The Godfather and the Meaning of Family

The Godfather A family is a basic social unit consisting of p arnts and their children, and is considered a group, whether they reside together or non the traditional family, which usu on the wholey consists of family look ons and beliefs. In Ameri rump literature family serves as a base in our society which pot be shaped and molded into many a(prenominal) different forms. Mario Puzos The Godfather demonstrates family as a successful p arentage, with strict and traditional Italian roots. The story is focuses on the Corleone family, a in truth close knit traditional Italian-American family, who all live on the same impasse de sac and are neighbors to each early(a).Their business is based on the familys maffia operations. They live their lives in the midst of law-breaking. near takes the law into their own hands, by avenging a crime to protect the weak temporary hookup others use it to rise into a assign of wealth and power. The executive or spot of the Corleone family is t he decision maker or shooting caller he is like the robin redbreast Hood of the Sicilians people. To all those who hold up prove their loyalties to him are entitled to help from their Godfather. He is willing to help anyone who calls them his friend because he intends that Friendship is everything.Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is about the equal of family (Puzo 38). The executive or mental capacity of the Corleone family is sire Vito and after his death, Michael his youngest son, who subsequently takes the role. In a sense, both in the saucy and film begin and ends with the Godfather and some whitethorn call him the move into. Through they both founder very different experiences, they are believed to be infinitely more intelligent and less(prenominal) obviously corrupt than any of the other fonts developed in the story (Williams 77).Both are willing to accommodate their competitors, take a step back, and not get confused unless ne cessary, for they believe to never hate your enemies because it affects your nous and to keep their friends close and their enemies closer However, they are considered to be the intimately powerful organised crime family in the United States. commodious men are not born(p) massive, they wrick great, and so it was with Vito Corleone. Vito Corleone make the last-place step from a quite ordinary, close to ruthless businessman to a great Don in the world of condemn fit enterprise.It did not happen in a day, it did not happen in a year, but by the end of the restraint period and the start of the Great Depression, Vito Corleone had acquire the Godfather, the Don, Don Corleone (Puzo 213). A family of organized crime that is some quantifys portrayed as so caring and helpful, that we dont forever think of them as bad guys per say. They have respect and are behaved in a way that is very elegant. But of line of reasoning there are times when they mustiness take action upon the mselves flush if it is over against the law.It is a known that the main focus of a stereotypical Mafia family is centered around the use of violence. For instance, in both the invention and film, Connie Corleone the female child of the Don Vito gets married to an opprobrious and gets beaten down while pregnant, which later becomes one of the reasons for his death. Aside from that we also hold many deaths cause by the requital and business. Another example is the opening of the movie, when Bonasera states I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion.I gave her freedom, but &8212 I taught her never to dishonor her family as he tells Don Vito, his grief about what had happen to his daughter (The Godfather). The family is cruel provided respectable, violent yet sophisticated and heartless, but not without rules. We as a viewer or a reader can overlook the devilish and come to sympathize with the Corleone family. The Godfath er permits an audience to get the mafia lifestyle and the sins theyve commit. We overlook what is sibylline to be right and sympathize with the lifestyle of these mobsters.We side with Corleones crime because of such(prenominal) quotes like A man who doesnt spend time with his family can never be a real man, when Don Vito Corleone says this, we as the audience find ourselves impulse a character they might not otherwise like. In America we campaign to sympathize with people who are sympathetic and are family oriented. Those who make their family priority consider one, who shows and express true respect and defines a man by the amount of time he spends with those he loves. The Godfather narrative was able to supply the idea of a arduous and benevolent father to take guardianship of both family and an unimpeded business life, as stated in the MELUS Article, The Godfather and American enculturation How the Corleones Became Our Gang by Mary Ann Mannino. This truthful image of a genuine family value allows for anyone to relate and understand the character even though at times the character may be immoral. Towards the end, Michael states if I can die saying, Life is so beautiful, and so nothing else is important.If I can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters. He would descend his father. He would care for his children, his family, his world. But his children would grow in a different world. They would be doctors, artists, scientists. Governors. Presidents. Anything at all. He would see to it that they linked the general family of humanity, but he, as a powerful and prudent parent would most certainly keep a awake eye on that general family when family again is reconfirmed (Puzo 411). Works Cited Mannino, Mary Ann. The Godfather and American assimilation How the Corleones Became Our Gang. . MELUS 28. 3 (2003) 218-232. books Resource Center. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. Greenwich Fawecett, 1969. Print. Simon, William. An alysis of the Structure of The Godfather, Part One. Studies in the Literary Imagination 16. 1 (1983) 75-90. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism Select. Detroit Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. Paramount Pictures. 1972. DVD.