The Godfather and Sicily: Power, Honor, Family, and Evil

Description

Offers a distinctive interpretation of The Godfather as a novel and film sequence. In this interdisciplinary work, Raymond Angelo Belliotti presents an interpretation of The Godfather as, among other things, a commentary on the transformation of personal identity within the Sicilian and Italian immigrant experience. The book explores both the novel and the film sequence in terms of an existential conflict between two sets of values that offer competing visions of the world: on the one hand, a nineteenth-century Sicilian perspective grounded in honor and the accumulation of power within a culturally specific family order; and on the other, a twentieth-century American perspective that celebrates individualism and commercial success. Analyzing concepts such as honor, power, will to power, respect, atonement, repentance, forgiveness, and a meaningful life, Belliotti applies these analyses to the cultural understandings transported to America by nineteenth-century Italian immigrants, casting fresh light on Old World allegiances to l’ordine della famiglia (the family order), la via vecchia (the old way), and the patriarchal ideal of uomo di pazienza (the man of patience), as well as the Sicilian code of honor. The two sets of values―Old World Sicilian and twentieth-century American―coalesce uneasily in the same cultural setting, and their conflict is irresolvable. Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One The Passions and Limitations of Honor A Mortician Seeks Justice A Philosophical Analysis of Honor The Case for Honor Capitalism and Honor A Man of Business Is Overwhelmed A Philosophical Analysis of Respect The Limitations of Honor Chapter Two The Sicilian Family Order Leading a Meaningful Human Life L’ordine della Famiglia The Ideal of the Uomo di Pazienza The Historical Roots of Don Vito Corleone Sicilian Culture and Organized Crime Roman Oppression The Sicilian Vespers The End of Feudalism Protecting Wealthy Landowners From Desperados As Accompaniment to Italian Unification As an Economic Industry Focused on Private Protection The Mafia’s Self-Image Chapter Three Power, Destiny, and Evil Interpreting The Godfather A Philosophical Analysis of Power Don Vito’s Will to Power Destiny and Evil The Degeneration of Michael Corleone The Return to Sicily The Godfather II Chapter Four Repentance, Atonement, and Redemption Reality Configures Art Rustic Chivalry The Godfather Trilogy Family and Religious Ceremonies Seasoned with Music Private Meetings with the Head of the Corleone Family Romantic Liaisons and Lost Love Generational Disagreement Business Transactions and Major Trouble Deceptive Confederates Conferences with the Wider Network of Crime Bosses Dominant Enemies Shrouded by a Veil of Guile The Vagaries of Illness Shadow Dons and Questionable Decisions Return to Sicily and Subsequent Deaths Deaths of Valuable Confederates in Crime Ersatz, Strategic Betrayals Distinctly Formidable Antagonists Passing of the Torch Bloody, Vengeful Climax Parallel Murders Michael’s Plight Philosophical Analyses of Atonement and Repentance The Elements of Atonement A Philosophical Analysis of Forgiveness The Futility of Michael Corleone’s Quest for Redemption Appendix A Summarizing The Godfather Appendix B Summarizing The Godfather II Appendix C Summarizing The Godfather III Notes Bibliography Index About the Author