| Feb. 19th, 2004 @ 07:26 pm godfather.... |
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SIMONELLI1
Erica R. Simonelli
English 2H
Mrs. D’Arco
Term Paper
February 20,2004
Normal or Mafia?
In all families there are up’s and down’s, just like every family does. Think about it for a second, what if you could walk into someone’s house with a gift talk to him or her and then ask for a “favor”? This special favor you just asked for is done with the next week, and you are not allowed to ask any questions about it. In the Corleone family that is what happens all the time. It could just be a novel, but it could also be a true thing? Is Mario Puzo’s novel The Godfather, an accurate depiction of a mafia family?
All Italian families are close together, almost inseparable. Coming from an Italian there is experience within these lessons. But, when it comes to one thing that is almost a known fact that the elders in the family are always treated with so much more respect then the younger ones. Its kind of like the old saying “children are seen and not heard”. When an elder, like the grandparents talk to you, you must answer back and you never sass back. It’s like an unwritten rule. (italainsrus.com)
Now, in the old days family is the number one priority. If you have a brother or sister in a dilemma, you are there to help them out. If they need to barrow money then you are there to help them out. Brothers and sisters stick together with everything. When Momma and Poppa call and you are out playing ball you come running as fast as you can. In the old days the Father was always feared, the mother was the frightening but she still showed you love. Grandfather and Grandmother always took care of you, with no questions. (Italiansrus.com)
Now Italians are famous for their food. You cannot attend an Italian dinner without being stuffed with food and wine. It is a gathering for Italian families to talk and to find out what is new with the persons life. With food is something they share with each other, its how they show they care for each other. They all eat on Sunday nights with each other. If there is not one single fight with in the family then it’s a bad night almost. (Italiansrus.com)
To get into the Corleone Family, there is the Godfather who is Don Corleone. He is the main guy with in the novel. He is the guy everyone goes to when in trouble. Once he says yes then it is done with that week. There are no second guesses about it. The Don has a wife, three sons and one daughter; he also has an adopted son. He’s a friend with many from his business. They keep it like the normal Italian family would be within those days.
“I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.”-Don Corleone
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That is one of the more famous quotes from The Godfather. This is when The Don’s godson, Johnny comes to visit him at his daughter Connie’s wedding, when he realizes he’s not a man anymore. The Don flies out his consigliore to Hollywood California. Where things are settled there.
On the family tree the oldest would be Santito Corleone AKA Sonny. The Don refuses to call Santito “Sonny”. He feels that it’s an unfit name for his son. He named him Santito for a reason. Now Sonny is a hot-tempered Italian. He would be way to crazy to be the leader of his fathers business, which does lead to his inevitable death. (Mikesrisolisgodatherpage.com)
“Hey, get outta here, it's a private party, go on! What is it? Hey, it's my sister's wedding. (He spits after being shown a badge, turns, and walks away.) Goddamn FBI, don't respect nothin.”'-Sonny Corleone (Puzo)
This quote shows how Sonny has a hot-tempered mind. The FBI showed up at the wedding of his sisters to check out what all the people there was, so they could keep tabs on these people. Any friends of the Don have to deal with trouble. Sonny also has a family of his own, but he has an affair on his wife at his sisters wedding with Lucy the mistress also the maid of honor.
Next on the list is Frederico Corleone; he’s the second son in the family. He really is childlike and dimwitted and not at all suited for the role of boss. He would never be able to handle business. He’s more of a drive around man. He handles that type of business.
The youngest son would Be Michael Corleone. He’s a war hero who just returned home from the navy with his girlfriend Kay. Michael really does want nothing to do with the family business early into the novel but fate happens to leads him into thinking something else. This fate would be when his father is shot 5 times by the drug dealers who wanted his help.
The last Corleone family member would be Connie Corleone. She’s the youngest child in the family and his only daughter. In the beginning of the novel she is marring Carlo Rizzo and the marriage turns out to be abusive and painful for her.
The last member of the Corleone family would be the “adopted” son Tom Hagen. He is a German-Irish man who The Don took into his family when Sonny found him wandering the streets with no home. The Don took him in and Hagen eventually becomes a lawyer and after the death of Genco (the original war-time consiglieri) he takes over. This shows his work as the consiglieri and as a good lawyer:
Hagen: Uh, I was sent by a friend of Johnny Fontane's - his friend is my client, who'd give his undying friendship to Mr. Waltz, if Mr. Woltz would grant us a small favor...Give Johnny the part in that new war film you're starting next week.
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Woltz (after laughing): And, uh, what favor would, uh, your friend, uh, grant Mr. Woltz?
Hagen: You're gonna have some union problems, my client could make them disappear. Also, one of your top stars has just moved from, uh, marijuana to heroin...
Woltz: Are you trying to muscle me?
Hagen: Absolutely not.
Woltz: Now listen to me, you smooth-talking SOB! Let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is. Johnny Fontane will never get that movie! I don't care how many - daigo, guinea, WOP, greaseball, gumbahs come out of the woodwork!
Hagen: I'm German-Irish...
Woltz: Well, let me tell you something, my Kraut Mick friend. I'm gonna make so much trouble for you; you won't know what hit you!
Hagen: Mr. Woltz, I'm a lawyer, I have not threatened you.
Woltz: I know almost every big lawyer in New York, who da hell are you?
Hagen: I have a special practice. I handle one client. Now you have my number. I'll wait for your call. By the way, I admire your pictures very much. (Hagen shakes Woltz's hand, then leaves.)(flimsite.org./godf.htmal)
The Business of the family would be the mafia style of anything. They could fix anything that needed to be fixed. The Don set up for these young American
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boys to be beat up for the reason that he raped and beat a friend of The Don’s daughter. The Don also owns part of the union with masonry and he owns an olive oil company, he also funds his adopted son Tom with his lawyer business. The family home is in Long Island. (Puzo)
The Mafia reports from the city never changes. New York city is know for its gang members now, but back in the old days it was all about the mafia. The mafia reports show all the murder rates and battery rates all went up. Every area in New York was a bad area to be in you did not know what you were doing.(Daily Gleaner)
The only real people who would know if the reports are real are the ones who lived threw that era in time. Many people did and learned not to walk the streets at night.
Every family has their worries. In New York City in the 1940’s it was the real mafia, which Mario Puzo used as a basis for his American best seller The Godfather. |
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