifestyle. While it is not without its consequences, the lifestyle of a billionaire “living it up” on Long Island certainly has its appeals, which was what made the novel its self so appealing to me, in that it allowed me to become lost in that sort of world, almost like a dream. 

Text Connections

The Great Gatsby has a vast number of connections to the latest HBO drama, Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk Empire is centered around the political corruption of Atlantic City in the 1920’s, the same time period that The Great Gatsby is set in. The main character of the show is Nucky Thompson, who is the county treasurer, but more akin to an extremely wealthy town dictator. Although, if he were to be called despotic, he would most definitely be of the enlightened version, as his reign greatly improves all aspects of life for the residents of Atlantic City. This sort of theme of corruption and moral deterioration of the American dream almost identical to that in The Great Gatsby. 

Another text to world connection I was able to make was that in the novel, Meyer Wolfshein is a thinly disguised allusion to Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein was a very prevalent crime leader, known as the head of the jewish mafia. He also was infamous for throwing the 1919 world series by personally paying off players of the chicago white sox in order to reap huge rewards by betting for the Cincinnati Reds.

The third text to world connection I made was that of the life of Gatsby with his lavish summer parties to that similar environment present in the TV show, “Royal Pains” which is about a pair of concierge doctors in the hampton’s which is the same location of The Great Gatsby on Long Island. The incredible mansion parties seen frequently on that show allowed me to easily envision the similar events that happened at Gatsby’s house throughout the course of the summer.

Syntax

• “A moment later she rushed out into the dusk, waving her hands and shouting-before he could move his door the business was over” (138).
• “He murdered her” (159).
• “By half past two he was in west egg, where he asked someone the way to Gatsby’s house. So by that time he knew Gatsby’s name” (161).
• “Then he gave instructions that the open car wasnt to be taken out under any circumstances-and this was strange because the front right fender needed repair” (161).

Syntax is the ability to convey a message through sentence structure. Fitzgerald uses an incredible amount of dashes in his work, which its self can indicate what he feels is the interruption of the traditional American dream due to corruption and greed. Specifically relating to the murder of Myrtle, the first cited example is significant because the dash signifies a major interruption, one that could be interpreted as the first segment being life, while the segment after the dash portraying death. Further building on the seriousness of death, Fitzgerald writes a very short, telegraphic sentence that very clearly lays out the seriousness of the situation, “He murdered her” (159). Another example of this deadly syntax is when Wilson figures out that the yellow car is indeed Gatsby’s. Although Gatsby was not actually the murderer, Wilson is only tracking down the car, and when he discovers it is indeed Gatsby’s he shoots Gatsby while he is lounging in the pool. It is the second sentence, “So by that time he knew Gatsby’s name” (161)that is the most significant in that its simple structure allows the reader to really focus in on the frank nature of the dire circumstance that Gatsby is now in. In an ironic twist, Gatsby declines to take the car out because it poses a risk to his life if someone does recognize it, yet the car needs a repair to the front right fender. Ultimately Wilson was able to correctly identify the car because of the indentation on the fender caused by it striking his wife. Which is somewhat of a Catch 22.

Diction

Fitzgerald’s cynical tone is revealed through his careful choice of words which show the uncaring and superior attitude of the upper class during the 1920’s This is particularly noticeable during the incident in which Gatsby asserts that Daisy had never truly loved her husband, Tom. Tom becomes defensive using an expletive classifying Gatsby’s assertions as “a god damned lie” (131). The further deterioration of Tom’s composure is shown later in this conversation when he reveals to Daisy that Gatsby’s fortune has been amassed as a result of illegal liquor bootlegging operations through local pharmacies. Because of the superficial nature of Daisy’s character, this causes her to be turned off from Gasby, a further example of Fitzgerald’s view that the American dream is detiorating, becoming something based solely off greed, in a society controlled by the superficial upper class. It is interesting to note the word Fitzgerald uses to describe the exit of Daisy and Gatsby, “like ghosts” (136) It could be considering a foreshadowing of the fact that Gatsby will soon be dead. It also touches on the ghost like nature of Gatsby at his famous summer parties, in which all of the guests came to enjoy the company of the alcohol, along with the other guests, yet Gatsby was rarely seen. Which is an indication of Fitzgerald’s cynical view of the life of the upper class, and even the current moral state of America its self. At the very end of the novel, Nick is reflecting on his interactions with Tom and Daisy, just before heading off back to the midwest. Nick explains that to Tom, his own actions were justified, and he was able to “Retreat back into [his] money” (180). Retreat, although in certain contexts can be very positive, connotes negatively. The word retreat is almost a symbol for the what Fitzgerald views as a retreat of moral values in American society, especially amongst the upper class. 

Rhetorical Strategies

• Hyperbole and Simile: “as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away" (2).
• Simile: “the middle west now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe” (3).
• Rhetorical question: “neither of them can stand the person They’re married to.” “Cant they?” (33).
• Sexual Innuendo: “She held my hand impersonally, as a promise that she’d take care of me in a minute” (42).
• Misnomer: "He went to Oggsford College" (72).
• Simile: “her voice is full of money” (145).
• Repetition and Hyperbole: “suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men” (151).
• Imagery and Symbolism: “drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed” (151).

The Great Gatsby is written in a very fast paced style that quickly moves from topic to topic. This is evidenced by the first example above of Fitzgerald’s use of hyperbole, because in the context of the quote cited, Fitzgerald begins talking about personality in an abstract sense, and then relates it to a simile about a seismograph, including a great exaggeration about the distance from which such machine can measure an earthquake effectively. He continues this exaggeration with an account of Daisy’s dating practices in which he said she is keeping “half a dozen dates a day” (151) which is highly unlikely to be accurate. Fitzgerald writes with a style that is filled with vidid imagery, filled with colorful accounts of things such as Daisy’s evening gown, and orchids.