Written by: Musab Alawi

Edited by: Alaa Alghamdi

There are little to no novels that took the world by storm as much as “The Godfather” did. The Godfatheris an award-winning crime fiction book by Mario Puzo. It received a widespread praise and was a best-selling novel for 67 consecutive weeks on the “New York Times Best-Seller” list. The Godfatherwas so famous that it spawned its own movie adaptation and trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The novel’s story is about the top-five crime families in New York, and the main focus is on the Corleone family taking control and gaining power through questionable means. While the methods that the Corleone family use may seem vile at first, they are a lot tamer than that of the other mob families that deal with drugs and threaten to murder anyone that may dare cross their paths. The Godfatherhas many ups and downs and twists and turns, and in order to have a good understanding of what it involves, it has to be explored in accordance to its setting, the multitude of different characters, and the overall story and themes.

First, the setting and theme lay the foundation for any novel to prosper. In the case of The Godfather, it’s set in the 1940s, in the city of New York. The novel begins with the characters in the Corleone family’s home office, and most of the operations are planned there. New York, of course, was a different place in the 1940s as it was controlled by the five families, and every deal or business must be authorized by them and their permission has to be granted. This does not only ring true in The Godfatherbut also in real life as well, the five families existed in New York since the 1920s. They have exercised their influence on a daily basis, and have terrorized the public as well. Their control was so deep that it extended to the police and some part of the government too. The government had a hands-off approach when it came to dealing with the five families’ criminal activites.

Second, there are dozens of different characters in the story and all have a distinguished role. Vito Corleone, is the ‘Don’ of the Corleone family, the word don is Latin and it basically means a patriarch or a master, in this case, the patriarch of the Corleone family and the originator. Vito Corleone, (born Vito Andolini), is an important character and is considered the secondary protagonist, after all he is the don of the family, he gives the orders and has everyone under his command, his family and friends live to serve him. Don Vito Corleone is the one who enriched the family and help made it prosper and grow. Not only does his family call him the don, but everyone else not within the family who wants their problems fixed, Don Vito is a fixer, and troubled people come to him with their issues, looking for answers, answers that he himself is happy to give.  The results are almost always satisfying, whoever comes to him, leaves Vito’s home office satisfied. He is not called a ‘godfather’ for no reason, there’s a religious meaning to the word of course. The significance of this is that he’s connected to the people around him who need his help, he must help them because he is linked to them spiritually, one can find support and assistant when speaking to him. This is why the people love him, they do not love him out of fear, but they respect him immensely because he is worthy of their admiration.

Moreover, the sons of Vito Corleone serve an irreplaceable part in the family’s affairs and businesses. Michael Corleone for instance, is the one who at first seems very nonchalant and calm, in fact, he is quite the opposite from his brother Sonny. Sonny is very aggressive and jumpy, he thinks irrationally and without planning his actions. Michael is very careful and precisive, he acts logically and justifiably. This distinction proves to be significant later on in the novel, Sonny’s senseless actions led him to his untimely demise, and Michael’s careful endeavors led him to become the next patriarch of the Corleone family. This doesn’t represent the whole picture, it’s true that Sonny Corleone was hotheaded, yet at the beginning of the novel, he was more experienced than Michael in the family’s business and crime, he knew how to act and how to react. Michael Corleone’s character developed exponentially throughout the story, from the shy, indecisive, scared man, to a confident, more determined, and feared Mob boss.

Furthermore, there are some minor characters that bolster the family’s strength. Luca Brasi is the Corleone family’s personal strongman. He takes his orders from Don Vito, whom he respects the most. Luca Brasi’s character has some slight character deviations in the film than the novel, in the film he seems erratic and shy. He keeps repeating words that he wants to say to Don Vito because of how nervous he is, this is not present in the novel, and is only shown in the movie. He is a tall muscular man with a giant skull, he terrifies his opponents with not only his actions, but his physical appearance as well. Then there is Peter Clemenza. Peter is a man of tactical intelligence and is considered ‘street smart’, he is well versed in the mafia business and knows how to think things through. Clemenza is the Corleone’s gunman and enforcer, Don Vito and Sonny’s personal trustee. He helps Michael a lot in the later parts of the novel as well. Like Luca, Peter has some dialogues and lines that appear in the film adaptation but do not exist in the novel. His famous phrase “leave the gun, take the cannoli” is fan-favorite quote which he says in the beginning of the film. There’s also Tom Hagen, he is Don Vito’s ‘consigliere’. Consigliere is Italian for ‘a personal adviser for the mafia’. Tom Hagen oversees everything that happens and gives his approval or disapproval. Tom Hagen is not Italian or from Sicily like the Corleone’s or the other assistants, but to Vito and to the rest of the family that does not matter, what really matters more than the place of origin is loyalty, a trait Hagen absolutely possesses.

In addition, the story of the novel is a story that is charming and intoxicating. The way the story starts and then begins to unravel is magnificent. It starts with Don Vito and Amerigo Bonasera both in the home office. Amerigo explains to the Don that he has faced a great injustice, the judge ruled against his wishes and has unjustly gave the criminals that have sexually assaulted and violated his young daughter only three years in a penitentiary. Amerigo thinks the judge should have given them twenty years in prison, not a penitentiary. A prison is stricter and is controlled and overseen by the state or federal government, a penitentiary, on the other hand, is for ‘small-time’ offenses or misdemeanors, it should not be the place of punishment for sexual assault cases. When Amerigo was speaking with the Don, his daughter was still in the hospital, with wires keeping her broken jaw in place. This is what troubles Amerigo, the fact that his daughter is in agony while the two men are resting in a penitentiary. Don Vito is moved by Bonasera’s story, he agrees to help him and reminds him that “Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do me a service in return. Until that day, consider this justice a gift from my wife, your daughter’s godmother.”. After Bonasera leaves, Vito speaks with Tom Hagen, and tells him to entrust this issue to Clemenza, Clemenza does what is told of him by Tom to a tee. This is, indeed, a specialty of Vito Corleone, he helps people whenever they need him, he is a ‘fixer’ that solves the troubles of his close family, friends, and neighbors.

The novel takes an unexpected turn when Don Vito is shot and hospitalized by the hands of Turk Sollozzo. Sollozzo is a drug dealer that is aligned with the Tattaglia and Barzini crime families, families that have deep-seated hatred against the Corleone’s. Mainly because the Corleone’s want to keep their businesses more legitimate than the Barzini’s and Tattaglia’s, they don’t want to be associated with drug deals and the extortion business. Michael Corleone is upset by his father’s assassination attempt, he speaks with Sonny Corleone and Peter Clemenza, and they help set up a meeting with Sollozzo and an Irish policeman who works for Sollozzo. Clemenza securely plants a gun in the toilets of the restaurant that the meeting is held at, and Michael kills both the policeman and Turk Sollozzo there. Then, after some issues arise, Sonny Corleone is murdered by the Barzini family in association with Carlo Rizzi, his brother-in-law. Sonny used to beat Carlo because of how he abuses his sister Connie, and he thought revenge against Sonny would suffice. After Vito Corleone dies of natural causes, Michael becomes the patriarch of the family and exacts revenge on Carlo Rizzi, and all of the four remaining families, giving the Corleone family total reign over New York. The novel abruptly ends here with Michael selling off the businesses and legitimizing them, the movie adaptation goes on with a different path.

Furthermore, the themes of the novel are profound and intense. It looks at fragmentation, and how the Corleone family is different from the other families because of their values, their Sicilian background, and how it cherishes honesty and decency more than making money through crooked ways. The Corleone’s are disconnected from the rest of the families, even though all of the families are Italian, they do not share the same interests or the same ideas. Another major theme is obviously the theme of family. How the Corleone’s are of one entity. When Sonny was murdered, Michael enacted revenge upon the killers, this shows the strong relationship within the family itself. The loyalty to the patriarchs of the families, how members would sacrifice life and limb in order for the family to succeed. The theme of crime and criminality is apparent in the novel, the whole novel is about crime and murder and how one family butchers the other because they want to be ahead. Killing people indiscriminately and without hesitation was the expertise of the Barzini’s and the Tattaglia’s, the Corleone’s methods are not as severe, they usually resort to the intimidation game, without actually following through. Their words are more than enough for others to listen to and obey, they do not need to kill without cause.

All in all, Mario Puzo wrote an exquisite piece of literary work, and it garnered a lot of attention and praise. The Godfatherwon many awards, and it was featured on the Times ‘Best-Seller’ list for many weeks. The Godfather’s story delves into the five families and how they have spread terror throughout New York, gaining deep power and control.

Alaa Alghamdi: Associate Professor of English – Taibah University

@ayghamd