Godfather Essay, Research Paper

The Godfather written by Mario Puzo, published by the Penguin Group in 1969,

433 pages long.This book?s is a crime/gangster novel. The setting takes place in

New York in the 1940?s then moves to Long Beach in the late 50?s.

The Protagonists of ?The Godfather? is Michael Corleone. He has many various

contradicting characteristics in this book. Primarily Michael shows through as a born

leader, when he was a fearless, young man, he went off to war, even though his father

disapproved, he came back proudly with a medal. Shortly following his arrival home his

oldest brother Santino was brutally murdered, so he was faced with the dilemma of being

heired to the position of the Godfather. Michael guided the family from near

distruction, to achieve his family the ranking of one of the most powerful families in the

world.At the same time he accomplished to successfully raise a family , consisting of

the son he desired for so long and a stunningly gorgeous girl. Michael kept his family?s

crime rate considerably low, for his type of business, yet he still got everything he wanted

and acquired the title of being one of the richest most powerful man in the world.

Another exalted characteristic in Michael is he is exceptionally generous, he

makes sure the whole Corleone family?s housing and jobs are taken care of, so they don?t

have to worry. Michael is always donating considerable amounts to charities and when

ever a friend asks for a favor it is very rarely refused, no matter what it is. (220)

Michael?s main problem in the beginning of the book is that he never wants to be

caught up in ?The family Olive Oil business? because he believes that his girlfriend Kay

would hate him and his family. Michael is realistically forced to be the Don because his

father is getting too old, Sonny was murdered, and Fredo isn?t very intelligent. Michael

overcomes his dread of being the Godfather when he finds out of Kay?s acceptance

towards him.(77)

The antagonist is the sinister Tatalia family, their problem is they are competing

for conjoint territory in New York. They have to resort to the dirty businesses of drugs

and prostitution to attempt to overthrow the Corleone?s. They anticipate it will be all the

easier to conquer the Corleone?s because they arranged for the order of Vito?s death but

they are in for a shock when Michael takes over. (69)

They conflict is person vs. society on account of most people despite the

techniques and costoms of the Italian Mafia. Each and every Mafia family has to over

run numerous obstacles to run their families, like police and politics. All the high

families manage to weave through these minor details with comfort. (52)

A powerful point that comes across is, there are many logical laws of the Mafia to

keep your family running effectively, such as the Omerta which is considered to be the

most utterly important law. It is the code of silence. This law is demonstrated many

times through out the book. The part in the book where the Don shows his loyalty to the

Omerta, is when he sacrifices his own peace to let the murderers of his son go and not

seek any revenge on them. All the women in the family show their devotion to the

Omerta by not turning their husbands, brothers, or cousins in when they know they are

doing some wrong but just take no note of it. (123)

In my opinion this book is best suited for people who do not mind when a book

goes into a lot of detail and has some graphic sceans. This book is aimed at people who

are interested in learning more about the strict Italian ways and also a lot about how a

Mafia is handled and taken care of in an orderly, old fashioned, Italian way. This book is

definatly the best book I have ever read and I advise anyone who is up for reading an

excellent book to read it.(92)